President's Message - October 2024

Happy October Folks,

Well, here we are with less than a week before our Fall Convention that a few of us have been working on all year. It is now up to the rest of you GRS member to come and support our effort and make this a successful event. It is never too late to come and pay registration cost on site. Even to attend the banquet, we probably can get the hotel to add a couple extra plates if you decide to pay for a meal. We would love for you to enjoy this special time together.

With so little participation in the GRS Rose Show, a few of us are thinking it is now time to dispense with our yearly rose shows. There is no fun for one or two people winning all the awards. We will have some discussion on this at our next board meeting, the perhaps a society vote. The storage for show supplies has become too expensive to keep as well, especially with our limited GRS funds.

Now that the weather has begun to cool down some, our roses will be showing their happiness by providing better blooms for us to appreciate. But, they still are in need of care, watering is number 1, then a last fall feeding before November 1st. I usually apply a soluble fertilizer of Peters 20-20-20 at the rate of 1 TB per gallon, one to two gallons per plant, according to the plant size. Also with cool damp nights comes fungal diseases, so one or two applications of fungicide is recommended. Do not feed plants after November 1st. This may cause the plant to start new growth too late before any freezing temperature arrives. You don’t want new stems dying off; this only weakens the plant and causes stress that will weaken them too.

Please keep up with the GRS newsletter for upcoming programs and events.

I hope to see a lot of you at the convention, remember it replaces our October meeting.

Happiness is a smiling rose!

Ralph Stream, Master Rosarian, President 

President's Message - September 2024

Hello Rose Friends,

It is slowly starting to cool down a tad, if you can call the upper 80’s a tad. For a few of us being away during the hot Florida summer was nice, but arriving home was a shock with the extreme temperatures. I am finding it difficult to tolerate the heat and also to maintain a large rose garden. I guess age is catching up with all of us.

As we get ready for the GRS activities this fall, I need to remind everybody of our commitment to co-host the Deep South District Fall Convention and Rose Show. We will need everyone to lend a hand in the many jobs that are required. Marion County, our co-host, has taken on a few of the most demanding aspects such as Registration, raffle and door prizes plus Vendor communications. GRS will do hospitality, hotel arrangements and the rose show. Most of our ground work has been done so, we all need to show up both Friday and Saturday and help. I am hoping many of you will register and enjoy all the other activities as well.

All ARS Societies have been asked to challenge their members to make an annual donation to the ARS. With your support, our mother ARS, will hopefully stay afloat and pay their bills. With recent declines in membership, the ARS is in a desperate situation. I am asking our society to help out by making your tax-deductible donation, or even better, become an ARS Life Member. If most ARS Affiliate Societies would address this challenge, our mother society ARS could return to the prosperous organization it once was.

The tip for the month: Now is the time for cutting our roses back in order to have nice fall blooms. These fall roses will help make our DSD/GRS rose show one of the best. Having good show roses is work, but well worth the effort when you see your entry on the awards table. We all can do this even if it is just one entry.

In closing, our September meeting will be a Round-Table Discussion. There will be topics of interest for everyone from basic rose culture to showing your roses at our upcoming Rose Show and Convention.

Our September meeting is being pushed forward a week due to the National Convention in RI in early September. Please mark your calendar for Sunday, September 15th, 2:00 pm at the Tower Road Public Library. I look forward to seeing you there.

Ralph Stream, Master Rosarian, President