Temecula Valley Rose Society

Co-President's Message

TVRS member meetings this year will include discussions and presentations on rose cultivation, selection and history. In addition there will be mini programs on how to show roses and how to photograph them. Plan on learning more about your favorite flower.

A list of committees and Committee Chairs will soon be available. Please look it over and plan to join one or more. Many hands make light work.

Save The Date!

2015 Rose Show Theme Chosen

The 2015 Rose Show theme is May Pole and will be held at The Temecula Assistance League. We will need volunteers to assist in many ways. Any containers suitable for succulent gardens and or succulents are needed. Sale of plants, blooms and specialties is planned as well as Baskets.

Old Garden Roses

The selection for our ninth featured rose in the Old Garden Rose section this month is a China, LOUIS PHILIPPE, a red blend with a very sweet fragrance and few thorns on a rather small bush. She should be lightly pruned regularly to shape the bush and to insure repeat blooming as the flowers appear only on new wood. The parentage is unknown but Guerin of France is given credit for her propagation in 1834. LOUIS PHILIPPE is rated at 8.8 by AARS, one of our top rated roses. This rose can be found just behind the memorial arch.

Families in the Garden

We welcomed fifteen children and their families to the garden on Jan. 17th to plant broccoli, learn to use a shovel, plant pea seeds, and examine nature under the magnifying glass. The weather was perfect for our third Saturday program in the 'Tree of Life Vegetable Garden'.

Our volunteer committee did an outstanding job. Karen Lilly and Karen Pond-Schmidt helped youngsters plant seeds to take home, Fay Devore mesmerized children with nature finds under the magnifying glass, Barb Purdy and JoAnn Summers guided kids planting broccoli, Mi-ae Kim took the beautiful photos for our Facebook page (Gardening for Kids in Temecula), Alicia Rae and her daughter helped with registration and digging. Rebecca brought extra tables and helped answer parents questions. These ladies work very hard planning, setting up, and cleaning up for this program which not only introduces our garden to the community but teaches youngsters the love of nature.

Our next program is February 21st and will celebrate National Feed the Birds month with making bird feeders and doing some bird watching at Rose Haven Heritage Garden.

Please go to our Facebook page: Gardening for Kids in Temecula and press the 'like' button. This is listed on the left hand side of the newsletter, or get it here: Gardening For Kids In Temecula.

Setting broccoli

A closer look

Soil Observations

If you look or dig in some of the heavily mulched beds at Rose Haven you can see how moist, soft and rich the soil under it is. With mulch we can walk on the bed and not compress the soil. We do not have to till or plow. We do not get muddy feet or slip on hard surfaces. There are very few weeds as the seeds can't get enough light to germinate. If they do grow they are easily removed with a hand or a hoe.

Soil is generated where mulch meets the dirt. A bed heavily mulched needs comparatively little water, as the mulch shades the earth and encourages healthy microbes in the soil which feed and water our plants. Very little fertilizer is needed compared to mechanical agriculture. Keeping the soil covered is one of the ideas behind sustainable agriculture. There is reason to think that huge amounts of organic matter and carbon can be sequestered in soil, especially ruined, exploited, abandoned and eroded soils, by using comparatively simple techniques. Significant changes could be made in the global climate scenario by the actions of ordinary people learning to reclaim soils. Mulching is a start.

The whole Tree of Life garden is a good experiment to study. There is a plot by the little greenhouse with no mulch, lots of weeds, hard and muddy when wet. It would take quite a lot of fertilizer and water to grow something there, because the soil is compacted and scorched by sun, wind and weather. There are other areas under four inches of tree mulch.

The whole of Rose Haven Garden was planted in swales, to minimize erosion on the hills. You can see examples all over of erosion and compaction prevention techniques. If you are interested in more information, just ask.

Opportunity Table

The drawing for items on the opportunity table is always an exciting feature at our meetings. Tony and Frances Merritt ask members if there are items that you would like to donate it would be greatly appreciated. Nice garden or flower related items, gloves, vases, etc. would add to our selection of prizes.

New Member Meeting Format

In the short time that we have together each month to learn and share information about roses and rose gardening, in January we tried out a modified agenda for our 3rd Thursday monthly meeting at the Library.

This is the timeline for our February, March, April and June meetings. May is our Member Garden Tour. July we do not have a Member Meeting and August is our Strategic Planning meeting. September, October and November will be our new meeting timeline. December is always our Installation and Holiday Luncheon.

