A prestigious award from the Garden Club of America comes in the proper season of the year for Teri Tillman.

For more than 15 years, Tillman has spent part of her springtime gardening at the Natchez City Cemetery, tending the old roses that have grown there — some for more than 100 years.

Last week in San Antonio, Texas, the GCA presented Tillman with its Zone 9 Historic Preservation Award, commending her for efforts to document, preserve and propagate the cemetery roses.

“She has created a significant rose garden for everyone to enjoy,” the award stated.

Tillman was quick to say that she did not to the job alone. “Many people have worked with me on this,” she said.

Sherry Jones, president of the Pilgrimage Garden Club Garden Club of America, also attended the meeting.

“We were thrilled. We knew about the award, but Teri didn’t,” Jones said.

“This is a very prestigious award and a big honor for our club,” Jones said.

William C. Welch, a well-known horticulturist and rose expert, was the first to inspire Tillman to consider the cemetery roses.

“I was program chairman (of the Pilgrimage Garden Club) in maybe 1989 or 1990,” she said.

“Dr. Welch presented a program on antique roses. He had some wonderful slides and told us we had a fabulous collection at our city cemetery,” Tillman said.

That presentation piqued her interest, as she is an avid gardener and horticulturist.

“Then the Garden Club of America wanted all clubs to have a horticulture project,” she said. “Pam Harriss, as president of our GCA, suggested roses.”

The project took off from there, with Tillman leading the way. As a member of the local GCA, affiliated with the Pilgrimage Garden Club, as well as a member of the City Cemetery Board, she has had more than one way to approach her interest in the roses.

“In 1993, we started to survey the roses and to document them,” she said.

The Heritage Rose Foundation came to Natchez that year for its annual meeting, another round of programs and people that continued to mold her interest in and knowledge of old roses.

By 1998, Tillman was presenting her own programs, using the unusual historic collection at the Natchez cemetery.

“I love the old roses because they are easy to grow and they require no pesticides,” Tillman said.

“And I love them because of the history behind them. When you grow these roses from the roots, they are the same roses that were in Empress Josephine’s garden or in a small garden in front of a little cottage in England.”

She has learned plenty about the old roses — names, behavior and, well, almost personalities.

“I’ve learned that they are survivors,” she said. In an article she wrote a few years ago, she said, “Many of the glorious gardens of Natchez have vanished without a trace, but a hint of their beauty remains in the collection of antique roses in the City Cemetery.”

In the 19th century, Natchez was known for its roses, she said, recalling articles she has read during her research.

“Natchez at one time was called the Persia of roses. A 19th-century writer came through Natchez and used those words. He said every home he visited had incredible roses.”

Tillman and others who assist her with the roses try to perform three tasks that help to keep the roses beautiful.

“We try to prune and shape them every year. That helps with air circulation beneath them,” she said.

“And we weed them and we mulch them. We do not spray them at all.”

Tillman has an old rose in her own garden that has traces of mildew. “But I know that mildew is associated with a cool spring. By summer, it will be gone,” she said.

The award is special to her, Tillman said. She was at the meeting to serve as horticulture clerk, but she did not know she would receive the award.

“What meant a lot to me was that Dr. Welch, the man who introduced me to old roses, also received an award at the meeting,” she said.

“I was very honored and surprised to receive it. I value what GCA does. I’ve learned a lot about conservation, horticulture and historic preservation through GCA. Those are their three priorities. I guess I’m promoting all of those things in the cemetery.”By Joan Gandy