Six-Pack Rose Show

Back Row: Easy Does It, Ebb Tide, Outta the Blue, Julia Child; front row: Playboy, Hot Cocoa

Serious rose gardeners love to talk (and write) endlessly about roses. And we also love to exhibit roses, which is what we did on Saturday when the RI Rose Society had its annual “Six Pack Rose Show.”

Roses to bring to Show

This show is very low key and lots of fun. Everyone is invited to bring in no more than 6 roses displayed in bottles of any kind — water bottles, wine bottles, juice bottles or beer bottles. This late season, informal rose show encourages Society members, who may never have exhibited roses before, to give it a try. It’s also educational because Mike organizes an “open-judging” format. Judges verbalize the judging process out-loud as they critique each exhibit, explaining the awards – first, second or third place – that each entry receives. It’s an interactive process with the audience that asks questions throughout the judging.

Mike and Dave

On Saturday, Mike was joined by fellow ARS horticultural judge Dave Long from Old Lyme, CT. They presented an informative peek into the enigmatic world of show roses and how they are judged. Especially appreciated by novice and seasoned exhibitors alike, were their tips and insights on grooming show roses.

Another perk at having an informal rose show in the fall is that we get to appreciate the subtle differences that occur in roses due to changes in light and temperature from June to September. Our Playboy and Hot Cocoa roses have more saturated color now than they did last spring and our Julia Child roses were smaller than they were in June. We also have more of a chance to check out all the entries than we do at our big June rose show. This helps us decide what varieties to add to our “wish list” for next year.

Distant Drums

At the end of the judging, Mike and Dave culled all the “Blue Ribbon” winners (we used blue stars instead of ribbons) down to five. Then the members were polled to determine the best two entries. They voted again for “Best of Show” which went to Clive Nickerson for his picture-perfect bloom of ‘Distant Drums’.

The “Six Pack Rose Show” was one more way to enjoy rose gardening as this 2011 rose growing season winds down. Plus, look at the beautiful vase of roses I had when I came home!

Read Full Post »

Remembering 9/11 with Roses

The rose, a beautiful symbol of concern and sympathy, is America’s national flower.  So it comes as no surprise that an organization called “Remember Me” Rose Garden is planning on establishing rose gardens to honor those who died on September 11, 2001.

The “Remember Me” Rose Garden – Flight 93 has already been created on 15 acres located across from the Flight 93 National Memorial Park in Shanksville, PA. Gardens are also planned for locations on or near the sites of the attacks in New York City and Washington D.C.

The rose industry has been generous and supportive in this endeavor and a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of “Remember Me” roses will be donated to the “Remember Me” Rose Gardens. The following are some of the roses now known as “Remember Me” roses that can be purchased at garden centers throughout the United States.

Firefighter

Firefighter in honor of the 343 firefighters who died on September 11

Soaring Spirits in honor of the workers who died in the World Trade Center Towers

Forty Heroes in honor of the crew and passengers of United Flight 93

We Salute You to honor the 125 people who died at the Pentagon

We Salute You

The Finest in honor of the 23 NY Police Department officers lost in the line of duty

Patriot Dream in honor of the crew and passengers of American Airlines Flight 77

Survivor in honor of those who survived the collapse of the World Trade Center and the attack of the Pentagon

Wings of Courage in honor of the crew and passengers of Flight 11, the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Center

For more information on the “Remember Me” Rose Garden visit their website: http://www.remember-me-rose.org

The photos of Firefighter and We Salute You are by Gene Sasse © 2007 used courtesy of Weeks Roses.

Read Full Post »

Evaluating Roses

Labor Day weekend usually is when Mike and I start evaluating our roses and begin thinking about any changes we want to make. We look at each rose and see if we liked the way it has performed during the season. We evaluate each variety, especially the new varieties we planted this year, according to fixed criteria. Did it produce enough flowers? Did we like the blooms? Was the growth habit as expected? Was it disease resistant?  Overall, how well did the rose grow? The answers to these questions decide whether a rose will stay or go. We usually allow a variety two seasons to develop, but occasionally a rose will be such a complete loser that it gets the boot after the first year.

Brite Eyes & Home Run

Our sustainable rose garden is the smaller of the two gardens so we look at this one first. Generally, we’ve been pleased with the sustainability of the varieties we have. After trying several different climbers in the past, we planted Brite Eyes which is in its second year.  Last year we were satisfied with its disease resistance which is why it survived its first season. This season it had a sizeable growth spurt, which is to be expected since it usually takes at least two years for a climber to establish itself. It has reached a height of 6 ft. which is about as tall as it will get which is one of the reasons we chose it. We didn’t want a large climber that would grow taller than the house. Brite Eyes, hybridized by Bill Radler who is known for his Knock Out roses, has a single flower (5-12 petals) that is a soft pink with creamy yellow inner petals that throws off nice sprays all summer. I was also really pleased with its second bloom cycle in late July.

Sweet Fragrance (in front) & All the Rage

Planted side by side, we have the eye-catching Easy Elegance shrub roses All the Rage and Sweet Fragrance, both favorites for the last several years. The golden yellow stamens along with the yellow of its inner petals against All the Rage’s apricot blooms and Sweet Fragrance’s cupped double apricot blooms produce sprays all season. They both pick up a little black spot at the end of each season, but not enough to jeopardize their space in the garden.

Sweet Fragrance

Other roses in our sustainable garden include My Girl, a floriferous, deep pink rose with double, ruffled blooms, which is very disease resistant and meets all our requirements for a sustainable rose. So does Super Hero with its small, velvet red, perfectly formed

Super Hero

blooms. This variety, as well as many of the others, like White Out, Lady Elsie May and Yellow Brick Road, has a nice compact habit. Larger bushes like Knock Out, which is an anchor plant at the corner of our sustainable garden, and Blushing Knock Out and Pink Knock Out, which surround our flag pole, are perfect for their spots.

White Out

Unfortunately, Home Run, a red single rose with golden yellow stamens planted in front of the climber, is going to have to go because it has grown too big and is crowding out Brite Eyes. We’ll replace it with a smaller rose – maybe Yellow Submarine. The Yellow Submarine we have now was damaged last winter by heavy snow falling from our awnings, splitting the bush in two. We were hoping it would recover, but it hasn’t.

Yellow Submarine & Carefree Celebration

Mike and I reviewed our older garden today and plan on replacing some older rose bushes with younger plants of the same variety and removing a couple of very old varieties which no longer fit into our grand scheme. Rose gardens should always be dynamic works-in-progress with every season its own horticultural experience.

Read Full Post »