We look forward to learning and sharing in the new year. A 'Thank you' to Don Nordike for his Rosy Sharings about St. Patrick, one of his favorite roses. Send me an email if you have a special rose you would like to talk about during Rosy Sharings or be willing to volunteer at the meeting.

Thank you to everyone for your help in packing our meeting with great rose information! See you on Thursday, February 19th at the [new] Temecula Library.

Grocery Cards Benefit TVRS

Dear Members: I trust that you have made a determined effort to use Stater Bros. Script/Gift Cards for your everyday normal purchases. Even in these financially difficult times we all must eat. Purchasing a $100 Script Card will let you spend $100 for groceries at Stater Bros. There is no extra expense or donation coming out of your pocket and the Rose Society will get a $6.00 donation for the upkeep of the Garden. Your support is greatly appreciated. Contact Ann Coakes to order Script Cards. Tel 951 693-5635.

Member Meeting Program

Tired of rodents gnawing on your fruit trees, gopher snatching your vegetation from below, or rats scuttling up your downspout? Invite a couple of barn owls over and they'll gobble up the vermin at a rate of 2,000 a year.

Tom Stephan's lifelong passion for birds of prey began in 1962 while doing research for a wild animal report in second grade. This led to much climbing of trees to better observe birds of prey, which led to a career as a tree trimmer (and later a certified arborist). While bidding a job, he noticed an improperly hung owl box in a potential client's yard. He offered to install it at the proper height and angle needed to attract owls, and three days later the lady was thrilled to report that a pair of barn owls had begun nesting in it. "This was the first owl nest box I installed," said Tom. "Now, nearly 20 years later, I have over 34,000 under my belt. I'm so grateful that my passion for this hobby has led me to such a fulfilling career. I spend my days sharing my enthusiasm and knowledge of nature and its inhabitants with people around the world. This is my definition of success."

The barn owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as the common barn owl, to distinguish it from other species in its family. The barn owl is found almost everywhere in the world except polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalayas, most of Indonesia and some Pacific islands. --Wikipedia

Jump to Linda Black's story on why you need a barn owl in your garden.

A light buffet luncheon will be served around noon. Guests are welcome.

February Birthdays & New Members

Little Rose Show Nov. & Annual Results

Results of the November 20th 2014 LRS were as follows: Ellen Noell brought 6 roses and all were rated as first; this equaled her 30 points. Roberta Costa brought a beautiful moonstone and won Rose of the Day and 11 points for her two roses. Simonne Arnould had 6 roses with a total of 13 points. Jeanne Brubaker had four roses, two "unknown," but won 8 points. Others with fewer entries were Betty Dixon, Tony and Frances Merritt, Lenore Vogel and Bonnie Bell.

The totals for the year with shows on June 19th, September 18th, October 16th and November 20th were scored as follows: Once again Ellen Noell had the most points for the year with a total of 88. Second prize went to Virginia Boos with a total of 83 points. Third prize went to Don Nordike with 46 points. Frank Brines had 44 points and Simonne Arnould had a total of 42 points. Jim Moss brought 6 roses once and earned 26 points, and Laurie Moss had a one-time showing for 16 points. Jeanne Brubaker had 17 points for two shows entered.

Other members who brought roses that were scored were Roberta Costa 11, Lenore Vogel 10, Peggy Whitney 8, Bonnie Bell 8, Betty Dixon 3, Lorraine Kline 3, Frances and Tony Merritt 3, and Micha Grayson with 1.

Rose of the Day Winners were Virginia Boos, twice, Frank Brines once, and Roberta Costa once. In November we had a beautiful array of roses for our Little Rose Show. Roberta Costa won the Rose Of the Day for the November 20th meeting.

The top scores for the year went to Ellen Noell with a total of 88 points. Virginia Boos got 83 points and Don Nordike had 46 points. They were each presented with a gift for First, Second, and Third prizes at our end of the year December meeting. The next LRS will be on April 16, 2015. We look forward to another year of great participation and learning about roses. So, the more blooms you bring, the more chances to win.

Winter Vegetable Planting

What do Tomatoes and Onions have in common? If you said that they can both be planted in the winter in Temecula you would be correct.

