CHARLESTON ROSE SOCIETY

Transcription

1 CHARLESTON ROSE SOCIETY A member of the Colonial District of the American Rose Society An Affiliate of the RAMBLIN ROSE PRESIDENT S MESSAGE--Steven Grass It looks like the April showers have brought me some May blooms. I cut two Paroles for Lynda last week and cut five more blooms for her on Sunday. My roses came out from winter better than I had initially thought and are growing well. I thought the Betty Boop that was growing in a pot had died, but I looked at it the other day and there was new growth coming up out of the mulch. I will keep an eye on it to make sure that it s not a sucker from the roots. On April 28 Linda Boggess and I went out to Gritt s Farm to help people pick out roses and to show them how to care for their new roses. There weren t many people out there in the morning, but we helped to sell about half a dozen roses. Linda and I bought six roses between us for home and the public garden. We found a nice Fragrant Plum and a Secret for the public garden on Lee Street and I planted them a week later. I also got two roses for Phyllis McFadden: a Mister Lincoln and a Gold Medal. This past weekend she told me that she cut a Mister Lincoln bloom to bring inside and it held for days. She also said that she has gotten a lot of comments on the blooms of the Gold Medal. Joyce Rasmussen and DeWitt Bowman came out to relieve us and it didn t take long before they had a cart with about four or five roses on it they were going to buy. Before we left, Lois McCray (our first guest speaker this year) insisted that we come down to the office and get something to eat. Wow--what a spread! Barbeque with slaw and pasta salad, chocolate chip cookies, and blueberry donuts, all homemade. I thought maybe I could get adopted or something. --continued on page 2 Program Spotlight Our meeting this month will have guest speaker Alex Cole. Alex writes for the Charleston Gazett and has loved plants and nature since he was small, working for his family at Pleasantree Landscapes Unlimited. He currently lives off the grid in a small, solarpowered cabin he built on a 217-acre farm. Alex s expertise is maintaining vegetable gardens and creating all new perennial and pollinator gardens. Please come out to the meeting and ask questions of this interesting man. Alex asked us to visit his website prior to our meeting to get everyone on the same page. The address is: wvgazett .com/life/good-to-grow-let-weeds-grow-to-spreadimportant-wv/article 995dd e cb7-45ddbf2acb0e.html. Volume 35, No. 3 May 2018 UPCOMING EVENTS TUESDAY, May 22-- Monthly meeting at 7:00 p.m. at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1600 Kanawha Boulevard, East. Guest speaker Alex Cole discussing pollinators. Please make every effort to attend this meeting! ROSE SHOWS: May 26 in Richmond, Virginia; June 1 in Baltimore, Maryland; and June 2 in Fairfax, Virginia. Check out colonialdistrictroses.org for more information! CHANGE IN MEETING DATE! Please note that our JUNE meeting will now be our GARDEN PARTY at Donna Smoot s home, and in July we will have Joyce Rasmussen s program on Potting Roses. More details inside! Inside this issue: President s Message 1 Upcoming Events 1 Program Spotlight 1 Rose Day at Gritt s 2 This and That 3 Public Gardens 5 Gritt s Farm Photos 6 Rose of the Month 7 Consulting Rosarians 7

