2024 Lecture Series

Roseraie de l”Hay featured in Our New Program “French Gardens & More”

It’s January.

The holiday frenzy is over and the long winter gloom is drifting in.

Everyone is hunkered down for a few months except gardeners. Paper and online rose catalogs are arriving daily as rosarians get ready for the 2024 season. Gardening mojo is rising and this will hold them until the forsythia blooms. There is no one more optimistic than a gardener in January.

Meanwhile, we posted our 2024 Lecture Series this week.

Our bookings are back to pre-pandemic levels with mostly in-person events with a few Zoom presentations scheduled for winter dates and a few distant locals.

We are excited to announce two new programs this season and have already booked both for later in the year.

The first program, titled” French Gardens & More” is based on our three-week trip to France last May when we traveled throughout Normandy, down to Lyon and spent more than a week in Paris. We visited rose gardens, museums, Gothic cathedrals, Normandy sites and lots of cafes and restaurants.

The other program, one that has been marinating on our back burner for quite some time, is titled “The Brownells – American Rose Pioneers.”  The Brownells – Walter Brownell and his wife Josephine and later their sons – hybridized and sold winter hardy and disease resistant roses throughout the United States from the small seaside town of Little Compton, RI. from the 1930’s through the 1960s. A very interesting story.

Programs that are open to the public include:

The Southeastern Connecticut Home and Garden Show at Mohegan Sun, Uncasville CT: “Selecting Sustainable Roses” on February 17, at 1 PM.

The Rhode Island Rose Society on Saturday, March 9, at 10 AM at the Riverside Library, 475 Bulocks Point Ave, Riverside, RI: “French Gardens & More.”

The Little Compton Historical Society on Tuesday March 19 at 7 PM at the United Congregational Church, 1 Commons St., Little Compton:” The Brownells – American Rose Pioneers.”

The Connecticut Horticultural Society on Thursday, May16 at 7 PM at the Elmwood Community Center in West Hartford, CT:  “Roses for New England.”

The American Rose Society National Convention at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Warwick, RI on September 10 at 10 AM: “The Brownells – American Rose Pioneers.”

Add to these public events are dozens of garden club and other horticultural organizations bookings. Its going to be a busy season. And as always, if your organization needs a program at the last minute, contact Mike at RoseSolutions. Maybe we can help. For descriptions of our programs visit our website’s Program Page.

See our complete 2024 Lecture Series by clicking the 2024 Lecture Series tab above.

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Winterizing Container Roses: Roses in a Bag

Roses planted in containers may require some form of winter protection in cold weather climates. Because roots in containers lack the natural shelter of ground soil, we protect them by covering them in some readily available organic material – wood chips, chopped leaves, seaweed, or manure. This also preserves their winter dormancy.

However, this method has a major drawback. It provides an ideal winter vacation spot for mice and voles – a toasty place to hang out and multiply with plenty of rose bark and roots to eat. We found this out in March of 2017 when we uncovered our winter crib only to find the roots of every rose eaten and shanks girded. We lost the entire 2016 crop.

We took a few years off but resumed bud grafting roses in the summer of 2022. We enjoy the process and are able to propagate hard-to-find varieties and others that we like especially Brownell roses introduced by Walter and Josephine Brownell in the mid 1950s. (Note: all propagated roses are long out of patent.)

We grafted 55 in 2022, mostly Brownells, that we plan on using as live plant props at our lecture at the American Rose Society’s 2024 national convention to be held in September 2024 here in Rhode Island.

Budded Roses in 2-Gallon Containers

The challenge in the fall of 2022 was how to winterize these 55 budded root stocks planted in two-gallon containers and protect them from being destroyed by rodents.

The first winter was easy. After the now-budded root stocks were completely dormant in late November and mice had found someplace else to invade, we removed the small plants from each container, shook off most of the soil, bundled them together and packed them in 25-gallon plastic tubs and covered with wood chips. Four months later we unpacked 55 healthy undamaged budded root stocks. Voila!

