Life came up roses for Clarence White after he went to work at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, where he became an expert on 1,000 varieties.
White was an assistant gardener for 20 years until he died July 16 at 74. Colleagues recall him generously sharing his expertise about tea roses and shrub roses with visitors to the arboretum.
It was the final, and to White the most satisfying, step in a career that started in farming and wound through industrial and warehouse jobs.
"His earliest memories were following his dad in the fields, pulling weeds and planting, so digging in dirt has always been his nature," said Mary Christensen White, his friend and former wife. "It's where he found serenity."
At the arboretum, he was considered a role model for his work ethic. "He really helped and nurtured the younger interns we had on staff," said Steve Van Natta, the horticulture manager. "People were really attracted by his enthusiasm and his overall knowledge of roses and he made work fun."
Horticulturist Ted Pew recalled White's sense of humor during the seasonal transitions to "tip roses," burying them for the winter, then lifting them out of trenches during spring, a challenging process to keep them alive because of their delicate nature.
"When somebody would be lifting a tea rose and we would hear a crack he would say, 'You don't have to come back to work at this garden!''' Pew said.
White wanted to garden at the arboretum until he was 75 and nearly made his goal, Pew said.
