SOUTHWEST LOUISIANNA ROSE SOCIETYsince 1961. AFFILIATED WITH THE AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY The Rosette Calendar of Events April 12, 2018 Monthly Meeting 5PM at the AgCenter 7107 Gulf Hwy Celebrating Allen Owings Thursday, April 26 4:30-7:30 PM Hammond Research Center Saturday, April 28 GTRS Rose Show Tyrrell Park Beaumont TX June 2-3 South Central and Gulf District Horticulture Judging School Hosted by GTRS Beaumont TX Tyrrell Park Friday, June 22 Rose Disease Management Workshop Alan Henn, MSU Plant Pathologist Crystal Springs MS 10AM-1PM Thursday, April 12 at the AgCenter 5 PM Program What are you using to prevent disease in the garden? Bring a Snack to share Renew your Membership Don t miss an issue of the Rosette! Last Call What s Inside: Last Call for Dues renewal forms inside Celebrating Allen Owings GTRS Rose Show Judging School Info Bits n Pieces/report on Garden Expo April in the Garden Mark Your Calendar! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gulf District Website www.gulfdistrictrose.org
Be a part of the world wide family of rosarians! Join ARS today! It s easy: try out a trial membership, or, try the e- membership free, or subscribe to receive the full annual benefits. Join the ARS for $10! Four-Month Trial Membership Available! Pick up a trial membership form from the Share Table at the next meeting or visit http:// www.rose.org/join-or-renew/. You ll receive: 2 issues of American Rose magazine, $16 value. Complete four months online access to members only resources on the American Rose Society website. Free online access to five quarterly bulletins. Free or reduced garden admissions. Discounts of up to 30% at merchant partners. Visit the New & Improved American Rose Society Gulf District Website www.gulfdistrictrose.org Renew your Membership to SWLA Rose Society send check made out to SWLA Rose Society to Ann Hartman, 1018 Lakelyn DR., Lake Charles LA 70605 $15 per year. Indicate if you d prefer a hard copy or on-line version Name Adress City State Zip Email Phone (H) (Cell) Hard copy On-line color version Mail ARS membership to: American Rose Society, PO Box 30000, Shreveport, LA 71130 Name Address City State Zip Email Phone Annual Membership: $49 Regular $140 for a 3 year membership $46 Senior (65+)...$132 for a 3 year membership Join the American Rose Society's FREE e-membership to learn about growing roses! Sign up for The Fragrant Rose at: http://ow.ly/l43w3086lix Reminder to Renew your ARS Membership Renew online at: http://www.rose.org/joinor-renew 5 issues of American Rose magazine plus the end of the year issue of the American Rose Annual. These bimonthly, 84-page issues, devoted exclusively to roses and rose culture, feature informative articles and beautiful color photography for beginners and experienced rose growers alike. View a free issue online. Annual issue of The Handbook for Selecting Roses, a rose-buying guide to over 3,000 roses. Members only online access to Modern Roses Database with information on every rose variety. Online access to five quarterly bulletins, the Mini/ Miniflora Bulletin, Old Garden Rose & Shrub Gazette, Rose Arrangers Bulletin, Rose Exhibitors Forum and Singularly Beautiful Roses are available online to ARS members only. Online monthly newsletter Fragrant Rose. Discounts of up to 30% at merchant partners. The ARS Member Benefit Partner program offers discounts at various merchants with new partners being added continuously. Free or reduced garden admissions to the ARS Reciprocal Garden Admission program, members enjoy free or reduced admission to and discounts at hundreds of gardens, conservatories and arboreta nationwide.