These were repotted in fresh potting soil and were “topped’ in April then began growing vigorously as the budded variety.

The challenge for the second winter was how to winterize 55 now much bigger plants with large root balls as well as fully developed canes and stems – too big to remove from their pots and pack together.

Filling Bagster

Angelina came up with the solution. She suggested getting a “Bagster,” a thick vinyl 4’ x 8’ bag with 2 foot sides that is designed for construction debris that a truck will come and haul away. Instead of debris, after punching lots of drainage holes in the bottom, we filled it with the 55 potted roses and covered them with wood chips.

Our thinking is the Bagster is tall enough to prevent any tiny intruders from scaling the sides and camping out for the winter. We will know next March.

Roses “Bagged” for the Winter

The next challenge will be timing the second bloom cycle next summer to coincide with September 10 when we present our lecture, “The Brownells: American Rose Pioneers.”

Meanwhile, the roses are taking a break and so are we.

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Rose Rosette Disease

Rose Rose Disease Foliage at Rest Stop in Maryland

Our first up-close sighting of Rose Rosette Disease (RRD) was during a trip to Washington, DC and nearby mid-Atlantic areas a few years ago. RRD was everywhere, in private gardens and especially in median strips and in other public plantings where it apparently went unnoticed and unmanaged. Whole beds were infected. We had been aware of it but had not seen any evidence of it at home in Rhode Island so we were less concerned.

That would change when two years later we noticed infected multiflora (a common species or wild rose) roses growing next to the bike path along upper Narragansett Bay where we go on our daily walks. The bright red foliage, heavy thorny stems and witches broom made it easy to spot. Other similar sightings of RRD have since been made locally and even infections in some gardens have been reported.

Witches Broom Growth Among Normal Growth

Rose Rosette Disease is a virus that causes roses to grow strange deformities. The first tell-tale symptom is extra thick, bright red stems and clusters of thin, bunched foliage – often referred to as “witches broom.” Excessive thorniness and deformed flowers are also typical.

This highly contagious virus is carried by the tiny wingless Eriophyid mite that travels great distances on wind currents. Once one plant in a garden is infected, the disease can quickly spread by plant-to-plant transfer or by people and animals passing by an infected plant. At that point an infected plant goes into decline and eventually dies within a year or two. There is no known cure.

Bright Red Foliage of RRD

If RRD symptoms occur, the best remedy is to remove the plant immediately before it can infect the rest of the garden. Pruning out diseased shoots does not help once the virus is in the rose’s vascular system. Place the infected bush – canes, stems, foliage, roots, everything – into a trash bag and discard out of the garden. This may seem extreme but the virus spreads quickly and it’s better to lose one plant than an entire garden.

Note that RRD symptoms can be confused with herbicide damage. Witches broom bunching can also be caused by careless application of Roundup or other herbicides in proximity to rose bushes. None of the other RRD symptoms will be present. If this is suspected, observe the plant closely and if it’s herbicidal damage, the bush will eventually outgrow the damage.

Note also that many rose varieties express their juvenile growth as dark red stems that turn green as they grow – completely normal.

Rose Rosette Disease is a serious threat to roses but research is underway to discover resistant varieties and develop effective treatments. Meanwhile, it  can be managed once the symptoms are recognized and quick action takes place.

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Rose Fest

A Great Way to Learn about Growing Roses

Saturday April 30, 2022

Graham Thomas Rose

If you would like to learn more about how to plant, prune and care for roses, the RI Society’s Rose Fest, hosted by Wildwood Nurseries, is the perfect event. In addition to a schedule of talks and demonstrations by American Rose Society Consulting Rosarians, Mike and I will be presenting “Six Steps for Successful Rose Gardening at 11:15 AM.

