The Marin Rose A non-profit Affiliate of the American Rose Society 2008 Gold Honor Medal Winner 2009 Honorable Mention

Transcription

1 The Marin Rose A non-profit Affiliate of the American Rose Society 2008 Gold Honor Medal Winner 2009 Honorable Mention Volume 36, No. 4 April, 2010 Exhibiting Your Roses and Preparing for Show With Betty Mott Tuesday, April 13, :30 pm Marin Art & Garden Center Inside Highlights President s Message Program Notes Rose Care for April Monthly Show Schedule Roses Unite Long Beach Neighborhood If I Only Had Three What s Bugging You? Rose of the Month The Rose Garden By Gary Scales One of the very first books I read about roses wasn t of the how to grow variety. It didn t have drawings or photographs of rose bushes. There were no illustrations on how to prune, or dig a hole. And while the author eventually went on to publish nearly fifty books; none of them would be about roses. But in the scant 78 pages, simply named, The Rose Garden, Otto Friedrich, a forty year old summa cum laude Harvard professor, with no particular interest in gardening, tells how planting a rose garden changed his perspective on life. The experience of the book for me was not so much gathering practical knowledge about roses, but rather to challenge and engage as to why, and to what end, did I want roses to become part of my life. Friedrich doesn t waste any time in throwing down the gauntlet, unequivocally stating Gertrude Stein s most enduring quotes: A rose is a rose is a rose, simply was not true. The author maintained the roses American gardeners are familiar with today are a far cry from the roses of the days of Shakespeare or Virgil. And as a result, we have lost the rich and enduring heritage of roses. As a college history major, I m paying attention. Friedrich begins in ancient Greece with the Autumn Damask, ( Rosa damascena bifera ) and tells how, for tens of centuries the damask rose dominates the western world with its ability to bloom twice a year. And together with its intense fragrance becomes the source of enormous wealth and prestige. But then Friedrich draws me deeper into the current with the tale from across the seas, of a pink china rose brought back to England in 1790 that ends up in a garden in Hertfordshire and becomes known as Parsons Pink China ( Old Blush ). And like a novel, the plot thickens, as the story moves to a remote island, 400 miles of the coast of Madagascar where some Parsons Pink China roses and damasks have been inter-planted as a

2 The Marin Rose April, 2010 Volume 36, No. 4 Gail Trimble and Joan Goff Co-Editors Gail Trimble, Publisher Barbara Picarelli, Distributor MRS Officers, Directors & Committee Chairs President Don Chapman chapman.don@comcast.net 1st VP / Program Co-Chairs Alan Petersen HMCPAMP@sbcglobal.net Frank Treadway Frank@HomesMarin.com 2d VP/Show Co-Chairs Paula Jaffe paulajaffe@comcast.net Lenore Ruckman cmr3x7@aol.com Secretary Kitty O Donnell KKOSF51@comcast.net Treasurer To be determined Director & Website Chair Gail Trimble Directors Paul Cullen John Goldsmith Pamela Scott Rose Garden Coordinator Dorothy Arnold Raffle Chair Connie Gantsweg Membership Chair Dolores Gebhardt Hospitality Chair Mary Polizzi Parliamentarian Betty Mott Marin Rose Society While the advice and information in this newsletter is believed to be true and accurate at the time of publica-tion, neither the authors nor the edit-ors can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The Marin Rose Society makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. windbreak. (How did they possibly get there? Why is it named bourbon? This is a whodunit.) The damask and the Parsons Pink China naturally mate and produce an ever-blooming, fragrant hybrid that a French horticulturist (who just happens to be on this forsaken island) finds and sends cuttings back to Paris of the new Bourbon Rose. I take a deep breath, remembering this is not fiction, Old Blush and all taking place without supersonic jets and computers. During this same period, Friedrich writes that another British horticulturist, Gilbert Slater, returns from China with another repeat blooming rose, which is named Slater s Crimson China. And a cutting of Slater s Crimson China ends up mating with a native rose in an Italian garden. Of course, it is noticed by the visiting Duchess of Portland, who takes it back to England as the first portland rose. And, as would happen in any romantic novel, the bourbon and portland roses produced, in 1816, the first hybrid perpetual, Rose du Roi (now classed as a portland). In a brief quarter century, 1790 to 1816, roses had seen more change than in the past 2,500 years. In the succeeding years, more introductions cross the seas in wooden ships from China, resulting in the noisette rose, which when combined with another Chinese strain produced the classic tea rose. My mind is racing. What would have happened to rose history if a twelve-year-old cabin boy had forgotten to water the cuttings, or a rogue wave had washed the whole lot overboard? Friedrich s treatise ends in 1867, when a French rose-grower combined a richly scented tea rose named Mme Bravy with a robust hybrid perpetual named Mme Victor Verdier and created the first specimen of the standard modern Rose du Roi rose, the hybrid tea La France. A rose is a rose is a rose? Hardly, Gertrude! I said to myself. And then the gripping story of # As World War II swept across Europe, and the Nazi invasion of France became inevitable, noted rose hybridizer, Francis Melliand, pleads with agricultural inspection officials to allow cuttings of his newest, most promising rose to leave Paris on one of the last planes bound for the United States. Seeding # becomes Peace ; arguably the most renowned rose in history. Friedrich s The Rose Garden had opened a gardening door to the world of roses, through which I tumbled headfirst. Having dispatched any notion that roses should be viewed as some standard flower variety, Friedrich selects a sheltered, sun-dappled corner of an oak forest for his rose garden. He does so with full knowledge that roses need sun. He had read How to Grow Roses, by J. Horace McFarland and Robert Pyle, who The Marin Rose 2 April 2010

