Temecula Valley Rose Society

Co-President's Message

Roses Past and Present

It has been suggested that the members of the Temecula Valley Rose Society help to expand the newsletter, the Valley Rose, by submitting articles or items of interest for publication. Therefore, to help in this venture, in future issues of the newsletter you will be seeing a series of articles concerning rose history. These articles will begin with a trip back to antiquity with a look at wild roses, also called "species" roses. Then, moving along, we will come to the period of human intervention with these plants and their widespread popularity, the period of old garden roses. Finally we come to the era of modern roses, those we all grow today. In this last section we will look into David Austin roses. so we hope you enjoy these articles. Any mistakes or misinformation are strictly the fault of the author.

Hi, my name is Karen Ortega

My purpose in writing this is to tell this history of how it all got started. I moved to Temecula in 1988, and, quite honestly, I was just busy for the first two years raising my boy-girl twins, Jonathan and Katie Rose. They were two years old when we moved into Lake Village. They reached a wonderful "age of reason" by the time they were four.

Before moving to Temecula, my husband, Fred, and I had lived in San Diego. We were proud members of the San Diego Rose Society. We had even attended our first rose show and won numerous ribbons for our miniature roses and even one trophy for "Best Novice", for a lovely apricot rose called Brandy.

My father had a green thumb and we always planted roses at every home we lived in (all 30 of them) in the years when I was growing up; and he passed on that love of roses to me and that green thumb, too. Our first home in San Diego had about 75 rose bushes and our home here in Temecula back in those days had about 100 roses! Sadly, not anymore.

One day, my twins and I were out in the front yard, finishing up the pruning for February. Yes, they actually had their own blunt-tipped Corona clippers. A local photographer for the newspaper called the Californian (Steve Thornton) asked if he could snap our picture. He then asked if the paper could give out my phone number, just in case anyone had any questions; so I said "sure" as long as it wasn't actually printed in the paper, I was fine with giving out my phone number.

Well, the local Garden Club did call and they asked me to come and speak at their March meeting. They even provided me with a few potted roses; so that I could demonstrate how to prune roses. As I was giving my speech, I asked how "I" could appear to them to be an expert on roses? Wasn't there a local Rose society? When they said no, it only took me a short while to realize that it was time for Temecula to have its own Rose Society.

The Californian was very helpful in me getting the Rose Society started. I used their local news notes to write a short message inviting anyone who loved roses to attend a meeting at the Lake Village clubhouse on May 13, 1990. I asked them to please bring a baked good and that I would provide an "elegant" tea on my finest Rose China.

So, my twins and a very helpful little girl from next-door, Jessica, helped me measure and bake a cake and some cookies; then we used our little red wagon to transport everything over to the clubhouse.

Thirteen wonderful Charter Members showed up. Our current co-President Rebecca Weersing, became my first Vice President, Virginia Boos took notes the whole time, so we elected her Secretary, and the great Edie O'Hair finally became known as the first, greatest rosarian in Temecula. We now have many Consulting Rosarians in the TVRS.

I just wish I could find the notes and the names from that first meeting, so I could acknowledge all thirteen of our charter members.

Hint of things to come: At that time, Edie had over 1,200 roses on her gorgeous property up in De Luz in 1990. For two years in a row she graciously allowed us to hold our fundraisers for the public rose garden up at her place. She also designed the circular layout that the garden was planted in. We dressed in beautiful rose print dresses at all meetings in those days, and also presented ourselves with gracious sun hats and parasols to act as docents at those two Rose Fetes. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Promise of more to come...

Karen in her rose garden, 1990

What's Wrong With My Roses?

At our house, we have two distinctive sides, both facing south, planted with roses; four pink floribundas are planted in one section, seven tea roses are planted in the second section. These bushes produced beautiful roses for the past 15 years. This June I noticed one of the floribundas had a strange growth. I cut it back. About a month later, it reappeared on the original bush, and now on a second bush. The growth was reddish-purple, furry and on weak stems. I kept cutting the strange growth, spraying with a copper fungicide, fertilizing, watering and offer any other tender care possible. In the winter, when I cut back and strip the roses of their leaves, and then apply mulch, I noticed the strange growth had spread significantly. It was on three bushes now, all exhibiting the strange, reddish-purple growth with weak stems. It appears the disease is Rosetta. There is no cure, the disease is fatal and it will spread. The roses and dirt will have to be dug up and disposed to protect the seven tea roses.

What caused the disease? Where did it come from?

There is an excellent article in the Missouri Botanical Garden, which describes the disease called Rose Rosette. In this article, it states that the disease is spread by a very small eriophyid mite and that the disease is limited to plants in the genus Rosa. Further, it describes the earliest symptoms of Rose Rosetta as including a red pigmentation of the underside of leaf veins followed by sharply increased growth of vegetative shoots, which are more succulent than normal and colored in various shades of red. As the disease progresses, leaves become very small, petioles are shortened and most lateral buds grow, producing short, intensely red shoots referred to as "witches' broom". Following are pictures of diseased plants from this article.

Witche's Broom infection

The disease can be transmitted by grafting and by an eriophyid mite, a wingless mite that can travel passively in the wind. Transmission typically occurs between the months of May through mid-July.

