FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – The weather is getting warmer and that means Lakeside Park and Rose Garden is preparing to host visitors.

The gardeners who maintain the rose garden put down fertilizer to help the flowers get ready to bloom.

“This time of year we are waking up the roses. As soon as the buds break, we begin to see leaves and spray down our insecticide to get everything ready,” said Eddie Palmer, a gardener for Lakeside who maintains the rose garden.

They begin putting in the fertilizer and removing the winter protection from the roses. He said they start cutting back the cane and look for anything that is destroyed, damaged or dead from the winter.

“We’re really looking to matchup our bed lines, fix everything and make sure that everything is ready to go for the next few months as events begin to ramp up,” Palmer said.

The rose garden holds more than 2,000 rose plants with at least 150 types of roses present.

Events like weddings, reunions and graduations are held by the garden throughout the spring and summer and has become a popular destination for hosting events.

Lakeside has kept many of its roses it has had for many years. He said they have put in some new roses in recent years including English, hybrid tea, shrub and climbing roses.

“Each of them has a different style and style of caring for them,” he said. “We don’t do a lot of moving and transplanting anymore since we’ve had many for years.”

The rose garden is one of the fewest in Fort Wayne that is maintained by full-time staff. He likes the fact that they are able to bring the very best to create a unique space for people to utilize and visit.

He said the pavilions at the park are rented out almost every weekend throughout the season with about two weddings scheduled in the coming weeks by the rose garden.

“The rose garden is so well thought out. It’s over 100 years old, a lot of these bed lines are original and a lot of the roses have been here more than 50 years,” he said.