“The Garden of the Stars”

About the Nashville Music Garden:

The seed for the idea for the 2,700-square-foot public garden was planted when country music legend Barbara Mandrell gave her namesake rose to friend and LifeWorks Foundation Trustee, Pat Bullard, who recognized it as a way to acknowledge the music and artists synonymous with Nashville and also to beautify Music City. In her research, she found that over three dozen roses were named for Nashville artists, songs or industry leaders. These include Minnie Pearl (1981), Barbara Mandrell (1990), Brenda Lee (Williams Variety 1991) and Pam Tillis (2003), but the “celebrity roses” had never before been housed together in one garden for the public to view.

To that end, Bullard began the painstaking task of amassing the plants into a single collection, the Nashville Music Garden Collection, while encouraging world-renowned hybridizers, including Whit Wells of Wells Mid-South Roses, to name roses for use in the project. The Nashville Music Garden also cultivated a relationship with the Nashville Rose Society.

Since the initial collection was assembled, over three dozen new roses and daylilies have been collected or introduced on behalf of the honorees of the Nashville Music Garden as part of the inaugural class of flowering plants of the Nashville Music Garden Collection. Hybridizers are already working on additional selections for use in the garden in future years and to bring honor to those in need of recognition.

In the spring of 2007, with the assistance of consulting ARS Master Rosarian, Dr. Louis Mishu and EarthMatters Tennessee, LifeWorks Foundation created a garden in honor of DeFord Bailey, the “Lost Legend of the Grand Ole Opry,” in the Sunnyside community (also known as the 12South district) of Nashville. The DeFord Bailey Tribute Garden, which stands at the corner of Lealand and Gale Lane, houses a sampling of roses from the Nashville Music Garden Collection and a rose especially hybridized for the collection, the DeFord Bailey rose.

The following year, LifeWorks Foundation received permission from Nashville MetroParks Council for the installation of the Nashville Music Garden within the Hall of Fame Park at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Demonbreun (across the street from the Schermerhorn Symphony Center and the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum). The now thriving Nashville Music Garden is home to the over six dozen roses and daylilies of the Nashville Music Garden Collection.

New Year’s Day started 2009 with a flourish. As the world tuned in to watch the 120th Tournament of Roses Parade, six of the roses from the Nashville Music Garden Collection (Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Little Jimmy Dickens, Amy Grant, Minnie Pearl and the Grand Ole Opry®), were featured as a key element on the RFD-TV’s HEE HAW-themed float. The Rose Parade was carried on several major networks in the United States and in over 200 countries internationally. RFD-TV was quick to embrace the symbolism of the roses and has pledged to include roses from the Nashville Music Collection in future Rose Parade entries.

The Nashville Music Garden will be dedicated in a public ceremony on September 29, 2009. For more information on the dedication, log on to www.nashvillemusicgarden.com.

The garden is funded by LifeWorks Foundation and is supported by MetroParks, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum, the Hilton Downtown Nashville and the Nashville Rose Society.

Flowers to be included in the Nashville Music Garden Collection’s Inaugural Class*

AlabamaAll American Girl(I Will) Always Love YouAmazing GraceAmy GrantBarbara MandrellBlue BayouBlue Suede ShoesBrand New GirlfriendBrenda LeeButterfly KissesChange of HeartChantilly LaceCoal Miner’s DaughterCoat of Many ColorsCool WaterDeFord BaileyDinah ShoreDolly PartonDusty Springfield

ElvisEverlasting LoveFootlightsFunny FaceGarden PartyGentle GiantGood Ole Mountain DewGrand Ole OpryHappy TrailsHeart of GoldIda RedJulio IglesiasKiss An Angel Good MorningKitty WellsLeAnn RimesLee Greenwood’s American PatriotLegendsLittle Jimmy DickensLittle Sister

Lynn AndersonMandrell Family RoseMinnie PearlMoon DanceMountain MusicNashvilleNight LifeOrange Blossom SpecialPam TillisPassionate KissesPatsy ClinePretty WomanPurple HazeReba McEntireRing of FireRocky TopShamelessShania (Twain)Shenandoah

Sweet DreamsSweet Home AlabamaTennessee WaltzThe StreakWhite Lightnin’Widow of the SouthWildfireZell

Roses:

Daylilies:Dolly’s LipstickElvisHank WilliamsJanice WendellJohnny CashKitty WellsMinnie PearlPatsy Cline

* This list is not final. More roses may be added as we near the dedication date.

Randall Lantz and Dr. Louis Mishu begin installation.

The minds behind the Nashville Music Garden: L to R-Jim Douglas, Landscape Architect, Hodgson & Douglas; Barbara Mandrell, Country Legend and Celebrity Host for the Nashville Music Garden; Pat Bullard, LifeWorks Trustee; Dr. Louis Mishu, Consulting ARS Master Rosarian; Randall Lantz, Superintendent of Horticulture, MetroParks & Recreation

World-renowned hybridizer, Whit Wells and Pat Bullard

Pat Bullard and Brenda LeeFlowers of the Nashville Music Garden were featured on RFD-TV’s 2009 Pasadena Rose Parade float. Photo courtesy of RFD-

TV

Barbara Mandrell and Pat Bullard break ground for the garden.

Alan Valentine, Barbara Mandrell and Pat Bullard present the Amy Grant Rose at Schermerhorn Symphony’s Firefighter Memorial.

ARS Master Rosarian Dr. Louis Mishu, wife Mona,

Barbara Mandrell

LifeWorks Foundation Trustee Pat Bullard unveils Nashville Music Garden logo at the 2008 Tenarky Rose Show at Cheekwood.

The Bailey family at the DeFord Bailey

Dedication

Pam Tillis presents Little Jimmy Dickens with a rose hybridized in his honor by

Whit Wells.Photo courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry

Pat Bullard, LifeWorks Foundation Trustee

All photos by Katherine Bomboy (except where noted)

Friends of the Nashville Music Garden gather for the installation ceremony.

“Roses have always held a special place in my heart. Roses have popped up in several of my songs, including one of my most requested ‘Blue Rose Is.’ How could you not love an oasis in the middle of the city celebrating

country music in such an original way? It was a big enough honor to have a rose named after me, thanks to the late great Bob Whitaker and his lovely wife Glenda, but to have a rose of my own among some of my own

heroes like Minnie Pearl and Dolly Parton is something I'm extra proud of. I'll see you in the garden!” – Pam Tillis

“I am delighted and honored to have my music included in the Nashville Music Garden. Thank you LifeWorks Foundation and MetroParks for the inspiration and presentation of flora to add even more beauty to our

already beautiful city.” – Donna Fargo

Barbara Mandrell rose

Pam Tillis rose Ring of Fire rose

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