An Exciting Tale of Galina Baskakova’s Magnificent, Blooming Rose Garden

I am thrilled to present to you the remarkable, vibrant, and abundantly blooming rose garden of Galina Baskakova. It is located in the southern part of the Voronezh region. A video of her beautiful garden will be included at the end of this article. Now, I’ll hand it over to Galina.

“Every garden has its own story: some are cheerful, while others are sad. Some people develop a passion for gardening from childhood, but I caught the ‘virus’ of gardening in my mature years.

My garden is situated in Rossoh, the administrative center of the southern district of the Voronezh region. Our city is surrounded by vast steppes and fields on gentle hills.

Summers here are hot, and by mid-June, the grass transitions from green to a golden-brown hue as many plants wither due to the lack of moisture. Our soils are fertile chernozem, famously known for its richness.

They say that if you stick a stick into the ground, it will sprout. But is it really true? When the chernozem dries up, the soil becomes as hard as concrete. Even a strong, grown man cannot push a shovel into the ground without generously watering it first. However, when it’s moist… it’s a sight to behold. Intensely black, granular, and rich as butter—a fairytale rather than ordinary soil.

Unlike my parents, who were avid vegetable gardeners, I remained indifferent to plant cultivation for a long time. I worked on the plot out of necessity, like most people in our country, to supplement the limited assortment of produce available in our stores with fresh vegetables and fruits.

Perhaps the garden would never have entered my life if not for the misfortune that struck. My mother suffered a severe injury and became disabled, followed by my father falling seriously ill. At that time, I was already 45 years old. With a husband, grown-up son, a demanding job that consumed much of my time and energy—both mentally and physically—and two beloved elderly parents requiring daily attention.

Those who have experienced such circumstances know that in such moments, we become adults and strong, while our parents transform into our children, looking at us with anticipation for care, love, and attention. Strangely enough, during this challenging period for me, something shifted in my perception, and working the land became the lifeline that helped me endure.

My parents grew many vegetables on the plot, and there were also roses: my mother planted a dozen tea hybrid varieties, which she lovingly cared for and found joy in every blooming flower. Of course, I couldn’t ignore them. However, at that time, I knew nothing about rose care, and as a result, they suffered from diseases and bloomed poorly.

I had to start learning the art of rose cultivation from scratch. How astonished I was when I first saw a photo of the ‘Augusta Luise’ variety on the internet—could roses truly bloom like that? Then, I discovered the Gardens (written with a capital letter)—the gardens of experienced rose enthusiasts—and realized that instead of vegetable beds, I needed a rose garden.

Initially, I had no specific plan; I simply had a tremendous desire to have a beautiful garden. The plot is about seven and a half acres in size, but its shape is quite unusual: it is elongated and narrow.

In the tightest corners, it is just over ten meters wide. Transforming it into a gallery of garden rooms seemed like a natural choice. Each room serves a specific purpose, and based on that, I planned its “interior” and plantings.