This program explains everything you need to know in six easy-to-follow steps that take the mystery out of rose gardening. It also includes suggestions on sustainable rose varieties that are winter hardy, disease resistant and will thrive without the use of pesticides. We will have our books, Roses for New England: A Guide to Sustainable Rose Gardening and Rose Gardening Season by Season: A Journal for Passionate Gardeners available to sell and sign.

If you live nearby, this is a good opportunity to come to Rose Fest on Saturday, April 30 at Wildwood Nurseries, 659 Frenchtown Road, East Greenwich, RI. The schedule of events is posted below. You can also become a RI Rose Society member and receive a 10% discount at Wildwood.

Hope to see you there.

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David Austin’s 2022 Rose Introductions

Silas Marner (Photo Courtesy of David Austin Roses)

Each year we wait to receive a press release to learn what new roses David Austin Roses will introduce into the United States. For 2022, there are 2 new introductions: Silas Marner and The Country Parson.

Silas Marner (Photo Courtesy of David Austin Roses)

Silas Marner is a lovely, medium pink rose with cuplike blooms and a button eye with glossy dark green foliage. The underside of the petals, as well as the outer petals, are a paler pink, creating a halo effect. It has a medium strong, old rose fragrance, a mature growth habit 3½’ high x 4½’ wide and is winter hardy to zone 4. If the name sounds familiar, it is: Silas Marner is named for the main character in George Eliot’s novel of the same name.

The Country Parson (Photo Courtesy of David Austin Roses)

The Country Parson, named after James Woodforde’s “The Diary of a Country Parson,” is a medium yellow rose. It has flowers that form medium-large rosettes with paler yellow outer petals that are described as translucent. This new introduction has a fruity fragrance, grayish green foliage and grows 3½’ high x 3½’ wide. Like Silas Marner, it is winter hardy to zone 4.

I recently checked David Austin’s web site (davidaustinroses.com) and both The Country Parson and Silas Marner are still available. You can also request their 2022 Handbook on their web site.

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2022 Lecture Series

One of Our À La Carte Travel Programs

It’s early January, cold and quiet but not as cold as it used to be. As a kid I played hockey on safe pond ice at Christmastime but those ponds hardly freeze at all by late December. Anyway, Angelina and I are getting ready to post our 2022 Lecture Series. While this season had promised a return to in-person programs, it is starting out just like last year with virtual Zoom presentations due to the persistent pandemic. Zooms are not as satisfying as in-person visits but they had an unexpected bonus by allowing us to present programs in Manhattan, New Jersey, Toronto, and Houston without leaving home.

Our 2022 Lecture Series includes some re-bookings that were cancelled last year as well as new ones. Our entertaining PowerPoint lectures, workshops and seminars are designed to educate and make rose gardening appealing to even the most reluctant gardener. For a description of our programs, visit our web site’s Program Page at RoseSolutions.

Some highlights for 2022:

Brownell Climbers

• We are currently developing a new program on Brownell Roses utilizing an extensive trove of source material gathered over two decades. Walter Brownell was an early pioneer, hybridizing winter hardy varieties in Little Compton, RI that were later sold throughout the United States. We plan on rolling out this PowerPoint presentation this spring.
• Interest in our À La Carte Travel programs continues to grow. Last year gardeners stuck at home enjoyed our International Virtual Garden Tour, visiting five of our favorite overseas rose gardens. We escorted several groups to our favorite city outside of the United States with Paris! The City of Lights and more are scheduled this year.
• While there are fewer New England area flower and garden shows than just a few years ago, the Southeastern Connecticut Home and Garden Show is scheduled for February 18 to 20 at the Earth Tower Expo & Convention Center at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. We’re scheduled to present our popular “Six Simple Steps to Successful Rose Gardening.”  This program covers all the rose gardening basics plus lots of Q and A  – – everything necessary to grow beautiful roses in home gardens this spring.
• On Saturday morning, April 16, Angelina and I will demonstrate the best way to prune roses in the rose garden at Blithewold in Bristol, RI.
• A week later, on April 30, we will present our lecture “Six Simple Steps to Successful Rose Gardening” at the Rhode Island Rose Society’s 2022 Rosefest at Wildwood Nursery in East Greenwich, RI. This is free and open to the public.
• In-between these events, we have scheduled lectures with garden clubs and other horticultural organizations.

