Actress Julie Newmar’s Gorgeous Garden Boasts More Than 80 Rose Varieties

If you’ve ever watched Julie Newmar glide across the screen as Catwoman and thought, “That woman could probably convince a thorny plant to behave,” you’re not alone. What’s surprising isn’t that she loves rosesit’s the scale (and theater) of how she loves them. Hidden behind a rose-packed frontage in Los Angeles is a garden that feels less like “backyard” and more like a living set piece: paths that curve like choreography, secret garden “rooms,” playful illusions, andmost famouslymore than 80 rose varieties blooming like a color script.

This is not a sterile, museum-perfect landscape. It’s a gardener’s garden: experimental, deeply personal, and a little mischievous. And because Newmar is Newmar, it’s also funnyright down to the front-yard attitude that says, in essence, “Some people love dogs. I love plants.”

Julie Newmar’s Brentwood Eden: A Garden Built for Wonder (and Real Life)

Newmar’s garden has been described as a series of immersive “rooms,” designed to make the property feel bigger than it is. Instead of one flat expanse, the landscape unfolds in scenesturn a corner and you’re somewhere new. That sense of discovery isn’t accidental; it’s the result of deliberate layout, strong structure, and a willingness to treat the outdoors like a story you get to step inside.

The practical side is just as intentional. The paths are designed to be easy to navigateflat, smooth, and scooter-friendlybecause the garden isn’t a showroom. It’s daily life. Newmar and her adult son, John, can move through the space comfortably and experience it together, which is the whole point of a garden in the first place: you’re supposed to be able to live in it, not just stare at it from the window.

More Than 80 Rose Varieties: A Collection That’s Curated, Not Chaotic

Anyone can buy “a rose.” Building a rose collection with more than 80 varieties is different: it’s about selecting for fragrance, form, color, seasonality, and performance. In Newmar’s garden, roses aren’t tossed in like confettithey’re organized with intention, including color-themed zones that create distinct moods as you move through the space.

A color-script approach: hot vs. cool planting

One smart strategy credited to her garden’s design is grouping roses by color temperaturethink of it as wardrobe styling, but for petals. “Hot” areas lean into reds, oranges, and yellows. “Cool” areas play with pinks, lavenders, and softer tones. The effect is immediate: you don’t just see flowers; you feel a shift in atmosphere.

Roses chosen for drama, perfume, and personality

The garden’s rose list reads like a greatest-hits playlist for fragrance lovers and old-soul romantics. Newmar has name-checked varieties such as ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ and ‘Yves Piaget’ for their scent-and-wow-factor presence, alongside favorites like ‘Fragrant Cloud’ and ‘Pat Austin’. And yesthere’s also a climbing rose that gets a starring role, trained up high like it’s supposed to look down dramatically at the rest of us. Icon behavior.

Garden Rooms, Secret Passages, and a Little Optical Mischief

Plenty of celebrity gardens aim for “luxury.” Newmar’s aims for “transportation.” Fountains, primeval-feeling tree ferns, and layered plantings create a sense of depth and time. Some areas lean cottage-garden exuberant, while others go quieter, greener, and more contemplative.

The unforgettable details are the ones that feel like stagecraft. A waterfall with Balinese flair. An “Alice in Wonderland” mirrored gate that creates a visual tricklike another garden is waiting behind the glass. It’s garden design as playful illusion: a reminder that delight is a legitimate landscaping goal.

The “Julie Newmar” Rose: When Horticulture Meets a Little Star Power

Newmar doesn’t just grow rosesshe became one. A rose carries her name, and it’s a fitting match: a buttery yellow bloom with deep pink tones at the edges that feels both glamorous and warm. The story behind it is just as Newmar-esque: persistent, intentional, and a tiny bit theatrical.

Beyond the rose, she’s also been associated with other named plants (including a lily and a begonia). And in her beds, it’s not only her namesake getting attentionshe’s been known to grow a “who’s who” of celebrity roses as well, turning a planting area into a playful roll call of pop culture and perfume.