3 explicitly state: roses must have at least five to six hours of direct sun each day. And in due time Friedrich discovers that roses can and will grow in the shade of oak trees, but not as strongly and as brightly as they would in a field of sun. But he concludes that he wasn t about to cut down oak trees to get more sun and growing the biggest and brightest roses wasn t his goal in the first place. So I am saying to myself, what is your objective? What are you trying to accomplish? And this observation segues into a Friedrich chapter on weeding as a process of cleansing and purification. As a firm believer that discipline in the home is the very linchpin of order, I thus suspected the same adage carried into the garden. Friedrich didn t disappoint by declaring that the neatly clipped privet hedge, the impeccable lawn, the well-tended apple orchard were pleasing because they implied order on nature. But he added another salutary element of weeding was that it is a task that required one to be on one s knees. Peace And remarked that prayer and floor scrubbing did also, with edifying and humbling results. And Friedrich challenges me again by observing one gains a wholly new perspective, working in a rose garden, on one s knees, where one senses, more than anywhere else, the closeness, the richness, the fertility and the vast, solid mass of the earth itself. Growing up in an era where DDT eliminated malaria and typhoid, and dramatically increased agricultural production, I gave not a second thought to the indiscriminate spraying of chemical pesticides. Rachel Carson s Silent Spring did raise some questions to the logic of releasing large amounts of chemicals into the environment without fully understanding their effects on ecology and human heath, but this was more theory than doctrine. And initially Friedrich was right there with me raising the question about caterpillars and other such insects: What purpose in God s universe could ever have inspired Him to create such things that destroy our beautiful roses? But he deftly turns his question around. Suppose caterpillars had been created purely as objects of beauty? Is the green and furry skin of the caterpillar intrinsically any less beautiful than the leaf of the rose? And then suppose, that the only function of the rose, the basic reason for its existence, is to provide food for the magnificent caterpillar and other insects that inhabit our gardens? I ask myself today, forty plus years from first reading The Rose Garden, what has sustained my interest for these decades? It surely hasn t been trophies or ribbons. And when I read Friedrich s final sentence; the rose represents many of the element and conditions that we most profoundly cherish; beauty, love, purity, serenity, life itself, and even the transfiguration that passes beyond life, I realized that with roses I could have an interest that would never bore me, and could challenge and entertain me the rest of my life. To me our rose garden embodies faith, hope and a sense of great joy in being alive. Photos of Autumn Damask and Old Blush by Jill Streit and photo of Rose du Roi by Joanne Bowman, all from and all used with written permission. Photo of Peace by Gail Trimble. ERRATUM: In Darrell g.h. Schramm s article, A Grecian Turn: On Fabvier and Lord Byron, the following sentence: Incidentally, a rose, variously spelled Isfahan or Isphahan or Ispahan was brought back from Isfahan, Persia, in 1832 by the English gardener Norah Lindsay... should read was brought back from Isfahan, Persia, in Photo of Fabvier by Calif Sue from Congratulations to our newest Consulting Rosarians, Kitty O'Donnell and Sandra Simon, who recently passed the Consulting Rosarian School in Vallejo!!! The Marin Rose 3 April 2010