We will have our two books, Roses for New England: A Guide to Sustainable Rose Gardening as well as Rose Gardening Season by Season: A Journal for Passionate Gardeners, available at all our lectures and workshops.

Step 1 of Our “Six Simple Steps” PowerPoint Program

We  have been on the lecture circuit presenting lectures, conducting seminars and leading workshops for more than twenty-five years. We are always  available to speak at flower shows, symposiums, conventions, and garden club meetings and with Zoom we can travel anywhere on the planet. We can customize programs and even produce one-of-a-kind presentations. We continue to add bookings throughout the year so keep checking in. As always, if your organization needs a speaker at the last minute, even if you meet in some far-away place, contact Mike at Rosesolutions – maybe we can help.

Meanwhile, we are working on the February issue of our quarterly e-newsletter, The Northeast Rose Gardener, which is available to anyone who wants to learn more about rose gardening in the northeastern United States. It’s written for New England gardeners by New England gardeners with each issue drilling down into some aspect of rose horticulture specific to the northeastern climate. To sign up for the e-newsletter, send us an email. The Northeast Rose Gardener is free and we do not share email addresses with anyone.

Finally, there is no greater optimist than a gardener in January. Nothing ignites the passions in the soul of a rose gardener more than the promise of next year’s garden. 

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2022 American Garden Rose Selections

Celestial Eyes

Mike and I received our first Rose Catalogue in the mail last week which has us thinking about what roses we will add to our garden this spring. While word of mouth is the best way to find out about rose varieties that are sustainable and winter hardy for our climate, another way is to pay attention to what awards a rose variety receives.

Luckily, there are organizations that test varieties and designates them as winners if they meet certain criteria. The American Garden Rose Selections (AGRS), an organization that replaces the All American Rose Selection, is one such organization that tests and evaluates roses. Varieties that are entered into the program are planted and evaluated in 12 test gardens located throughout the United States for 2 years. They are evaluated for disease-resistance and ease of care as well as other criteria such as bloom form, fragrance, hardiness and plant habit. Varieties are awarded the AGRS designation based on regions. The closest test garden for us here in New England is the Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing, NY. Out of the 4 AGRS winners for 2022, two are Regional Choice Award Winners in the Northeast.

Pink Freedom (2018, Christian Bedard) – introduced by Weeks Roses/Spring Hill Nursery is winter hardy to zone 4. This pink shrub rose grows 4’-6’ high and 3’ wide, has 3½” blooms and is a good landscape rose. In addition to winning in the Northeast, it is also chosen for its performance in the Northwest, South Central and Southeast areas of the US.

Pink Freedom

Pretty Polly™ Pink (2019, David Zlesak) – introduced by Star Roses and Plants, is a Regional Choice Award Winner for the Northeast, Northwest, South Central and Southeast. This pink polyantha has cuplike blooms with a compact 2-1/2’ x 3’ wide habit. It is hardy to Zone 4 and attracts pollinators.

Pretty Polly Pink

The other two 2022 AGRS Winners are:

Celestial Night (2019, Christine Bedard) – introduced by Weeks Roses won in 3 regions: South Central, Southeast and Southwest. This deep purple floribunda has cupped and quartered old fashioned blooms, was also a Fragrance Award Winner and is hardy to zone 5. (Pictured as lead photo.)

Easy on the Eyes™ (2018, Tom Carruth) – introduced by Weeks Roses, is part of their Easy to Love series. This mauve shrub displays a large magenta/purple eye on blooms that have 15-20 petals and produces large clusters. It has dark green, glossy foliage, is hardy to zone 5 and won in 5 regions: North Central, Northwest, South Central, Southeast, and Southwest. It is also a Fragrance Award Winner.

