I am excited about our February rose pruning workshop meeting at Kanapaha Gardens on Sunday, February 13. It will be great to have a hands-on activity and look at some of the improvements we can implement. Details are below. Meanwhile, some of us are enjoying the very cool weather and hoping the frost has reduced some garden pests and slowed down new rose growth. Lately, with warm winters, it has been a challenge to decide the best time to prune.
This is the year for election of officers, your current officers having served an extra year due to the pandemic. Our nominating committee is working on this and needs your cooperation. It’s easy to sit back and think someone else will do it, but our local society cannot function without people in leadership positions. And, the active Board of Directors gives great support to the officers. The four officers, Consulting Rosarians, immediate Past President, and Newsletter Editor make up the Board.
With a chance the pandemic will finally cease impacting our lives so drastically, the new Board can help with scheduling activities and interesting and exciting programs such as the very informative talk on Integrated Pest Management given by Dr. Cynthia Nazariola-Leary at the recent Deep South District Mid-Winter Meeting. Ray Guillebeau and Stephen Hoy presented a bunch of fabulously beautiful new roses and single roses. Many of the newer single roses have been bred for disease resistance. Satish Prabhu was a big hit with “Soil Magic? – I think not.” The main take-aways from his informative and humorous presentation are to have your soil tested and follow the recommendations and don’t expect much from most soil “elixirs.” If your garden has received regular fertilization, it probably mainly needs nitrogen.
Get expert information on growing roses from the current American Rose Society Consulting Rosarian School online. It is free and open to everyone. It is being offered every Saturday afternoon in February at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, with different topics each week presented by nationally known rosarians. Just go to rose.org and scroll down to the Rose Events Calendar for February on the home page. Clicking on the program title will take you to registration.
Jean Giesel, President