4 President s Message Well, we have braved the rains and are well on our way into spring weather. Already the dreaded rust, black spot and aphids have invaded my garden, confirming the fact that spring has indeed arrived. However, employing the practice of Integrated Pest Management as outlined by our March speaker Barbara Shula, beneficial insects are arriving daily. These hard-working beneficials can be a gardener s next-to-best friend by keeping problem pests under control naturally, without the use of harmful chemicals. Speaking of spring, this year s Spring Business Meeting was hosted by Monterey Bay Rose Society on March 27, in Watsonville. Highlights of that meeting will be provided in next month s newsletter. The Marin Rose Society will be hosting the Spring Business Meeting in The one day meeting is scheduled for March 26, 2011 and will be held at the Livermore Pavilion at Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross. The host society is encouraged to supply a light breakfast and a potluck lunch. There will also be a District Raffle with donations from each local society in the District. While each local society is allotted two voting delegates at the meeting, any member can attend the spring business meetings. These meetings offer an excellent opportunity to learn what is going on and to socialize. Our Treasurer and Director, Joan Goff, has resigned those positions effective March 20, Joan served as our President last year, and is also co-editor of our award-winning newsletter, a job that she will continue to perform. Both of these jobs were quite demanding and Joan wishes to spend more of that time expanding her professional endives. She is a valued member of our society and will continue to be active in the organization in other ways. The Board of Directors will select a replacement for Joan as Treasurer, so if anyone is interested in performing that function, you should contact one of the board members. Until the board can select a new Treasurer, I will add that duty to my list. We still have not received a copy of the purposed new agreement with Marin Arts and Garden Center (MAGC) regarding the use of their facilities. We have been paying MAGC $18 for each of our members annually in April. Our last meeting with MAGC and support group presidents was March 19, At that meeting MAGC stated that their financial condition is currently stable, but that rental income was less than anticipated. We were also informed that the town of Ross was going to relocate their Farmers Market to the front parking lot on the MAGC property, and that any support group member of MAGC could place a table at each market day without charge. We would be able to provide information to market goers or sell items if we wished to do so. The Ross Farmers Market is planning on a May start date. If you have not already read the Beginners Column article in the March/April issue of the American Rose Magazine by Nanette Londeree, you should. The article is titled Protecting, Feeding and some Sumptuous Shrubs. It contains some great tips on spraying and fertilizing roses that can guide you through dealing with all kinds of problems, including diseases and insects. If you are not a member of the American Rose Society, now would be a good time to take advantage of their offer of a 4-month trial membership for only $5, which includes two copies of the American Rose Magazine. Our scholarship committee is hard at work designing our scholarship program, and should have a draft plan available for review at the next board meeting. The committee will submit several categories for candidates and suggested funding levels. This is an exciting new venture for the society, and we want to make sure that we have it right before offering scholarships to candidates. I will keep you informed of our progress as the program evolves. Plans for our Annual Rose Show on May 8th are progressing nicely, and looks like another wonderful event is going to happen. The rose show chairperson, Lydia Treadway, has signed contracts and has developed an exciting program for this May event. Education of roses will be emphasized this year, and I encourage each member to enter at least one rose in the show. We will be back at the Northgate Mall this year, and the newly remodeled space is wonderful. The Moya Library & Ross Historical Society has invited our members to their First Friday Forenoon program, The Global Migrations of Ornamental Plants, or how the world got into your garden. Horticultural History author Dr. Judith Taylor will present an illustrated program explaining how many readily recognized ornamental plants came to be used in our gardens. The program is presented in the Livermore Pavilion on Friday, April 2, 2010 at 11:00AM. Should be a fun look at how plants other than roses have landed in our gardens. If nothing else, this will give you a chance to view the rose garden at MAGC which is doing wonderful and ready to burst into bloom. Don t forget to bring at least one rose to the next meeting! Don The Marin Rose 4 April 2010

5 Program Notes On March 9 th, Barbara Schula gave a wonderful visual slide presentation on roses and her down to earth approach to cultivating roses in her Forestville garden using Integrated Pest Management Methods. Being a Consulting Rosarian and past president of the Redwood Empire Rose Society, Barbara had many helpful tips and experiences to share on how to manage your garden, identify pests, and attract their natural enemies without the use of pesticides. We all learned from this very easy to understand presentation! Thank you, Barbara. At our April meeting on the 13 th, Betty Mott, ARS Consulting Rosarian and Horticultural Judge will be presenting, Exhibiting Your Roses and Preparing for Show. This is going to be an exciting evening of hands-on instruction with your own roses. Bring your roses to Betty and to our Consulting Rosarians who will guide you in preparing these for our first show of the year. This is for everyone and not only seasoned exhibitors. Beginners welcome! We want to show you that it is no great mystery on how to show roses but actually it is enormous fun, and a great way to share your backyard roses! We have a casual approach for this evening and you will be surprised at how easy it is to enter our show and win prizes. This will add to your appreciation of roses in your garden, teach you to look closer at your roses and notice the fine points of your blooms. We will go step by step on how to groom a rose, remove blemishes, properly place it in a vase and display it so it shows its class. Bring your pruning scissors and the names of your roses along with your roses. We will help you fill out the entry tags and place each rose in the proper class for show. Tips on how to arrange them and make them last longer for your enjoyment are definitely worth your while. We will have a gift vase and the 2010 American Rose Society Handbook on Selecting Roses for the first 50 people. This event is open to the public, $5 at the door, free to members of the Marin Rose Society. Alan Petersen and Frank Treadway Rose Care for April By Dorothy Arnold, Consulting Rosarian The weeds should all be pulled from our gardens and our roses pruned but if not, it's never too late to start weeding. We have had warm weather lately so remember to water your pots and apply three inches of mulch around each plant. The mulch will help keep the soil moist and weed free. Mulch also gives the soil lots of nutrients. The aphids are coming out now so remove them with a blast of water or your fingers. At the Marin Art & Garden Center Rose Garden, we applied mallard mulch compost on the third week of March. We got this compost from Sonoma Compost. Sonoma Compost will deliver or you can go there yourself and fill your bags for a cheaper price. Sonoma Compost is an excellent source for many garden amendments. Look them up at: Marin Rose Society Volunteer Pruners Celebrating at End-of-Pruning-Season Lunch The Marin Rose 5 April 2010