Easy on the Eyes

All of these AGRS winners demonstrated disease resistance after going through a 2-year trial and may be roses to consider when looking for sustainable varieties to plant in your garden. For more information about AGRS and previous winners, visit their web site at www.americangarenroseselections.com

All photos are courtesy of the AGRS web site

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Striped Roses

Purple Tiger

Striped roses, vivid streaks of two colors on the same bloom, add a colorful accent to a rose garden. Last spring, we planted two striped varieties in formal urns in front of one of our rose beds as focal points. Since we wanted something bright and striking, we selected two contrasting striped varieties, Purple Tiger and Scentimental. Importantly, these dazzling floribundas also have a compact mature growth habit well-suited to container growth.

Purple Tiger, a mauve blend (Christensen, 1991), is not a new introduction, but I love its purple and white blooms that produced dramatic stripe-like configurations on each petal. While “striped” is not an official color class  ̶   two-toned roses such as striped are referred to as blends  ̶  Purple Tiger has the appearance of stripes along its petals, especially from a distance. On closer inspection, you can see that each petal may display splashes of purple interlaced with white or splashes of white interspersed with purple. Either way, the striations and coloring of Purple Tiger is eye-catching.

Purple Tiger in Container

One thing to note, though, is that mauve roses cannot tolerate extreme heat. During our heat waves this summer, our Purple Tiger blooms shattered as soon as they opened. It may have done better planted within our garden that gets afternoon shade instead of in a container that was in sunlight most of the day. Water was another consideration. Both Purple Tiger and Scentimental had to be watered more often, daily in hot weather, since the soil in the container dried out more quickly than the roses planted in the ground.

Scentimental

Scentimental, however, fared better under hot conditions. This floribunda (Carruth, 1999) produces vibrant sprays of red and white blooms. The saturated red on each individual petal is nicely contrasted by the intermingling of white. While Scentimental appears mostly red, each petal is streaked with white, resulting in a striped or dappled appearance. An added bonus is its strong damask fragrance, all the more noticeable because of the large flowers that grow in clusters.

Striped roses attract attention by providing lively color and creating an impressive dimension to every garden. We chose Purple Tiger and Scentimental because we liked their colors but we could have picked any number of other striped varieties since there are so many to choose from.

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David Austin Roses 2021 Introductions

‘Eustacia Vye’ (Photo by David Austin Roses)

This year, David Austin Roses celebrates English novelist Thomas Hardy with two new English roses for American and Canadian Gardeners –  ‘Eustacia Vye’, and ‘Gabriel Oak’. These fragrant, vigorous and disease resistant varieties are available in 2021 only by mail order from davidaustinroses. They will be carried in garden centers starting in Spring 2022.

Eustacia Vye:

‘Eustacia Vye’ is a medium shrub that grows 4 feet tall by 3 feet wide. It produces rosette-shaped mid-pink to apricot flowers with a strong, fruity fragrance that contain approximately 90 petals. An added bonus is the red-tinged stems which support each delicately ruffled bloom whose color gradually become paler as it matures. Winter hardy in USDA Zones 4-11, this beauty will flower from early summer through fall and maintains a bushy, upright growth habit. ‘Eustacia Vye’ is named after the beautiful and restive heroine of  Thomas’s The Return of the Native.

‘Gabriel Oak’ (Photo by David Austin Roses)

Gabriel Oak:

The striking deep pink blooms of ‘Gabriel Oak’ caught my eye and is now on my list of “must have” roses. This vigorous rose grows 4 feet tall by 4 feet wide, a perfect size for a home garden. In addition, it has an intense fruity fragrance, heavily-packed rosette-shaped blooms with 125 petals and lush dark green foliage. Named after the beloved character in Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd,’ Gabriel Oak’ repeats throughout the season and is winter hardy in USDA Zones 4 – 11.

