One of Jan Serface’s favorite rooms at her house isn’t technically a room at all. It’s the rambling, hidden garden around the back and side of the house that is dedicated to her roses.

“To me, my garden is an extension of my home,” said Serface, the president of McLennan County Master Gardeners.

Serface moved to Waco from San Angelo in 2000 and became a master gardener in 2001. But her relationship with roses really began two years later, when she took a class about the most popular flower.

Jan Serface, president of the McLennan County Master Gardeners, has at least 20 varieties of roses at her West Waco home.
Jerry Larson/Tribune-Herald

She was also in charge of the test rose garden at Texas State Technical College. The garden, which was discontinued last year, tested rose varieties to determine which could be labeled Earth-Kind.

Today, her West Waco residence is home to at least 20 varieties of roses, which she grows with success using no fertilizer, no fungicides and no pesticides.

“They’re just there,” Serface said.

Her secret is that she mostly plants Earth-Kind roses and uses Earth-Kind philosophy to tend them.

She prepares the soil for planting by laying down expanded shale, then good compost and, after planting the bush, tops it with mulch.

The mulch keeps Serface from doing much weeding in her garden. She said her plants mostly work out any trouble they have with bugs or other threats.

And if it’s something that won’t clear up, Serface may just remove a plant from the garden.

“I don’t keep things that are going to cause me problems,” she said.

Earth-Kind is a designation by the Texas Agrilife Extension Service. Earth-Kind roses have been researched, tested and proven to have superior pest tolerance, and excellent tolerance for heat and drought.

Serface also grows antique roses.

“Anything from the 1800s is going to be fine,” she said, because they are sturdy and were grown at a time when chemicals weren’t relied on to keep a plant healthy.

Serface’s garden, much like the Earth-Kind gardening she practices, has a natural feel. Rose bushes mingle with a range of other foliage, from a towering rose of Sharon tree to lower-profile coneflowers and irises, salvias and zinnias.

Jan Serface’s rambling, natural garden in her backyard contains a number of plants, but the star attractions are the roses.
Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald

A meandering path starts near an ivory rose named Iceberg, moves past the little bitty light pink variety with a huge smell, named Marie Daly.

The path goes under a trellis arch that roses have climbed and embraced, and around to the back corner of the house where the modest, medium-sized, barely pink rose named Quietness grows, its smell pure perfume. Other varieties inhabit huge pots and line her driveway.

“Sometimes I plant things just to see how they’ll do,” she said.

Serface created her garden in 2003, with the help of landscape architect Creighton Bennett, who devised a dry creek bed that runs along the side of the house.

Serface did all the landscaping with the plants herself. She keeps her garden fresh by planting new things and moving others to areas where they might grow better.

She thinks the activity is good for her garden

“And it’s good for my spirit and soul,” she said.

Serface is a scientist when it comes to growing roses. But she also takes time to enjoy the flowering fruit of her labor. Every morning she sits outside, near a trickling fountain, and watches the sun rise over her garden.

“Some people say roses are too hard to take care of, but if you choose the right kind of rose, they’re not,” Serface said. “If you want roses, just to enjoy in your garden, stick with (Earth-Kind).”

wgragg@wacotrib.com

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