6 Marin Rose Society 2010 Monthly Rose Show Schedule 1. HYBRID TEA or GRANDIFLORA - ONE BLOOM (One exhibition bloom per stem, disbudded) 2. HYBRID TEA OR GRANDIFLORA SPRAY (Two or more blooms per stem) 3. FLORIBUNDA - ONE BLOOM (One bloom per stem) 4. FLORIBUNDA SPRAY (Two or more blooms per stem) 5. MINIATURE - ONE BLOOM (One exhibition bloom per stem, disbudded) 6. MINIATURE SPRAY (Two or more blooms per stem) 7. MINIATURE - FULLY OPEN (Disbudded miniature, one stem, one bloom, stamens must show) 8. MINIFLORA - ONE BLOOM (One exhibition bloom per stem, disbudded) 9. MINIFLORA SPRAY (Two or more blooms per stem) 10. MINIFLORA - FULLY OPEN (Disbudded miniature, one stem, one bloom, stamens must show) 11. OLD GARDEN ROSE (With or without side buds. One bloom per stem, or spray) 12. MODERN SHRUBS INCLUDING DAVID AUSTIN S ENGLISH ROSES (With or without side buds. One bloom per stem, or spray) 13. CLASSIC SHRUBS - SHRUBS FROM THE HYBRID MUSK, HYBRID RUGOSA, HYBRID KORDESII, AND HYBRID MOYESII CLASSES (With or without side buds. One bloom per stem, or spray) 14. CLIMBERS (One bloom per stem, or spray, with or without side buds. Must have "LCL" or "HWICH" in ARS Handbook) 15. FRAGRANCE (Any rose, one bloom per stem, judged on fragrance only) 16. FULLY OPEN ROSE (Any rose except miniatures and minifloras, one stem, one bloom, stamens must show) 17. POLYANTHA SPRAY (Two or more blooms per stem) 18. HYBRID TEA or GRANDIFLORA in CLEAR GLASS BOWL (Exhibition bloom in proper size bowl) 19. MINIATURE IN CLEAR GLASS BOWL ( Exhibition bloom in proper size bowl) 20. MINIFLORA IN CLEAR GLASS BOWL ( Exhibition bloom in proper size bowl) 21. ANY OTHER ROSE IN CLEAR GLASS BOWL 22. MULTIPLE BLOOMS IN A BOWL (Any type of rose or mix of roses, no foliage, at exhibition stage that is typical of the variety. Blooms are to float in a clear container. Roses must be correctly named on entry tag.) 23. HI-LO-CHALLENGE (Two specimens at exhibition stage of a larger rose and a smaller rose, matched for form, color, and degree of openness exhibited in separate containers.) 24. NOVICE CLASS (Any rose, one bloom per stem or spray. Open to exhibitors who have not won three (3) First Place ribbons in any other class or combination of classes. Eligible for Best in Show. All other Classes are open to Novices.) 25. BOUQUET (Minimum of five (5) stems, any combination of varieties. Listing of varieties preferred but not necessary) 26. ARRANGEMENT (Points and ribbons are not awarded for this class. All are encouraged to enter and learn arrangement. A theme may be announced as we develop our skills in this classification.) Only members of the Marin Rose Society in good standing may participate in the monthly Rose Show. Only clear vases will be allowed for exhibition Classes 1 through 23. Vases may be purchased for a nominal charge from the Marin Rose Society. Arrangements, Class 24, may be displayed in any type of vase. Only three (3) entries per class are permitted, each must be a different variety from the exhibitor's own garden.. Entry of more than 3 roses per class will not receive points or ribbons. Specimens will be judged alphabetically according to American Rose Society Judging Rules. All classes are open to Novices. The Second Vice President, who is in charge of the Monthly Rose Show, may participate in exhibiting. First Place 5 points, Second 3 points, Third 1 point, and Honorable Mention may be awarded in each class as merited. Ten (10) points will be awarded for BEST OF SHOW. The Court will consist of four roses and will be awarded five (5) points each. The MARIN ROSE SOCIETY PERPETUAL TROPHY will be awarded for Sweepstakes, most points for the year. The HARRY STEBBINGS PERPETUAL TROPHY will be awarded to the Sweepstakes runner-up. The NOVICE KEEPER TROPHY will be awarded to the New Member (who joined the Marin Rose Society this year or the previous one) with the most points. The Marin Rose 6 April 2010