Onions: If you are interested in planting onions, sets can be purchased and planted in the ground now. Onions do best if the temperature is cool when they start to grow and warm as they mature. Early planting is important because it gives your onions plenty of time to grow leaves before light conditions signal the plant to divert the energy from making new leaves to storage in the bulb. The size of the bulb is determined by the amount of leaves the plant has. Onions are light sensitive and are divided into 3 groups: short-day, intermediate-day, and long-day. Long-day onions are designed for northern latitudes, and the days in Temecula never get long enough to produce a good bulb. The good news is that the sweet onions are short-day and grow well here. When planting onion sets add some high-phosphorus fertilizer to the bottom of the trench before planting. Onions are easy to grow and we have had a lot of success with them in the 'Tree of Life'. Stop by and see our onions growing, and if you plant your own, bring your biggest one to the May meeting!

Tomatoes: Of course when I am talking about planting tomatoes in February, I am talking about starting them indoors. This year in August we are going to have a tomato tasting event at Rose Haven, so I wanted to give you a chance to plant your own from seeds. Planting tomatoes from seed takes some work, but it gives you a chance to try a variety that you won't find in the stores, which is definitely worth the effort. Sprouting tomato seeds can be tricky, but my best advice is to keep them in a place that is warm (they don't need sun until they sprout) and water them when they are dry. What I have found works the best are the covered grow boxes (or cover them yourself) to keep the moisture consistent. If they are not sprouting, put them somewhere warmer. Happy planting.

Ripe tomato

Onion harvest

Rose Haven Garden

It's the middle of winter, southern California style. Mild weather, a little rain now and then, makes it oh so nice to be outside. Frank Brines will conduct a pruning demonstration Saturday, February 7th at 9:00. It's an outstanding class as he shares his immense knowledge of rose culture. Members and the public are invited to attend.

The roses and shrubs need plenty of attention in February: pruning, raking, and general clean-up so the garden will look fabulous come April. We appeal to our volunteers to come out and prune a few roses. Our regular work days are Wednesday and Saturday morning. As you can see by the photos, what once were "sticks" become flourishing roses.

The next garden committee meeting will be Wednesday, February 25th at 9:30. We will be discussing our projects/improvements, and maintenance. All interested are invited to attend.

Before pruning

After pruning

The Curious Case Of The Shrinking Plants

The sky was blue. The day was beautiful! It was time to go out and see how the garden was doing. The roses that were planted the previous year were coming on like gangbusters. The flowers were beautiful and they were looking healthy and robust. The hollyhocks that were planted behind them were looking good too. I couldn't wait for their flowers to burst out in a myriad of colorful powder puffs. They were already 5 - 6 feet tall with the colors of pink, red, peach and white already showing in the buds. I would have liked a whole row of them, but I only had room for six. I couldn't wait for them to burst into bloom!

Life went on. I was taking care of the immediate demands that life throws at you. The next few days were impossible to go out for a leisurely garden stroll. When I passed by hurriedly, I did give a cursory glance. At one point I thought: Hey! Weren't they all the same height? But I didn't think too much of it. I had more important things on my mind. "They can't be shrinking! It's my imagination! It must be a Jedi Mind Trick!"

A few days more went by. Life was settling down a little and I was absently looking out the kitchen window. I noticed that the hollyhock second from the end was leaning, so I went to investigate. As I approached I thought to myself: Wasn't there six plants? Why am I only seeing five? Then it dawned on me that I was seeing five! I climbed back behind the roses and what do I behold? Number six plant was completely gone! Number five plant was half its' previous height and starting to wilt and number four was leaning precariously! What the heck?!!!

Chewed pieces of stems and leaves were the only thing left of my number six hollyhock. In its' place was a fresh mound of dirt. GOPHERS!!@%#&*! I thought maybe I could save the one leaning, but when I tried to straighten it, it came out in my hands! I almost fell on my backside. I looked at it. No roots at all! "OK, IT'S WAR!!" I got the shovel, "I'll show you, you little buggers!" I spent the next half hour stabbing and turning over the soil in a 3" radius destroying their tunnels. "That should do it!"

The next day, number 3 was shrinking! I found their hole and this time I was going to flood them out. So, I took the hose, stuffed it in the hole and turned on the water. Great! It looked like it was doing the trick. The holes were flooding. Then it looked like someone pulled the plug from the bathtub! At the same time water was gurgling happily down the slope about fifteen feet away. Well, that wasn't going to work!

