Temecula Valley Rose Society

Co-President's Message

It has been a long hot Summer and so far fall has brought us more of the same.

We may be wilting but our amazing roses are not. Rose Haven is still lovely and the roses and companion plants continue to bloom. The water lilies are thriving too and our water usage is less than our allocated amount.

Please plan to attend our monthly meetings. You will learn more about selection and care of roses and companion plants, have the opportunity to chat with other rose lovers, and end the morning with an included light luncheon.

Little Rose Show

By mid-October we should be having some cooler weather, so bring your best bloom for our Little Rose Show. If you are bringing an entry, get here a bit early so you can prepare your rose for judging. If you have a nice rose, but don't know what it is, bring it anyway. We'll enjoy seeing it although it can't be judged. Remember to check your foliage, leave it all on the stem (even below water), and make sure your container is an appropriate size for your rose. Virginia Boos was our September winner with her ever classic mini, Jean Keanneally.

Rose Haven Update

Autumn at the garden is a wonderful place to visit. The roses are recovering from the intense heat during summer and are reviving nicely. The succulents are blooming and with grasses waving in the breeze it's quite a refreshing sight.

The hillside pathways, which were recently renovated by filling potholes, regrading, and rocks mounded on the inside for erosion control, are finished. Thank you to all our members and the Riverside County Supervisors who contributed to funding this project. It has been on the garden "Wish List" for several years. The before and after photos cannot capture the vast difference but walking on the paths is immensely easier and safer.

Our Next garden committee meeting is Wednesday, October 28th at 9:15 AM. We are discussing projects for 2016. One item we will be investigating is a shade structure in the events area. We welcome any information or guidance on this project. Members interested are always welcome to attend the meeting. The garden address is 30592 Jedediah Smith Rd., Temecula .

Before

After

Member Profile: Jeanne Brubaker

Jeanne Brubaker wants us all to know her age, so she wears it in her picture. Jeanne does not look 78, and she wants to share with all of us that being careful of what she eats, frequent exercise and a few tips from her modeling days have helped her maintain a really youthful appearance. She loves to discuss this careful aging, as she is seldom really thin, but always looks good and is very healthy.

Jeanne was raised in the El Monte area. She had a good voice and often sang with Molly Bee on the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, as it was broadcast near by. She was a student in the El Monte Union School District and went to San Francisco to study opera after graduating. Nuns at the school helped her develop a fine coloratura soprano voice. In a Theater in the Round competition she came in second to Barbara Streisand, who was unknown at the time. Pretty good talent.

Lacking the funds to make a career with her voice, she got a job with the phone company as an operator and married her first husband. This was the famous '58 and '59 San Francisco era. Interesting times. She also got a scholarship as a John Roberts Powers Model and learned some tips that have served her well, though a career in modeling did not pan out.

She enjoyed a 15 year long career with the U.S. Forest Service. Transferred to Weaverville, she dispatched for the commissary for fires, and helped map out roads and designate areas to be forested. The information of what trees were of the highest value and where to put the roads to harvest them using those now ancient but then cutting edge 3-D techniques was surely a terrific responsibility.

When she and Stephen arrived in Murrieta it was to a "Hemet Yard". She immediately got a dozen roses going in her a dirt strip, and made raised beds for veggies, and planted some fruit trees in back. She loves her yard and loves the products and advice from the Rose Hills Farm. She worked at Curves several years and met the people that got her to come to Rose Society there. She has become a valued member.

Grocery Cards Benefit TVRS

Member Meeting Program

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

October Birthdays & New Members

Tree of Life Update

Fall has arrived, at least that is what the calendar is telling us. The hot summer, along with possibly some tomato worms, proved to be too much for our tomatoes (our 1st crop in the new Tree of Life vegetable garden). The other test crop is pumpkins (see photos). They have been growing steadily and are healthy but a bit behind schedule for producing a pumpkin for this Halloween. Could it be the heat? I would like to give credit to Alicia Cline for hand watering and watching over the crops this summer. Thank you Alicia!

If you have not been up to see the newly created Tree of Life Vegetable Garden please stop by and see all the changes. Most of the garden is raised beds with trellises around the perimeter, and it is now fenced in (see photos). The new garden was created by McCabe's Nursery with the support and creative input from Rebecca Weersing.

The Tree of Life will be used in the fall for our 3rd Saturday, Families in the Garden Programs. This will give the younger children in our community a chance to get their hands in the dirt and experience the wonder of planting a seed and watching it grow into something healthy that you can eat. If you are interested in joining this committee, and all the fun we have at Rose Haven with the younger children, please contact Alicia Cline.

The Tree of Life will also be used for community service and education with the Middle and High School students. This program is now being revised and we would love your involvement and suggestions. Creative ideas are great, but I am presently a committee of one and need your help to implement those ideas, and a commitment to be there in the garden, at the very least, on the Saturday's when I can't be there (in the past this has been a Saturday morning program). Please contact me, Barb Purdy, if you are interested in participating.