The American Rose Society FREE e-membership will deliver valuable rose growing information, helpful tips and special offers. Rose aficionados will find their experience with roses enriched and become a part of the vibrant American Rose Society rose community. From beginners to experts, for people with green thumbs or thorn-pricked thumbs, there will be relevant information for everyone! If you are looking for a source for information and tips on growing beautiful roses in any climate, look no further than the American Rose Society, and The Fragrant Rose. http://ow.ly/l43w3086lix An Evening with Dr. Allen Owings Celebrating 25 Years of People and Plants Thursday, April 26th 4:30-7:30 PM Hammond Research Station 21549 Old Covington Highway, Hammond LA RSVP by April 14th, 985.543.4125 As you know, Dr. Allen Owings has been our Gulf District Director for the last six years. He s conducted numerous trials on current rose varieties at Hammond Station, and, at the Burden Gardens in Baton Rouge, and, tons of research in conjunction with other University s Research and Extension Stations. He s written numerous articles, presented Power Point Programs to the District Rosarians and the State Master Gardener Conferences and Meetings, and, is always a generous resource with a wealth of knowledge, and a quick answer to any rose or gardening question! He s been a frequent visitor to all the LA Rose Societies to give programs and provide encouragement to all fellow Rosarians! In honor of Allen s retirement and in light of his 25 years of dedicated service, the Hammond Research Station has created a fund to continue his work in the Sun Garden; now The Dr. Allen Owings Sun Garden. SWLA RS will make a contribution toward this fund; if you d like to honor Allen, please do so to the above address with a notation toward the Dr. Allen Owings Sun Garden Fund. GOLDEN TRIANGLE ROSE SOCIETY SPRING ROSE SHOW SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2018 OPEN FREE TO PUBLIC 12-3 BEAUMONT BOTANICAL GARDENS at TYRRELL PARK MORE INFO- CONTACT- DALE AT 409-886-4616 or Dale Dardeau <ddardeau@gt.rr.com> for a show schedule
Bits n Pieces First, the rose sale at the Spring Garden Expo & Conference was a great success! Sold all the roses Steve Roussell had rooted and could have sold more! Made $400 + on the rose sales and raffle combined! Next, Ruthie Paris, a teacher at Moss Bluff Elementary, won our raffle of the Gulf District Rose of the Year, Julia Child. She was most excited! Last year s winner of a Peggy Martin Rose, came to the SWLA RS booth to give a report on his winner: growing & blooming! And, Many Thanks to our newest member, Angie Cormier, who did an admirable job of manning our booth! Can t say Thanks enough to Steve Roussell for rooting and growing the most spectacular roses, to Gerald Quarles, Ann Wehner, Barbara Miller and Angie Cormier who manned the booth, gave out lots of information and hand outs on growing roses in SWLA! Plan on a trip to GTRS Spring Show, if not to enter, just to see all the beautiful roses they produce! Remember, they, along with Flora and Frank Hover, Shreveport RS, will host a Judging School; a great way to learn more about growing and showing roses, even if you never want to be a judge! One more reminder to renew your membership if you haven t! There s so much information on growing roses to share! Don t miss out! Come to the meeting 5PM Thursday, April 12. Check out what s new in rose care products. April in the Garden Hope your roses have been blooming their hearts out for you! The number one producer in my garden has been Beverly! So many blooms on strong stems! The Kordes Roses are uniformly prolific bloomers! So now what!? We ve had a nice spring bloom, some rain, lots of wind, pleasant temperatures. If you haven t done a complete job of pruning yet, when you dead head, give a little extra grooming to your bushes. Remove diseased or dead wood, spindly, unproductive stems, along with those few extra inches so your bush will want to produce new buds. Remember: If your bush is grafted onto Fortuniana rootstock, prune to about hip height, 30-36. Don t prune new bushes; allow roots to establish first, pinch off pea sized buds to promote those roots as bush is acclimating to your garden. (the reason for pinching off buds of new bushes is to direct all the bush s energy to the foundation of the rose, the roots, rather than the blooms) If you notice a light green sprout below the grafted bud union, pop it off (do not cut, it ll return) that s a sucker. If you notice nice dark red foliage above the graft, that s a basil break; meaning, a new cane. Say thank you and treat it gently, but pinch off that little bud when it appears, because now there will be a new cane to produce many blooms! If not, all the energy will produce one perfect bud, but a weak cane. Be Patient! Continued on next page