There’s a broader horticultural context here, too. Celebrity-named roses aren’t random stickers slapped onto a plant; rose breeding can be a long, multi-year process, and naming often becomes part of how a new variety is introduced to the public. Newmar’s case stands out because she clearly cared about the flower, not just the headlinegardener first, legend always.

Why Her Roses Thrive: Principles You Can Steal for Your Own Rose Garden

You don’t need a movie-star addressor 80-plus varietiesto borrow what makes this garden work. Under the whimsy is a set of grounded, repeatable habits: smart layout, meticulous observation, and classic rose-care fundamentals. Here’s how to translate “Julie Newmar energy” into real-world results.

1) Start with layout: paths, access, and maintenance routes

Roses are stunning, but they’re also needy in the way a diva is needy: not “high maintenance,” just “specific.” Make it easy to reach every plant for watering, pruning, deadheading, and cleanup. Curving paths can be beautiful, but they’re also functionalguiding movement through the garden while preventing the dreaded “I can’t reach that cane without losing an eye” moment.

• Build beds you can access from at least one side (two is even better).
• Keep walking surfaces level and stablefuture-you will be grateful.
• Use the path edges as your “stage line” for repeating plants and color rhythm.

2) Curate a rose collection like a playlist

A good rose garden doesn’t feel like a catalog. It feels like a point of view. Decide what you’re collecting: fragrance? Old-fashioned flower form? Heat tolerance? Cut flowers? Then add roses in “sets” so the garden looks intentional, even when it’s bursting.

• Fragrance theme: pick a few heavy hitters and repeat them in different areas.
• Color theme: create “hot” and “cool” zones to make the garden feel like rooms.
• Bloom timing theme: mix repeat bloomers with seasonal showstoppers.

3) Prune for airflow: roses hate being crowded

If your rose bush looks like it’s hiding secrets in the middle, it’s time to open it up. Pruning is less about punishment and more about architecture: remove weak growth, encourage outward-facing buds, and keep the center open so light and air can move through. That airflow helps reduce disease pressure and supports stronger blooms.

1. Use sharp, clean tools and disinfect when moving between plants.
2. Cut on a slight angle above an outward-facing bud.
3. Remove dead, damaged, and twiggy stems firstthen shape.
4. Make room in the center so canes don’t cross and rub.

Timing varies by region and rose type, but the big idea is consistent: prune when the plant is ready to push new growth, not when you’re bored on a random Tuesday.

4) Water at the roots, not the leaves

Roses love deep watering and hate soggy foliage. If you want fewer fungal headaches, deliver water directly to the soil using drip irrigation or soaker hoses, and water early enough that any splashed leaves dry quickly. This encourages deeper roots and reduces the wet-leaf conditions that invite disease.

• Water deeply, then let the top layer begin to dry before watering again.
• Prefer drip/soaker hoses over overhead sprinklers.
• In hot spells, focus on consistencywild swings stress plants.

5) Mulch like you mean it

Mulch is the unsung stunt double of a great rose garden: it does the hard work so your roses can take credit. A consistent layer helps conserve water, moderate soil temperature, suppress weeds, and reduce soil splash onto foliage. Organic mulches also break down over time, feeding the soil and improving structure.

• Apply a few inches of organic mulch (wood chips, shredded bark, composted material).
• Keep mulch pulled back slightly from the base of the plant to avoid rot issues.
• Top it up as it decomposessoil-building is a long game.

6) Disease prevention: tidy habits beat panic sprays

Rose diseases can feel dramatic (black spot practically has its own lighting crew), but the most effective tactics are often boring: sanitation, airflow, smart watering, and staying ahead of problems. If disease shows up, remove infected leaves, clean up fallen debris, and avoid letting issues build into a full-season battle.

When chemical controls are used, follow label directions carefully and treat them as one toolnot the whole plan. Many gardeners find that resistant varieties plus good cultural practices reduce the need for frequent spraying.