7 Roses Unite Long Beach Neighborhood By Betty Mott, Consulting Rosarian The rose has always been as full of mystique and meaning as it is of thorns. Splendid colors and textures lure you with fragrance. Its symbolism is often as complex and contradictory as the contrast between the white rose and the red. The rose grows easily and everywhere, and has thrived over the years through both spontaneous, deliberate hybridizing, and grafting. For the Romans, the rose was the flower of the gods. The species rose first appeared less than thirty five million years ago. Wild roses are native to the entire northern hemisphere. In Marin County, Rosa californica is among the prettiest and blooms profusely at the top of its stems, about chest height, so that the numerous fine, single, rose pink flowers can be seen and appreciated. It is a classic rose with compound leaves, thorns, flowers on long stems and lovely fragrance. The rose hips are bright red and rich in medicinal and curative properties. The flowers support many pollinator species. It provides excellent nesting habitat for songbirds and attracts butterflies. After the bloom season, wild rose hips persist on the Rosa Californica plant and are an important food source for birds and mammals. Utilized from the ancient times to decorate soldier s apparel and chariots, roses spread as a direct result of combat and colonization. The Romans rose, the white Rosa x alba, most likely came from their conquest of the East. In Europe, the Crusaders brought the damask rose back from the Middle East. Roses from India, China, and Japan made their way to Europe as a result of mercantile expansion. This range of roses gave way to the genetic experimentation which led to the modern roses. So what brought the roses back to Rose Park in Long Beach, California in 2008? The Rose Park Historic District gains its name from the small circular park on Orizaba Avenue at the intersection of 8 th street. The park was donated to the city in 1919 by the Alamitos Land Company. These neighborhoods were first settled in 1905, with subdivisions continuing until Most of the homes built in this early period through the 1920 s are Craftsman Bungalows. Some houses in the 1920 s were built in the Prairie Mission Revival style, and in the 1930 s and 1940 s Ranch style and Neo-Traditional houses were built. Historic districts are usually areas that have a substantial number of homes that have remained intact and unchanged. Rose Park is one of those hidden gems of Long Beach. The neighborhood has not always been as visually appealing as it has become during the last few decades. Rose Park has had a rebirth, thanks to the dedication of the homeowners who began to restore and conserve their homes and the beautiful Rose Park Craftsman Gazebo as well as the rose garden. Rose Park is the home to the skinniest house in the United States. The story is that in 1932 Nelson Rummond was given the narrow lot of land as repayment for a $100 loan. He built the house in response to a bet that he could not build a livable house on the 10 foot-wide lot. The house is located on Gladys Avenue and is a designated as a Historic Landmark. I contacted the Rose Park Neighborhood Association in advance of our trip to Long Beach during the first week in March. They welcomed my questions and provided me with historical background of the neighborhood and gave me permission to photograph and talk to the residents surrounding the newly restored Craftsman Gazebo and rose garden. When first spotting the Gazebo it seemed smaller than the image I had created in my mind from the pictures posted on the neighborhood website. Yet, on a sunny Friday afternoon, the park provided plenty of room for the young adults enjoying the Gazebo and lawns in the small park. The neighborhood was buzzing with residents in their front yards working in their gardens, happy to answer my questions. Rose bushes that had been properly pruned by their caring homeowners were clothed in shiny new spring growth and large buds were beginning to show color. There were a few OGR s with both rose hips and their first fragrant blooms of the season. It was obvious that the warmer Long Beach weather had given the roses a head start over my Mill Valley roses that are just beginning to set small green buds. The Marin Rose 7 April 2010

8 The Gazebo is the center of Rose Park where four streets meet, joining a circular street around the park. There are four green arbors (north, south, east, west) welcoming you to the Gazebo and another 6 trellises providing the supporting structure of the Gazebo. The Gazebo is surrounded with two groupings of 12 rose bushes. The selection process for the roses in the park was deliberate, making sure the proper roses were found and secured. All the green painted trellises and arbors are adorned with the same climbing rose, Blaze. There were twenty all together which were cooperative enough to provide a few blooms for me to photograph in the first week of March. I was curious as to why they had planted twenty of the same variety and began to research its origins. Blaze, not widely grown in Marin, is apparently the work horse climber of America, growing easily and everywhere. First bred by Rose Park Gazebo Joseph W. Kallay and introduced in 1932 by Jackson and Perkins, it is listed as a large-flowered climber, with semi double blooms of scarlet color, 9-16 petals, with mild fragrance and cupped bloom form. In 1935, it was introduced again by Jan Böhm as Demokracie, Blaze Improved, Blaze Superior, Imperial Blaze, and New Blaze and is listed as a dark red large-flowered climber that blooms continuously throughout the season in zones 3b to 10b. This new and improved rose, rated by the American Rose Society with an 8.9 garden rating, was introduced by Jackson and Perkins in the United States in This profuse, blooming rose is one of the most popular climbers nationwide. The climber is described as reliable, winter hardy, resistant to drought, heat, disease, and insects, with little to no water needs. It guarantees a colorful performance, cascading extravagantly from top to bottom with fiery red blossoms on strong canes the entire season, spreading a light fruity fragrance. Blaze (or Demokracie depending on which version you have) is used to soften walls, fences, trellises and arbors with a blanket of blooms in full sun to partial shade. My favorite descriptions of the rose come from The Organic Rose Garden by Liz Druitt. You can buy it at Wal-Mart, you can see it straggling along institutional chain link fences, almost everybody on the poor side of town has one sitting out in their yard with or without a little bed and a nice white tire. Blaze is everywhere, oddly used and oddly pruned, and as often an eyesore as a sight for sore eyes, but for all that it s a great rose. Impeccable breeding, Paul s Scarlet Climber x Gruss an Teplitz, with Reve d Or as a grandparent combined with amazing toughness have allowed it to survive and bloom in situations that would appall the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Roses - if Blaze there were one. Blaze is a moderate climber, in the 8 to 12 foot range, with strong but flexible canes and plenty of dark foliage - when it s gotten enough care to have any foliage at all. It can obviously survive almost any condition, but when treated well it is not only reliable but gorgeous. Don t be put off because everyone has one: everyone should. What more could you ask of a rose? It appears the Rose Park Neighborhood did proper research when deciding to plant twenty. They expect them to work their magic drawing the residents into the newly restored park. Chiding myself for not knowing this rose, my thoughts went back to New England and growing up in Massachusetts with summers at the Cape. This was that red rose climbing all over the split rail fences that had survived many a Nor easter to come back year after year bringing color and fragrance to so many front yards. The Rose Park Neighborhood Association continues to do research with a goal to bringing roses of the eras into their landscapes. They welcome your suggestions and contact may be made through I plan to revisit Rose Park in Long Beach throughout the year when we visit with our son and observe Blaze as it matures to its full glory. Photo of Rosa Californica by Cassandra Bernstein from used with written permission. Photos of Rose Park Gazebo and Blaze by Betty Mott The Marin Rose 8 April 2010

