Wednesday, January 4, 2017

President's Message - January 2017

Happy New Year to all! As I write this, 2017 will be here in about 36 hours. I am getting excited as I look forward to our time together this year. We will have many opportunities for fun experiences. I hope everyone had a nice time at the Christmas party. It was so good to see all those who could make it and especially Lee Wiegand and Shirley back with us and Shirley’s family joining in the celebration. Thanks to Marla, Ansley and Hadleigh for our music and all our great cooks and decorators. Check out the pictures on our website. Wasn’t the potpourri beautiful? Thanks Dan.

Thinking for a minute about roses, how are we doing with our watering? In our area, we have had 2.5” of rain in Oct, none in Nov and ¾ of an inch in Dec. This is far below the average and not nearly enough to sustain our plants without supplemental watering. Keeping them hydrated now will make all the difference in the spring when they are ready to take off. Ralph has several new varieties now in the garden which look quite promising. Continuing to spray, water and deadhead has kept us with tons of fall flowers. Just think, February pruning is just around the corner. Neglecting them is so easy when the Holidays come.

Flexibility – Yes, we can be flexible and that’s what it is taking for the January program. Ann Sherwood’s brother passed away and her family decided to plan his memorial service for January 7th. Eleven of the family members will now be hosted by Ann and Dan that weekend. To relieve some of her stress, the March crew will now do their program on Propagation in January, freeing Ann up a bit. Ann will do her program on Oriental Arrangements for us in March. Thanks Lee, Ralph and Jean for working this out.

The Propagation program will consist of Ralph and Lee demonstrating their techniques and Jean Giesel talking about Rose Genetics. If you have every considered trying this, the January meeting will be a good time to check it out.

I am currently working on Raffle baskets for the Mid-Winter meeting coming up on the 20th. I am happy that Missy and Jean hope to attend the weekend event and be delegates. Even in the cooler weather the Birmingham Botanical Gardens promise to be beautiful.

Have you got our fun day on your calendar yet? Remember the saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Saturday, Feb 4th will be our “play” day at Rose Petals Nursery and I hope you can come. We will start at 10:00 and finish by 2:00 pm. Breaking for lunch which will be provided. These will be inside, sit-down fun tasks which will help out RPN and mainly give us time for fellowship getting to know one another. It will be an “Our Time” moment.

I do hope we can fill 2017 with many “Our Time” moments and we enjoy being together as the GRS team. See you on the 8th at 2:00 pm.

Below are images from our Holiday Program:

- Jean Stream, President

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