2 PRESIDENT S MESSAGE--continued from page 1 Last week I stopped by Green s Feed & Seed to check to see if I could find a John F. Kennedy rose for Lynda s mom for Mother s Day ( hers didn t make it from the winter). I had the best timing as they were just unloading the truck with pallets of roses in pots that had blooms galore. I did find the rose I was looking for, but I also found that they got in some David Austin roses. Lynda and I went back after she got home from work, and we got a Carding Mill rose for the Lee Street garden. I stopped by the Police Memorial garden on Washington Street to see how the roses were doing. While I don t think the bush that had died back to the ground is going to make it, the other roses are doing great. The Pope John Paul II roses are loaded with sprays of beautiful white blooms, and the Veterans Honor bushes are just starting to show color. I m guessing that the rose we need to replace is also a Pope John Paul II, and luckily Gritt s has them. Look elsewhere in the newsletter for photos of both of our public gardens. Due to a scheduling conflict with the church, we will flip-flop our June and July meetings. In June, we will have our Society picnic at Donna Smoot s, and have our meeting at the church in July. If you have not been to Donna s garden, you are in for a treat! She has a great garden that is well laid out with more than just roses, and she also has a fairy village that is just so cool. I really liked last month s program with Brit Blevins. It was very informative. I did not know that all those plants would benefit the roses just by being planted nearby. Our next speaker is Alex Cole, who is a columnist for the Gazett , and he will tell us about protecting our pollinators. I m very interested because I have a vegetable garden that also relies on them to get a good crop. Be sure to come out and enjoy the program and each other s company. Rose Day at Gritt s Donna Smoot What a day the Charleston Rose Society had at Gritt s Farm in Putnam County and at Gritt s Farm at the Farmers Market. It was great at the Market where Terry Phillips, Peter Harris, and I started out the day. Gritt s had brought in extra roses for its booth at the Market. I wish I had counted them before we started, but there were maybe 50 to 75 plants, they were in bloom, and they were spectacular. I was surprised that although they had a few Knock- Out roses, nobody was interested in them. We gave out a lot of information and talked to a lot of people. People didn t buy just one bush-- they bought several at a time. I am now convinced that while many people are trying to grow roses, they don t know much about them but they sure are buying them. Lois McCray had sent us blueberry doughnuts early in the morning from the Farm, and BBQ and cookies for lunch. It was so nice, and those at the Farm were also treated to the same. After noon, Diana Fleek and Tom and Melinda Kuhn arrived at the Market for the second shift, and they sold almost all the roses that were left from that morning. Diana said there were about 15 left when they went home. Pat McCray from Gritt s at the Market was thrilled and just couldn t say enough nice things. Steve Grass and Linda Boggess took the early shift at the Farm and they were a little slow, but it gave them time to check out what was available and they both picked up a couple of roses. Joyce Rasmussen and DeWitt Bowman took second shift at the Farm. While it didn t appear to be as busy as last year, I think Steve said about a dozen roses were sold. Obviously the Market is the place to sell roses (but I love going to the Farm!). I saw a beautiful hybrid tea called Fragrant Plum that was wonderful. If I wasn t trying to downsize, it would have been going home with me. Steve purchased one as a replacement rose for the Lee Street public garden. Anyway, a great day for Gritt s roses and a great day for the Charleston Rose Society. Thank you, Gritt s! P A G E 2

3 THIS AND THAT Lynda Grass Our roses are blooming, and the yard is spotted with various colors, some bright, some pale, and some bold. I love the miniatures: perfect replicas of those big roses that everyone knows about, but so few available at local garden centers. In fact, many of the distributors of miniatures are no longer in business, and it makes me wonder how we ll get new roses in the future. Hopefully this will change at some point, and those beauties will be available to many more growers. One thing that I think all of us are going to have to pay attention to is how windy it is now. It seems that the last couple of years we have had persistent winds, and while that makes being outside a little more comfortable, it can damage tender growth on plants. When we planted our new rose bushes at the public garden on Lee Street last year, we followed all of the proper planting techniques, and covered the bushes with mulch so that they would be protected from any late cold weather. After about 6 weeks, we were ready to uncover them and see what new growth had appeared. Weren t we surprised to find that 5 of the bushes had basically died, and one other that had been purchased by a member for her garden also didn t make it. You could see that new growth had started, but it was withered and the bushes never recovered. I had a discussion with our supplier at Moffet Nursery, and he directed me to the Weeks representative for the eastern portion of the United States. When the gentleman called me, we talked about planting and weather conditions. I told him that the only thing that we could pinpoint as being different was the windy conditions we had been having, and he said that most likely, that was the cause. Why? While the mulch does protect the plant, it also acts as a wicking agent. When you have a constant wind the mulch dries out and starts to rob the bush of needed moisture, which then causes the new growth to wither and die. The bush needs water to grow, and without it will eventually die as well (or at least be severely set back). It certainly made sense, especially since we see the same thing happen after dormancy breaks and new stems begin growing. Wind does almost the same thing that a late frost will: the new growth just shrivels and dries up. Another result of climate change, and another reason for making sure that we water, water, water (and a great reason to install some rain barrels!). And something else to watch related to the wind. If you have long canes on your bushes, you might want to invest in some garden stakes to use for support. Roses are bendable, but everything has a limit. Strong winds, even without rain storms accompanying them, can cause the canes to break off, especially if they have blooms at the top. The weight of blooms (especially if they re filled with rain water) combined with the wind is no match for a rose cane. In fact, one year we lost an entire bush because of a wind/rain storm. Snuffy was a tall hybrid tea with really long canes (about 5 feet) topped with blooms, and the storm that came through simply snapped the canes off at the bud union, splitting the bush in half. There was no saving the bush, and it left quite a hole in the rose bed. Had we taken a little time to support the canes, this wouldn t have happened. We are more diligent now to give them a some additional support. You can loosely tie them to your stakes with a variety of things; just make sure it s not metal or something else that will damage the cane itself when it moves about in the wind. Steven has purchased a role of Velcro tape that is about ¼ wide and can be cut into various lengths as needed. It s easy to wrap them around the canes, and to remove them later. Your chores in the garden now should include watering, spraying, and maintenance. Your bushes need at least 1 of water per week to remain healthy. With a weekly spray program, you need to water the day before you spray so that the bushes will be protected from spray burn. Spray early in the morning, preferably before the sun comes up, before the bees and other beneficial insects get busy, and before your neighbors, children, and pets are out and about. Always protect yourself with long sleeves, long pants, a respirator, and Nitrile gloves. Invest in a good pair of garden shoes that you use only while in the roses, and don t take them inside since you ve most likely got spray material on them that you can t see. Wash your spray clothes separately in hot water, and run your machine through a full, empty cycle of hot water to help eliminate any residue from getting on other clothing. If you have pets or children, take care to keep spray P A G E 3 --continued on page 4