9 If I Only Had Three By Barbara Picarelli, Master Rosarian Many of you have seen Dorothy Arnold at our meetings or worked with her in our MAGC garden. An exhibitor of roses as well, Dorothy is a fountain of knowledge about roses and rose growing. She has supervised the volunteers of our rose garden from its beginning in Spring, Dorothy is a native of Marin County and was raised in Ross, in a home just across the street from the Marin Art and Garden Center. As a child, she and other children used to play in the area even before it became the non-profit garden center. Dorothy also loves bonsai trees, and has an amazing collection of pots of bonsai. This lady really has a green thumb, as she starts most of her roses from slips and grows them in pots. Once they've put out leaves and roots, they are planted in her garden. When I asked Dorothy how she became a member, she said, You and Lenore had talked to me at one of the earliest rose shows at the Town Center in Corte Madera. She wanted to learn to grow and exhibit roses like the ones that were in the show, and as they say, "the rest is history". She and her husband Lee were our original co-chairs of the raffle table. Dorothy and her husband have lived in their house in Fairfax for 47 years. All of their children grew up there and played games in her back yard. They used one of the rose bushes in the ground as 2nd base, so it didn't survive. But Dorothy has the magic touch and has replaced a great many of those original roses and now has about 60 roses. With a northeast facing garden she is fortunate to have sun all day, rarely has wind or fog, but admits to horrible clay soil. Disease housekeeping is keeping the black spot down as well as powdery mildew; she doesn't spray and picks off leaves as necessary. Dorothy said she loves to watch things grow and when they look "puny" she gives them more water and a dose of fertilizer. She rarely shovel prunes as she gets too attached to her roses. It was hard for her to decide her favorites, but one of the three she chose is 'Brides Dream, also Bride s Dream known as 'Fairy Tale Queen', or 'Marchenkonigin'. A hybrid tea, it was bred in 1985 by Kordes and is a blush pink color with very large buds that open to 5 inch blooms on a fairly tall bush. Foliage is medium green with tall upright growth; it is a good repeat bloomer but only has a slight fragrance. Parentage is Royal Highness x seedling. The ARS garden rating is 8.1. 'Gizmo' is her next favorite, an orange blend miniature hybridized by Tom Carruth in The flowers are a scarlet orange with a white eye, long lasting on a sturdy bush. The blooms are about 1 ½ inches, single petaled and borne in small clusters. Foliage is dark green, shiny, and the bush grows to Gizmo about 18 inches tall. Its parents are Carrot Top x Little Artist and was The Marin Rose 9 April 2010

10 introduced by Weeks Roses in The ARS garden rating is 7.9. 'Yves Piaget, also known as 'Queen Adelaide or 'The Royal Brompton Rose is Dorothy s last choice. She loves it for its fragrance. This hybrid tea rose is large flowered and considered one of the Romantica roses; a very double deep pink with old rose scented fragrant blooms. It is a medium sized bush with globular style flowers, with excellent repeat blooming and dark green semi glossy foliage. Hybridized by Meilland in 1983, its parents are [( Pharaoh x Peace ) x ( Chrysler Imperial x Charles Mallerin )] x Tamango. It has won the Golden Rose and Fragrance award, Geneve, 1982; Gold Medal and Fragrance Award, LeRoeulx, 1982; and the Fragrance Award, Bagatelle in Photos of Dorothy Arnold and Yves Piaget by Barbara Picarelli. Photo of Gizmo by Gail Trimble. Photo of Bride s Dream by Cliff Orent from used with written permission. Yves Piaget The ARS Miniature and Miniflora Rose Hall of Fame honors those miniatures and mini-floras that have stood the test of time in commerce for at least 20 years. Now, it is your opportunity to participate in this process by sending in your nomination(s), (five or less). A short list of the most popular mini & miniflora roses that are 20 years or older can be found at the end of this article. Criteria for the Hall of Fame can be summarized as follows: 1. The variety must have been introduced at least 20 years prior to the year the award is given. Introduction date will verified by the latest edition of Modern Roses. 2. There can be multiple winners in any year. 3. Varieties for consideration are solicited from the general membership through an announcement in the American Rose magazine, on the ARS web-site, in the Miniature Rose Bulletin and in district and local bulletins. 4. Nominations are to be sent by May 1, 2010, to: Dr. Jim Hering, 1050 Kingwood Drive, Marion, OH 43302, rosehering@roadrunner.com 5. The Chairman of the Miniature/Miniflora Rose Committee will prepare the tabulations for selection by the full committee by ballot. 6. Formal announcement of the winner(s) will take place at the ARS National Miniature Rose Conference. For a list of previous winners, and to vote online, visit the American Rose Society website at: IT S SHOWTIME! Our first mini monthly Rose Show starts at our April meeting. Don t forget to bring your roses!!! The Marin Rose 10 April 2010