My next assault was the gopher probe, then I used the "kitty Litter strategy". After that I used the gopher chasing pellets, the chewing gum sneak attack, and the 'Go Getter' gopher bombs. All the while each hollyhock kept shrinking one at a time till they were all gone. I waged battles but lost the war. A picture kept popping in my mind from "Caddy Shack" where the grounds keeper had the same problem on the golf course. I kept picturing myself laughing maniacally as torrents of flame spout from my flame thrower down the hole while all the time the gopher is right behind me laughing his head off. Till this day, the gophers are still getting the last laugh!

Rose Care FUNdamentals

After this pruning, you can usually expect a flush of blooms 8 to 12 weeks later, depending on the temperatures during that period-the warmer it is, the shorter the time to blooms. But all things being equal, if you prune in the latter half of February you will likely have blooms for our 2015 rose show which is scheduled for April 25.

The may reason for the major late-Winter pruning is to reset the plants' biological clock. A wake up call to begin a new life cycle-like restarting a factory.

The following procedures mostly apply to hybrid teas and floribundas; they are reasonably servicable for minis. They are not really applicable to climbers, ground cover roses, trailers, or shrub roses-all those types have their own pruning methods.

To do the job right, one needs to have a range of pruner sizes handy. Each size has a limit to the diameter thickness for which it is most efficiently used; using too small a pruner on too large a cane can damage both. At minimum, have a pair of loppers and a standard-sized pair of hand pruners. If you have some older plants with large canes that may need to be removed, a saw is a handy tool to have. All pruners should be kept clean, sharp, and in good repair. Rubbing alcohol is ideal for cleaning pruners, before and during the job. It also helps prevent transmitting diseases from plant to plant, and you can use it as first aid for punctures and scratches to your skin. A good pair of leather gloves are necessary with long sleeves or separate pair of sleeves to protect our arms.

Before starting the job, lubricate the moving parts with a little light oil (such as 3-in-1oil), and make sure they operate without resistance. Sharpen each blade with a small diamond file (available at garden centers), trying as much as possible to match the original bevel of the blade. Every 100 cuts or so, swipe the file over the blade a few times to keep it sharp. If you notice that the pruners are crushing the stems and/or leaving a tail, it's past time to sharpen!

Figure 1

Now, decide what style of pruning you feel comfortable with (Figure 1). I find this works well with the way buds are distributed along the cane. Buds are found in the "axel" where a leaf meets the cane; leaves spiral around the cane at about 1.5" intervals. This places outward-facing buds about 4" apart. If I prune lightly to moderately, and if frost damages the tender young growth, then I know I can still re-prune to the next bud down.

In Southern California our rose bushes can grow quite large, so I start with some gross pruning to bring the project down to size. I use loppers to cut every bush down to about 3 feet high. This lets me examine the structure of the bush, and to use my hand pruners to more easily remove canes that are twiggy, dead, crossing other canes, or passing through the center of the plant. I also remove old leaves as I go along so I can easily see the structure of the plant. After removing all that stuff from the interior of the bush you can do the final pruning. Attempt to leave a domed top to the degree possible so the plant will bush out in a pleasing, balanced manner.

There are two kinds of cuts you will make. Some cuts remove the entire branch; these cuts are made flush with the surface of the parent cane. Other cuts simply shorten a cane. It is important to position your pruners so you minimize damage to the plant. Take a look at your pruners and notice that they have a sharp cutting blade (which slices through the cane), and a dull curved non-cutting blade (which holds the cane in place during the cut). These are called bypass pruners, only type recommended. Position your pruners so the non-cutting blade is in contact with the portion of the cane that will be removed, and the cutting blade is on the side of the cut that will remain on the plant. (See Figure 2.) This will make more sense when you are actually holding the pruners and getting ready to cut! Also, always prune above an outward facing bud with an angled cut. (See Figure 3).

A word of caution when pruning: Look for the small nests of hummingbirds, as this is the nesting period for two varieties in our area. Also, if you discover praying mantis egg cases on any branches you remove, find a place to put them where they will be undisturbed and hatch out so you can benefit from the offspring!

Be sure to dispose of all cut off material into your green waste bin and put it on the street. Clean the ground thoroughly of all rose debris. Apply a dormant spray to the plants and the soil surface to ward off diseases. Then add 2"-4" of composted mulch to cover the entire garden area.

Figure 2

Figure 3

For more ideas, visit TVRS' Rose Haven garden at 30592 Jedediah Smith Rd.,
Temecula, as well as our web site at TemeculaValleyRoseSociety.org/index.shtml. Spread the joy of roses!