4 This and that c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 3 clothes and spray products away from them. Don t add a little more spray material than the manufacturer recommends per gallon of water. Steven marks the labels of his spray materials with the proper dosage so that he doesn t have to look at the label each time he uses a product. His spray materials and the sprayer are stored in a locked shed to avoid any potential mishaps. Set up a spray schedule so that you can remember what you sprayed with the week before. It s good to rotate your products to keep disease and pests from becoming resistant to the spray. Don t use insecticides unless you have insects. Try to determine what the insects are and use the least-invasive product first, stepping up only if the infestation isn t brought under control quickly. Sometimes all you need is a good spray of water underneath the leaves of the bush for a few days to interrupt a breeding cycle, or simply better hygiene in the garden. It does take time to remove the lower leaves of your bushes and clean up dropped petals and leaves, but you will have less problems in the long run if you take the time to do these small steps. Deadhead once the blooms are spent. Cut down to an outward-facing leaf on a pencilsized cane to encourage new growth. You ll see a little bump at the leaf axil, which is your new cane. If you don t deadhead, the bush doesn t know to put out more growth and new roses. It will produce a seed pod instead, which you don t want until growing season is over. Pay attention to what s happening to your bushes. Do you have strange colors or spots on your leaves; is there some weird-looking bug crawling around; is there a sticky substance on the buds; are there webs around your lower leaves; are your buds turning over or only half-formed; do you have canes but no buds; is there some strange powder on your leaves/buds? All of these questions can be answered by the Consulting Rosarians in your rose society--use this strong resource to help your roses grow. We had a good time at Gritt s Farm the last weekend of April. Donna Smoot has a report elsewhere in the newsletter about the day at the Farm (and Farmers Market!), and there are some accompanying photos. I think that we are going to have a great relationship with Gritt s! Steven and I were looking for a John F. Kennedy rose to replace one for my Mom that didn t make it through the winter. We located it at Green s Feed & Seed on Piedmont Road, and also found a new shrub rose for our public garden on Lee Street: Carding Mill, a David Austin rose. Based on the rose varieties that they have, their supplier is Star Roses. They had some really great-looking bushes two weeks ago, and Steve got there at the same time they were being unloaded from the truck. Talk about luck! They re priced at about $28, but be prepared to pay $10 more for any David Austin rose that you buy. I think we paid more because of the square, green pot with an Austin logo stamped in gold on the side! Anyway, the Carding Mill is apricot/pink and it smells wonderful. John & Diana Fleek won the shrub class at the last District rose show with three of these blooms. We have another guest speaker this month: Alex Cole, a contributing columnist for the Sunday Gazett (he had a column in this past week s paper). I look forward to another great meeting topic, and encourage everyone to come out and make him welcome. There are some rose shows coming up in some neighboring states if you d like to try your hand at exhibiting or just visit a show. The Richmond Rose Society s show is Saturday, May 25; Maryland Rose Society in Baltimore is having its show on Friday, June 1; and the Arlington Rose Foundation s show is Saturday, June 2. The Colonial District website and the ARS website have more information. Lastly, we ve made a change in our June and July schedules. The Church asked us to move our meeting night in June because of vacation Bible school and an overnight event that had the Church packed. SO--Donna Smoot will be having us to her home in June for a garden party, and we will meet at the Church in July to hear Joyce Rasmussen talking about roses in pots. Make sure to mark these changes so that you won t miss out! Come to the meeting on Tuesday--we ll have a good topic, good food, and great friends! See you there! P A G E 4