11 What s Bugging You?- Flowers By Nanette Londeree, Master Rosarian Let s face it for us rose lovers, it s all about the blooms. It s great if our plants are clothed in lush, emerald and ruby foliage, but it s not why we grow America s favorite flower. We want roses! And lots of them! It can be pretty frustrating to put all that effort into planting, feeding, watering, pruning and mulching, to end up with some wimpy blossoms, speckled with green wiggly little beasts, or big bold blooms riddled with holes. Just like us, there are lots of pests big and small, that love rose blossoms. So, what s bugging your flowers? The majority of pests in the spring garden are insects. That s not surprising, given they re part of the largest and most successful animals on the Stink bug with piercing sucking mouthparts planet the arthropods. The arthropods include arachnids (spiders, mites and ticks), crustaceans (crabs, shrimp, pillbugs and sowbugs) and the immense group of insects. They make up over three quarters of all currently known living things with more than a million species identified and named - so far. Whether in the air, sea, on land (or in your garden), they re incredibly successful creatures. Getting to know the insects in your garden can aid you in your sleuthing when trying to figure out what might be damaging your flowers, or identify one of the good guys that you want to keep around. By knowing just a few things about these masters of the planet their basic anatomy, how they eat and their lifecycle, you can quickly narrow down the possible nasty suspects, and, if you choose to treat them, develop an effective pest management strategy. First a bit of insect anatomy. Insects are animals with no backbone. To support their bodies, they have an exoskeleton, a skeleton on the outside rather than an internal one like ours. All mature insects have three pairs of jointed legs, one pair of antennae, compound eyes and up to two pairs of wings. The arachnids (spiders and mites) have two body parts, eight legs, no antennae, simple eyes and no wings. If you observe something crawling around in your rose blooms and you count eight legs, it s not an insect is an arachnid. Another defining attribute of insects are their Caterpillar with chewing mouthparts mouth parts being aware of how they feed clues you in to the basic types of plant damage they cause. Insects that damage roses fall into three general categories. One group feeds by piercing and sucking (poking a hole in tissue and drawing out the plant fluid), aphids being a prime example. The group (Continued on page 12) The Marin Rose 11 April 2010

12 Pest Appearance Type of pest Aphids Sucking insect Botrytis Fungal disease Time of year Spring, summer Spring, fall, winter Major Signs Major Symptoms Damage Target pests (Beneficials) Large colonies of tiny Weakened flower bud Not applicable insects; molts or necks and distorted mummified skins; leaf growth; curling, sticky honeydew; yellowing and black sooty mold distortion of leaves growing on and stunting of shoots honeydew; ants None Spotted or discolored petals; buds that fail to open and rot Not applicable Cucumber beetles Curculios (rose curculio weevil) Chewing insect Chewing insect Spring to fall Spring to early summer Shiny, greenishyellow spotted insects with black heads and long black antennae; whitish, slender larvae with three pairs of short legs Bright, lacquer red insect with black head and long black snout Feeds on petals; blooms may be disfigured Ragged rose blossoms; holes in flower buds; deformed flower buds; gouges In bud stems causing the bud to wilt and die Not available Not applicable Not applicable Flea beetles Chewing insect Mid-spring to early fall Small, black, brown or bronze insect with enlarged hind legs Small "shot holes" in the petals or leaves Not applicable Phyllody Abiotic disorder Spring, fall None Abnormal flower form; blossoms have leaflike structure rather than flower organs; new flowers growing out of the reproductive portion of the rose Not applicable Not applicable Spittlebugs Sucking insect Spring Small, green or brown leafhopper-like insects; greenish, soft-bodied leafhopper-like larvae Foamy mass clinging to buds, new stems Not applicable Syrphid flies Beneficial insect Late spring through fall Yellow and black flying insect resembling a bee hovering above flowers; small legless larvae with a yellow longitudinal stripe on the back Not applicable Not applicable Aphids, thrips and other softbodied sucking insects The Marin Rose 12 April 2010