These two 2021 introductions are the latest additions of David Austin varieties that continue the late Mr. Austin’s passion for English literature. ‘Eustacia Vye’ and ‘Gabriel Oak’ join past introductions from Thomas Hardy novels  – ‘Bathsheba’ (named for the heroine in Far from the Madding Crowd) and ‘Wildeve’ (a character in The Return of the Native).

Even though it will be several months before we can plant roses here in southern New England, Mike and I can enjoy looking at the David Austin Handbook of Roses that arrived in the mail a few days ago. If you haven’t received a copy, go to davidaustinroses to request one.

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2021 Lectures and More

June Bloom in Chute’s Garden

It’s early February and the coldest time of the year, the landscape is still and winter’s long post-holiday shadow has drifted in. Despite the pall cast by the corona pandemic, Angelina and I are optimistically planning for the upcoming year that includes our 2021 Lecture Series, additional writing, and catching up on delayed projects.

Since in-person lectures are not currently possible, we have converted all of our programs to virtual formats like Zoom. We have been presenting Zoom programs for the past several months and will continue to do so for, at least, the early part of 2021.  The unanticipated benefit of Zoom, however, is the ability to present programs to groups in far away places that otherwise would not have been possible. For example, we spoke  to a group in New Jersey last fall from the comfort of our Zoom Room and avoided an 8-hour drive.

Last year as contributing editors, we wrote a column titled “Every Day Roses,” for the American Rose Magazine, the official magazine of the American Rose Society. The column included a series of five articles where we delved into sustainability, winter hardiness, hardy shrub roses, rose selection, and described our visit to Italian rose gardens, all topics of interest for everyday gardeners. The response was very positive and we have agreed to contribute additional articles in 2021.

Page reprinted from the March/April 2020 Issue of the American Rose Magazine

Our quarterly e-newsletter, The Northeast Rose Gardener, is available to anyone who wants to learn more about rose gardening in the northeastern United States. It’s written for New England gardeners by New England gardeners with each issue drilling down into some topic of rose horticulture specific to the northeastern climate. To sign up for the e-newsletter contact angie@rosesolutions. The Northeast Rose Gardener is free and we do not share email addresses with anyone. The next issue will be published in February.

Our 2021 Lecture Series includes some re-bookings that were cancelled last year as well as new ones. Our entertaining PowerPoint lectures, workshops and seminars are designed to educate and make rose gardening appealing to even the most reluctant gardener. (See the complete list of 2021 programs on the 2021 Lecture Series page.) For a description of our programs, visit our web site’s Program Page at RoseSolutions.

Most of the New England area flower and garden shows have been cancelled for 2021 with the exception of the Southeastern Connecticut Home and Garden Show scheduled for May 14 to 16 at the Earth Tower Expo & Convention Center at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. We have accepted an invitation to present our popular “Six Simple Steps to Successful Rose Gardening.”  This program covers all the rose gardening basics including the right way to plant and prune roses plus lots of Q and A– everything necessary to grow beautiful roses in home gardens this spring.

(We will have our two books, Roses for New England: A Guide to Sustainable Rose Gardening as well as Rose Gardening Season by Season: A Journal for Passionate Gardeners, available at all our lectures and workshops.)

We  have been on the lecture circuit presenting lectures, conducting seminars and leading workshops for more than two decades and it never gets old. We are always  available to speak at flower shows, symposiums, conventions, and garden club meetings and with Zoom we can travel anywhere on the planet. We can customize programs and even produce one-of-a-kind presentations. We continue to add bookings throughout the year so keep checking in. As always, if your organization needs a program at the last minute, even if you live in Timbuktu, contact mike@rosesolutions – we can help.

So as we slug our way through these uncertain times during this winter of our discontent, rest assure that better times will return.

As we like to say, there is no one more optimistic than a gardener in January.

Happy New Year.

Stay Safe

Mike and Angelina

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