April in the Garden, continued. Next, add a little extra fertilizer to provide a boost for that next bloom cycle. Some like to keep it organic, some like granular fertilizer, or, time release, some use combinations. Organic fertilizers will have NPK ratio that totals less than 21 (example: MicroLife 6-2-4 or Espoma 4-3-2, Fish Meal 10-4-4, Alfalfa 3-5-3, etc) Granular types (8-8-8, 13-13-13, 10-20-10) provide a months active use, whereas, organics stay available in the soil, and water soluble foliar feed (Miracle-Gro 24-8-16, Rapid- Gro) provides fertilizer for a weeks use. Combination applications can provide short time, quickly available fertilizer plus the benefits of organic materials, ex. Foliar feed + Alfalfa+ fish emulsion+ liquid iron+ Epsom salts. 1 T each per gallon of water, use 1 gallon per bush poured around the drip line of the bush. Or, make a brew called Alfalfa Tea with the above ingredients mixed in a 30 gallon plastic trash can with lid (lid important, strong barnyard odor); add 10-12 Cups alfalfa pellets or meal, 1 Cup Epsom salts, 2 Cups fish emulsion, 2 cups chelated iron. Apply as above, 1 gallon per bush around the drip line. Reminder: This is not a spray, use only as a drench. Here s some Howard Walter Wisdom! Fertilizer Must Get Into Solution. Rose foods do no good until in solution and in the root zone of the plant. Dry, pelletized fertilizers on top of the soil are fine IF there is a regular, ample supply of water to dissolve the nutrients and carry them to the roots. For a faster spring start, use fertilizer already in solution and soak the roots. Old-timers also know that deep soaking BEFORE using liquid foods also speed up the process. For a real surprise, try dissolving your favorite dry rose food in water. It may be less soluble than you think. from Rosarian Ramblings April 1978. How deep is your mulch? Replenish now before the weeds and heat arrive. Keep mulch about 3 if pine straw, if pine bark mulch about 2. Pull those unwanted weed visitors as they appear. Water deeply, rather than frequent sprinkling. Soaker hoses are good, particularly if on a timer. Hand watering with a count to 20-25 will be much appreciated 2-3 times a week when these dry winds come through. Always water Before and After spraying or fertilizing. Pests: Insects with the winds come spider mites. Lawn mowers and blowers do the job, too! You can recognize mite damage to leaves by the stippling effect on the top sides and they can be seen on the undersides; they look like black pepper. Kill two birds with one stone! Use hose nozzle with angle setting to get under the leaves to dislodge the little devils and disrupt their reproductive cycle. You ll be watering at the same time! Repeat this high pressure wash 3 times at intervals of three days. Thrips will requite a little more effort and there two species that threaten our beautiful blooms! Flower thrips, with their rasping mouthparts, leave brown scars where they ve been feeding. They are attracted to light colored roses! And, Chili thrips attack the new leave and bud growth. They, too, scar the whole stem, preventing the leaves to mature or the buds to open. Brown scaring on the sepals of the bud and crinkly leaves are the signs. Use a systemic and contact insecticide for thrips to prevent and kill this menace. Be diligent; once established, spray buds daily to rid your bushes of this awful pest. (There are drenches and granules specifically for thrips.) Orthene is the product of choice here. Acephate is the active ingredient. Look for Fire Ant Killer (2 teaspoons per gallon of water; spray buds) locally if you don t use Orthene.. Continued on next page
April in the Garden, continued Beetles June bugs and cucumber beetles are done away with by the manual method: thumb and index finger pressed tightly together. Aphids Lady bird beetles (lady bugs) will take care of them if you leave them to their job. Water sprays work, too, if population gets out of control, rather than insecticide Diseases The fungicides are formulated to kill (Contact Fungicide) or prevent (Systemic Fungicide). Combinations of the two may come in one container. Look for products with one of these active chemicals: Tebuconazole, Chlorothanil, Propiconazole, or Mancozeb. Read the label as to diseases eradicated or prevented. The main disease we re wanting to control is Black Spot, but we do get other pathogens that can damage our roses; Downey Mildew, Powdery Mildew, Botrytis, Anthracnose, to name a few. If you keep a consistent spray program most of these will be kept at bay. Liquid Copper Spray can be added to prevent Downey Mildew. Cool nights moist days invite that disease while damp days invite Powdery Mildew. It appears on young crepe myrtle leaves. If you have just a few roses look for products ready to use; if you have a larger garden with many roses consider getting the individual products and a good sprayer. Read labels, measure accurately, treat insect pests when they re appear, keep your equipment clean, keep records, learn what works in your garden, ask questions to get answers to help solve problems, don t forget that s why we have a rose club. We share our experience and are always willing to help one another!