13 with rasping sucking mouthparts scrape away plant tissue rather than pierce it. Thrips use this method and leave behind the telltale streaking and browning of petals. Both of these types of feeders excrete honeydew, a sweet liquid that supports the growth of sooty mold and attracts ants. Insects with chewing mouthparts produce the most obvious damage where they bite, rip or tear plant tissue. Beetles, caterpillars and leaf-cutting bees fall into this group. simple one egg, nymph and adult, where nymphs, the young stage of the insect, look like an adult only they re smaller and lack wings. Aphids are a good example of a simple change in form; if you spot them on a rose, you may see many different sizes, as well as some shed skins they shed their exoskeleton numerous times as they grow. For those that go through a complete metamorphosis, the change may be dramatic (think butterfly). These insects pass through four stages egg, larvae, pupae and adult. And it s usually the larvae of these insects that cause damage (caterpillars, rose slugs, etc). The majority of insects undergo some type of metamorphosis (a change in form) during their lifetime. Many go through a Armed with the knowledge of basic anatomy, feeding habits and lifecycle, how many different insects can you find in your garden? And, are they bugging your flowers, or helping keep the bad guys under control? Photos of pests and damage (other than noted) courtesy of Baldo Villegas website at: Photo of aphids and curculio damage by Nanette Londeree Photo of phyllody by Bob Luttrell Stink bug and caterpillar photos and metamorphosis lifecycles courtesy of Galveston County Master Gardener Association website The Marin Rose 13 April 2010

14 In Victorian days, Gloire de Dijon, was respected as the best climbing rose. It has large, quartered, double flowers with rich buff-pink shades of orange to the center. The scent is outstanding. It produces several flushes of bloom from early May until October. The rose has broad semiglossy foliage, strong stems and it makes good cut flowers. Gloire de Dijon was made famous by the writings of the Reverend Dean Reynolds Hole, the first President of the National Rose Society. He nominated it as his all-time favorite rose. This rose is included in the World Federation of Rose Societies Old Rose Hall of Fame at: The Old Rose Hall of Fame recognizes roses of historical or genealogical importance and those roses which have enjoyed continued popularity over a great many years. Breeder: Henri Jacotot, France 1853 Class: Climbing Tea, Noisette Bloom: Large double orange-pink quartered blooms with rich fragrance. Habit: 12 feet, semi-glossy green foliage Parentage: Possibly an Unknown tea or Desprez à Fleur Jaune x Souv de la Malmaison ARS Garden Rating : 7.8 Photo by Kent Krugh used with written permission Rose of the Month Gloire de Dijon By Lydia Treadway April 29 May 2, 2010 Shreveport, Louisiana Featuring: The ARS National Rose Show Growing Roses from the Ground Up Educational Seminars American Rose Center Behind the Scenes Tour Rose Tours of Tyler, TX and three area member gardens Receptions to mingle with fellow rosarians Rose Show Award Banquet ARS Patron Breakfast For more information, visit: The Marin Rose 14 April 2010

15 Calendar for Upcoming Events Tuesday, April 13, 2010 Monthly Meeting 7:30 pm Livermore Room MAGC May 1, :00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Consulting Rosarian Seminar Lodi-Woodbridge Rose Society Contact Gigi Sievers (209) May 8, 2010 Marin Rose Society Annual Rose Show Northgate Mall Tuesday, May 11, 2010 Monthly Meeting 7:30 pm Livermore Room MAGC Upcoming Garden Events April 17, :30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Sacramento Historic City Cemetery Open Rose Garden 1000 Broadway, Sacramento, CA All Saturdays and Sundays in April & on May 9 Garden Tours and Free Seminars Rose Oil Harvest Tours from 4/22 through 5/31 - $9.95 Russian River Rose Company Visit: Lydia Treadway Realtor (415) Bradley Real Estate The Marin Rose 15 April 2010

16 MARIN ROSE SOCIETY 724 Rowland Blvd. Novato, CA Have a Question? Contact a Consulting Rosarian Dorothy Arnold, Fairfax Rndarnold@aol.com Vivien Bronshvag, Kentfield vivlrb@aol.com Joan Goff, Mill Valley joanegoff@yahoo.com John Goldsmith, San Francisco johngoldsmith@earthlink.net Maureen Groper, San Anselmo samaureen@comcast.net Paula Jaffe, Tiburon paulajaffe@comcast.net Barbara Lanoy Picarelli*, Novato bjlpster@gmail.com Nanette Londeree*, Novato Rosienan@aol.com Betty Mott, Mill Valley mottbetty@gmail.com Kitty O Donnell, Novato KKOSF51@comcast.net Mary Polizzi, San Rafael Lenore Ruckman*, San Rafael CMR3X7@aol.com Sandy Simon, Mill Valley Florence Taylor, San Rafael NONITAYLOR@aol.com Frank Treadway, San Rafael Frank@HomesMarin.com Lydia Treadway, San Rafael Lydia@HomesMarin.com Gail Trimble*, San Rafael gail@marinrose.org *Master Rosarian