October 2018 UP Coming Events Oct. 13 Shreveport Rose Society meeting 10:00 a.m. Klima Building Program: Preparing your roses to show Oct. 20, 2018 - Gulf District Rose Show Pineville, Main St Community Center, Pineville, Louisiana Nov. 1-3, 2018 Antique Rose Emporium Fall Festival of Roses, Independence, Texas Nov. 17, 2018 - SWLRS Rose Show Southwest LA Rose Society, Lake Charles, Louisiana Feb. 8-9, 2019 - Gulf District Mid- Winter Workshop @ American Rose Center. There will be an arrangement workshop on Friday afternoon. A message from our President Nita Acklen Hello everyone! It s October and we have seen a few days of lower temperatures. What a blessing! With the lower temperatures and the rain we ve been getting, our roses are getting their second wind. How exciting! It has really been a hot dry summer and most that I have spoken with are as ready for cooler weather as I. I know some of you were able to attend the recent Rose Rosette Symposium at the Rose Center. Aren t you glad you did! I certainly gained a lot of information, even though I ve been reading about rose rosette for the last month or more. See speakers & names on page 2. These gentlemen shared a lot of information and had really good handouts with photos to help us identify the diseased roses. With rose rosette located in the area, we all need to be on the lookout for symptoms of the disease. Please make neighbors that have roses aware of the severity of this disease and report any rose rosette to Mark Wilson, LSU AgCenter or Nita. I will, in turn, notify Allen Owings. While we can t cure this disease, we can manage it if we stay vigilant. This month the Rose Center is preparing for Christmas in Roseland. If you can volunteer any of your time to assist in their efforts, they will greatly appreciate it. In the near future we will be preparing the Shreveport Rose Society Garden. This is an excellent opportunity to learn about growing roses from the ground up. One of the greatest benefits of belonging to the Shreveport Rose Society is that we can learn from rosarians and others who have been growing roses for years. Working right beside them is the best way to learn! I hope you will join in any activity possible the more you participate, the more you learn. Bring roses and pruners or cutting shears to the meeting Saturday at 10:00 A.M.
Rose Rosette Symposium a Great Success Rose rosette disease (RRD), a devastating disease of roses is taking its toll on roses in Caddo and Bossier Parishes. Prior to its finding in Louisiana the Dallas, TX area has had major outbreaks of the disease. It is being found primarily on Knock Out and Drift roses but can spread to our other roses as well. Speakers: Dr. Owings, Dr. Windham, Dr. Singh & Mark Wilson, (not shown) Dr. Patrick Colyer, LSU Ag Center. Mark Wilson, County Agent in Caddo parish has brought it to our attention and Frank and I have been spotting sites throughout Bossier City that are infected. We are trying to get in touch with the landscape providers to educate them on the removal of the infected plants. A symposium was held at the American Rose Center on September 28 th with over 80 people in attendance. Speakers included: Mark Wilson, Caddo Parish Extension Agent, Dr. Allen Owings, LSU Ag. Center, Dr. Mark Windham, University of Tennessee and Raj Singh, Director of the Plant Diagnostic Center at LSU in Baton Rouge. Pictures below show some of the classic symptoms of RRD. The one on the left is the Witches Broom note the many tiny thorns on the cane. 2
Plant Roses in the Fall for Early Spring Color By Master Rosarian Gaye Hammond In the past a lot of emphasis has been placed on buying and planting roses in early spring. Along the Gulf Coast, grafted modern roses are delivered to nurseries as bare-root plants in January. Nurserymen must pot the roses in containers and sweat them out until leaves begin to form, before making them available to customers in mid-to-late February. Because spring is when grafted roses show up in stores, we deduce that spring is the right time to plant roses. This deduction is only true for modern grafted roses. It is not true for own-root roses. Own root roses are not grafted. They are the same plant above ground as below ground. (See below) They are created by rooting a cutting from a mother plant, and are an identical clone of the parent. Own root roses can be planted at any time of year however fall is the best time to plant own root roses. In the fall, temperatures are lower and the plant is not called upon (like it would be in the spring) to produce blooms. This allows the plant several months to work on developing a healthy strong root system that will support a big spring bloom cycle. Because one would not typically prune a fall planted rose bush the first spring, it will be among the first garden roses to bloom once temperatures are conducive for doing so. Spring-planted roses have struggled not only to overcome the drought and desiccating air temperatures, but most importantly because they did not have time to develop a strong root system before getting hit with hard environmental conditions. It is important for a rose bush to have a complex and expansive root system capable of seeking out soil moisture and nutrients. My mentors say, The better the root system, the better the plant and in my own yard that is certainly true. To plant an own-root rose, dig a hole one and a half times the size of the container. Mix ½ cup of bone meal in the soil in the bottom of the hole. Carefully remove the plant from the pot taking care to not disturb the root ball. (I cut the bottom out of the plastic pot first, set the plant in the pot in my planting hole and then slice away the plastic pot. This keeps all the soil and roots intact). Back fill the hole with soil. Cover the surface of the soil with shredded hardwood mulch. Water the plant once a day the first week, every other day the second week and every third day the third week. From that point, water as needed. In fall-planted roses, it is imperative that no fertilizer be applied until spring. Planting roses in the fall gives a head start on a great spring bloom season. This year saw many instances where springplanted roses, in the ground only a few months, were hit with almost no rain and followed by 100 + degree weather from June to September. Plant on own root Plant has been grafted 3
Saturday s Program: Preparing roses for show and rose classes We want this to be a fun meeting with audience participation. One of the goals of the Shreveport Rose Society was to have a rose show sometime in the future. At this meeting we want to have a fun experience with everyone participating. I ask you to bring several of your roses. Take time to cut a narrow paper strip and write the name of the rose and what type it is such as hybrid tea, grandiflora, shrub, miniature, miniflora, old garden rose or whatever it is. If you do not know what kind it is, you can Google the name of the rose and that should tell you. Things to bring: 1. Several roses with name and class (blooms not fully open as well as open blooms) 2. Different types of roses as listed above 3. Shears or pruners to cut stems 4. I will provide wedging material 5. Vases, English box, pallet, etc. will be provided A picture of the show table with winners from the 2007 Southwest Louisiana rose show. Picture of roses on an own root rose planted in the fall. See article on page 3 4
President Nita Acklen Vice. Pres. Dr. Seborn Woods Secretary Terry Blackman Assist. Sec Vickie Wallace Consulting Rosarians in SRS Frank & Flora Hover - 588-3145 Lou Osburn - 294-0642 Marilyn Wellan -318-445-6006 Treasurer Gloria McClure Hospitality Chair Karen Durham Program Chair Frank Hover Membership Chair Jon Corken Newsletter editors Flora & Frank Hover Refreshments Dr. Seborn Woods Social Media editor Denisa Paylok Garden Director Don Morgan At Large Committee Member Tim Williams Invite a friend to our meeting Palette English Box Rose in a Frame 5