October Families in the Garden

Last month's Families in the Garden activity went off without a hitch. I would like to thank not only Project Wildlife but all those who donated for the wellbeing of the bats. We very much so enjoyed hosting Cindy Myers "the bat lady" and Delilah, the Mexican Free-tailed bat, and hope to see them again soon.

This month is October which means possible pumpkins, and particularly planting pumpkins. We will be planting winter and cool weather plants such as peas, carrots, lettuces, etc. Hopefully our growing pumpkin are soon ready to harvest! A mini-pumpkin project will be available as well!

Our planning meeting for this event will be held on October 7, any non-committal member interested in attending can call or email Alicia Cline at 951-234-2218 or aliciacline1313@yahoo.com for more details and information.

Youth Garden pumpkin

I'm a bat too

A heartfelt thankyou!

We wish to thank Todd Sieja of the Western Eagle Foundation for a generous donation to the Opportunity Drawing. The donated items were greatly appreciated by the members, and increased the participation in the drawing.

Rose Care FUNdamentals

Last month I gave illustrations and descriptions for mid-season pruning with a suggested time line for pruning and restarting your feeding program. What may not have been clear is that this is a light pruning, and must be carefully calibrated with the weather conditions. Specifically, when temps remain in the 90+ range, you must take care to not remove too much foliage because this can over expose canes to the fierce sun and sunburn them. This can damage or kill otherwise healthy canes or even the entire plant. If planning to have roses for a special occasion later this year, it will take 6 to 8 weeks from this pruning and feeding.

After pruning restart your feeding program. Make sure the plants are watered the day before. I recommend organic types and alternating with fish emulsions. Use a fertilizer that contains greater percentage of (P) phosphate in relation to (N) nitrogen and (K) potassium. This will assist the resistance to any stress and encourage stronger root systems. If Temperatures are in 90s or above and you do not use organic hold off fertilizing until weather cools. If you use a fertilizer that is first dissolved in water, apply it right over the bush from top to bottom. A hybrid tea would need about two gallons of solution and should be watered in after a couple of days. If you use a dry granular product, be sure to scratch it into the soil surface around the base of the plant, and then water it in. Apply in the concentration recommended on label; if growing in pots, use half the recommended amount, but apply it more frequently. Repeat your applications every two weeks.

When temperatures continue to be in the 90's it is necessary to ensure plants receive adequate water to stay hydrated. It takes only a few days in these temperatures without sufficient water for a bush to become seriously stressed and even damaged. Because of California's restrictions of water use, I suggest that with 3 gallons of water per hybrid-t (HT) twice per week a HT rose bush can survive. A layer of 4 inches of mulch will greatly reduce evaporation of soil moisture. This year the soil dries out more quickly than in previous years due to less water being applied as in previous years and, in general, the dryer soil environment.

With potted roses this is even more critical. Assess conditions every morning. Look for wilted or dry, crispy foliage. If you discover it soon enough dousing with plenty of water may save the plant. If you wait to inspect until the afternoon or evening it may be too late or you might not get a good assessment of the plant's condition. After a hot day, most plants can appear wilted while still receiving sufficient hydration. Also, inspect your irrigation system to make sure it is delivering enough water, isn't clogged, and isn't over watering—all problems that come with age in drip irrigation systems. If an emitter is delivering much more or much less water than others on the line, it can change the system pressure and affect the other emitters. The simple solution: Replace it! If a clay pot is used more water is needed as the clay will absorb moisture from the potting soil and evaporate through the porous clay material. Plastic pots are better as they will not absorb moisture from the soil. Another possible problem with potted plants is the soil can pull away from the sides of the pot and water will just run through and out the drain holes in the bottom. This problem can be corrected by pressing the soil back against the inside sides of the pot when the soil is wet.

It's not too early to start thinking about which roses you will remove and what you'll replace them with. Go ahead and request catalogs from rose suppliers—they're always available. If you haven't mulched recently, estimate the amount of composted mulch you'll need in order to cover your garden beds 4" deep and plan to buy it for this coming winter or spring. An area 10 feet by 5 feet will require 4-5 cubic yards of mulch.

A common problem when hot, dry, dusty conditions prevail is spider mites. This topic was covered in a previous care column which you can find on TemeculaValleyRoseSociety.org newsletter; look for Rose Care for September 2013.

A valuable bi-monthly magazine which covers rose topics is the American Rose published by the American Rose Society (ARS). Go to www.ARS.org for more information on obtaining it.

When you have a moment to spare, or feel the need to get away, or when the day cools down, take your favorite beverage, a picnic basket, and visit our local one-of-a-kind Rose Haven Heritage Garden. Click on the link below to see a map to the garden.

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!