7) Feed the soil first, then the roses

Big blooms don’t happen on vibes alone. Roses are heavy feeders, but “more fertilizer” isn’t automatically “more flowers.” Build soil health with compost and organic matter, then use a reasonable feeding schedule based on the type of roses you grow and your climate. Overfeedingespecially with high nitrogencan push tender growth that’s more attractive to pests and more vulnerable to disease.

A practical approach is to fertilize in spring as growth starts, then again after the first major bloom cycle for repeat bloomers, and taper off later in the season so plants can harden before cold weather (where winter matters).

What This Garden Teaches (Besides “Buy More Roses”)

Newmar’s garden is a masterclass in two things that don’t always show up in gardening advice columns: personal meaning and daily usability. The whimsy works because it sits on top of real horticultural competencepaths you can actually use, records you actually keep, and plants you actually tend. The garden is gorgeous, sure. But it’s also an ecosystem of routines, choices, and small adjustments made over time.

The best takeaway isn’t “collect 80 rose varieties.” It’s “collect what makes you happy, and design it so you can enjoy it every day.” That’s not just garden design. That’s life designsaid with dirt under your nails.

Experience Add-On (Approx. ): What It’s Like to Build Your Own ‘80-Variety’ Rose World

Let’s say Julie Newmar’s garden hits you right in the inspiration glands and you decide to create your own version. Not necessarily 80 varieties on day oneunless you enjoy spreadsheets, back pain, and explaining to your family why the grocery budget now includes “one more climbing rose.” But even a scaled-down “rose room” can give you the same kinds of experiences her garden seems designed to deliver.

First, you learn the joy of micro-moments. Roses don’t bloom like a switch flipping on; they build suspense. A tight bud swells, softens, and finally opens with that slow-motion drama that makes you stop mid-walk. You start checking plants the way people check their phonesexcept the notifications smell better. One morning it’s a new flush of petals. Another day it’s a scent you didn’t notice last week. Your “quick look outside” becomes a daily ritual that resets your mood faster than scrolling ever could.

Then comes the experience of curation. The more roses you add, the more you realize you’re not just plantingyou’re editing. You begin to see color like a designer: warm tones advance, cool tones recede, and a single unexpected burgundy bloom can make a whole bed feel richer. You’ll move plants (yes, you will), because gardeners are basically interior decorators with dirt. You’ll also discover your preferences: maybe you’re a fragrance person, maybe you’re a “repeat bloomer, low drama” person, maybe you’re secretly a maximalist who wants every trellis to be doing something romantic.

You also get a crash course in humility. Roses can be vigorous and forgiving, but they will tell youclearlywhen something’s off. Crowded branches lead to fungal issues. Overhead watering turns leaves into a disease invitation. Too much nitrogen pushes soft growth that pests treat like a buffet. This isn’t failure; it’s feedback. And the weird part is, the feedback becomes satisfying. You start enjoying the detective work: improving airflow, adjusting watering, top-dressing compost, tracking what worked and what didn’t.

Over time, your rose garden becomes a social experienceeven if you’re not throwing garden tours. Neighbors notice. Friends “just happen” to come over when something is blooming. You get asked what you’re growing and how you did it, and suddenly you’re the person saying sentences like, “It’s happiest with morning sun and drip irrigation,” as if you were born knowing that.

Finally, you get the experience Newmar’s garden seems to celebrate most: the feeling of making a place that reflects you. Not a generic “nice yard,” but a living space with taste, quirks, and joy baked in. The roses are beautiful, yesbut what really changes is that you’ve built a daily doorway into beauty. A garden like that doesn’t just decorate your home. It rearranges your attention. And honestly? That’s the most luxurious part.

Conclusion

Julie Newmar’s rose garden isn’t famous because it’s largeit’s famous because it’s alive with intention. The more-than-80-varieties headline is dazzling, but the deeper story is how she blends playful design, accessible pathways, and classic rose care into a space that delivers daily wonder. Take the parts that fit your life: a small “hot” rose bed, a fragrance corner, a trellis with one dramatic climber, or simply a better pruning-and-watering routine. You don’t need a mirrored gate to create magicbut it definitely doesn’t hurt.