Today we have a guest post from Algonquin editor Andra Miller.

It was a beautiful spring day in May and our publisher, Elisabeth Scharlatt, hosted a pre-event luncheon at her home in Southport, Connecticut. Author Stephen Scanniello, Ginny Arndt (director of programming for the Pequot Library), Carolan Workman, and myself enjoyed gazpacho, poached salmon, and farm-fresh hard-boiled eggs with stinky cheese and crackers. We sipped wine and ice coffee and chatted excitably about the roses, among other things.

While some of us meandered over ice cream and berries, Stephen and Elisabeth went out in the yard to scout the best place to plant the rosebushes that he had brought for her. A fine place was found along the white picket fence in front of the house. Stephen and Elisabeth dug in and within moments the bush was planted. Gardening has never looked so easy!

Stephen brought TWENTY rosebushes as prizes to be raffled off after the event, to earn money for the library. The lucky winners in the audience went home with a rose bush (or two!), accompanied by a flier describing the name of the plant and its required care. All were roses that appeared in A Rose By Any Name.

The event itself was great fun. In the old, beautiful meeting room of Southport’s Pequot Library, Stephen told tales of rosebushes once lost then found, scandalous re-namings of roses, and how he has worked with various organizations to preserve, protect, and bring back roses in danger of being lost forever. Oddly, many of his slides included cemeteries (where some of the best rosebushes can be found). It became apparent that Stephen makes a habit of scouting roses wherever he goes, sometimes showing a slide of a rosebush he pulled over the side of the road to photograph because he couldn’t believe that some obscure rose was growing amok in somebody’s yard. Stephen’s delight was contagious. He followed the presentation with a book signing, although I stole his attention for one moment to get the lowdown on the Souvenir d’Anne Frank rose bush I won in the raffle for my mother.

After a long and pleasant day, Stephen bade us good-bye, soon on his way to Paris to be a judge in the International New Rose Trials at the Jardins de Bagatelle.

– Andra