5 PUBLIC GARDENS Pope John Paul II blooming at the Police Memorial. You can just see the red of Veterans Honor in the upper left photo. Lee Street West roses Miracle on the Hudson in bloom the others won t be too far behind! PAGE 5

6 ROSE DAY AT GRITT S FARM PAGE 6

7 Rose of the month Donna Smoot This month I m going to recommend a floribunda rose called Colorific. It is a Weeks rose; however, I have not seen it at the local nurseries that order from Weeks (a wholesaler). This is such a beautiful rose that even though I have not seen it around Charleston, maybe next year we can ask Lois at Gritt s to order a few. The color on this rose is so amazing: it starts at the base of the petal with peach shades into a coral color then shades to a salmon. It tries to outshine all the other floribundas in my bed, and with the exception of Playboy, it take all the honors for garden display. For you exhibitors, it is truly an exhibition rose. It has the classically pointed bud with around 30 petals and a nice spiral form and the substance lasts forever. Colorific was introduced in 2011 by Tom Carruth, and the parents are (Playboy x Lagerfeld) x Jacob s Robe. Foliage is a dark green, the stems are strong and long, and the fragrance is mild and fruity. I ve not had trouble with the winter hardiness of this rose and she will have a place in my garden just because she s so pretty. When people visit and she s in bloom they seem to go straight for her. As I said before, I have not seen her locally, but she can be ordered from Heirloom Roses. The price tag is a whopping $38.00 (I guess beauty can be expensive!). It a great rose and I love it. The Ramblin Rose is published monthly from March to June and August to October. Lynda Grass, Editor/Publisher Contributing Writers: John Fleek Steven Grass Donna Smoot The Charleston Rose Society, a member of the American Rose Society and part of the Colonial District, was founded in Its membership is dedicated to the growth of roses, the education of the public in rose culture, and fellowship with rose growers locally and across the country. Meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month from March to June and August to October at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charleston and begin at 7:00 p.m. If you are interested in learning more about roses and their culture, we would like to invite you to join us at any of our meetings. If you are interested in joining the Charleston Rose Society, please contact: Joyce Rasmussen, Treasurer 2519 Winter Street St. Albans, WV Membership dues for the Rose Society are $8 for an individual and $12 for a family. This includes the newsletter, which is transmitted electronically. addresses are not shared. On the left, the beautiful bloom of Colorific at its peak stage. On the right, as the petals age it glows, becoming almost fluorescent, changing colors and putting on quite a show. Photos from Lynda & Steve Grass garden. The information contained in this newsletter is, to the best of the ability of the editor and authors, accurate and true. Neither the Society, editor, nor the authors imply or guarantee the accuracy of the information, nor do they make any recommendations or endorsements of products or actions that may be mentioned herein. CHARLESTON ROSE SOCIETY CONSULTING ROSARIANS The Charleston Rose Society has a number of individuals who have taken an ARS-sponsored course and passed a test to become Consulting Rosarians. This means that they are well qualified to answer your questions about roses and the accompanying difficulties you may be experiencing in your garden. Please feel free to contact them with your rose questions! John & Diana Fleek Cross Lanes Steven Grass West Side Gary & Monica Rankin Huntington Donna Smoot South Charleston P A G E 7