Reading other articles on Rose Rosetta, it is suggested that birds and squirrels could carry the disease. We have a lot of tree squirrels and I often note evidence of them burying nuts in the rose bed. Another possibility is the disease may be in the thick layer of mulch that I lay down in the fall to protect the roses from the sub-zero winter winds. Unfortunately these beautiful plants and the dirt in the area will have to be dug up and disposed of as there appears to be no cure.

Member & Board Profile: Patricia Hirsch

Many of us we are still getting to know Patricia. She is a self-described military brat, as was her mother. Her father was re-assigned every few years and the family went with him all around the world. She learned to love travel and the various places they lived: California, both North and South, all around the Nation, years in Spain, extensive tours of Europe. She had seven siblings and her mom was a history professor who made sure the family visited all the National Parks, loved nature and learned at every opportunity. She still has friends from the fifth grade.

Patricia grew up to be a critical care nurse for twenty years. She then lived on her sailboat in Mission Bay, got her Captains license with the Coast Guard and worked with women in life coaching, empowering them with sailing and what they wanted to do with their lives. She became a Master Certified Coach and has run her own business since 2001.

She met her husband 16 years ago through serendipity, three times in two weeks, at Costco. They lived in Newport Beach for 12 years, but that was not really their "cup of tea". Three years ago they found an ex-flower farm/avocado ranch off of Gopher Canyon in Valley Center. She loves roses, has 30 plants, so found us through her gardening and ours. She has used the information from our meetings in working to use less water at their home. She appreciates what it takes to make our Rose Haven work.

Grocery Cards Benefit TVRS

Member Meeting Program

Providing refreshments is one of the ways that a member can volunteer for the Society. Each month the Hospitality Committee passes around a sign-up sheet for the following month's refreshments. A reminder phone call is made to each person who signed up a few days prior to the meeting. Those providing refreshments should bring sandwiches, salad or dessert for 8. Coffee and hot water for other beverages are provided.

Traditionally the new board of directors provides refreshments at the January meeting. Members at- large signup for February, March and April. May is our Garden Tour meeting and lunch is paid for from Society funds. During June, September, October and November members at-large can signup to bring something. July and August there are no meetings so we do not need refreshments. December is our Holiday Luncheon. The Society provides the ham and turkey with some sides–and all members are requested to provide sides and desserts. December is always quite a feast!

The Hospitality Committee, chaired by Micha Grayson, does a wonderful job in organizing our refreshments and cleaning up afterwards. Our meetings would not be the same without this dedicated crew.

January Birthdays & New Members

Birthdays Lenore Vogel, 1-6; Karen Lilley, 1-11; Micha Grayson, 1-14

New Members The Crain family.

Little Rose Show

Our Little Rose Shows have ended for the year 2015 and will resume in the spring. Nineteen people participated throughout the season and 37 varieties were shown. This year's winners for most points accumulated were Virginia Boos, first place; Simonne Arnould, second place, and a tie for third place: Ellen Noelle and Don Nordike. Congratulations to our great exhibitors!

Rose Haven Garden

Happy New Year everyone. Even though winter has arrived there are still some beautiful days to enjoy the garden, and for added delight bring your pruners along and cut back a few roses. Yes, once again it's time to begin pruning so the roses will have a chance to rest. Wednesday and Saturday mornings beginning January 6th are the scheduled work days starting at 9:00. Additionally, Frank Brines will conduct a pruning class Saturday, January 16th for beginners and persons wanting to refresh their skills.

Remember the snow last January 1, 2015? The two photos were taken by John Weersing, our webmaster. Just incredible. Wonder if we'll get a bit of snow this January?

Entrance Arch

The Pond

Our next garden committee meeting Wednesday, January 27th at 9:15. We are discussing projects for this year. Erosion control, shading the education area, and selecting replacement roses are on the agenda. Interested members are always welcome to attend the meeting. The garden address is 30592 Jedediah Smith Road, Temecula.

January Families in the Garden Update

This month's Families in the Garden, which is to be held on January 16th, activities include taking a visit to the Tree of Life to plant assorted winter vegetables and herbs, such as garlic, onions, and carrots in the raised beds. Plantings from previous meetings, crafts, and snacks will be available for those who come. In the month of February we will be grazing the subject of birds, and hope to see you there. For more information please contact Alicia Cline at aliciacline1313@yahoo.com or 951-234-2218.

Water you doing?

Look at my Raddish!

2016: Hopes and Plans for our Society

Thank you to each and every member for sharing your thoughts and ideas for our Society at our December meeting. We will all have the opportunity to discuss, propose, and implement those ideas through our committees during the coming year. Below is a recap of our ideas under the appropriate committee. If there is a particular idea that you would like to see succeed, feel free to contact the committee chair that project has been assigned to and expect to be asked to assist in the planning/implementation. When possible we try to have committee meetings after our member meeting refreshments from 1 to 2 pm thus reducing the need for an additional meeting day. Some committees meet on different days at other locations.

We are a Rose Society and members requested more rose-specific programs. Members also enjoy interactive activities, when possible. Our November meeting where we not only learned about rose propagation but actually had the opportunity to pot a cutting is a perfect example of what members found interesting and exciting.

The Little Rose Show, chaired by Betty Dixon, is a sub-committee of the Programs Committee. This is a great opportunity for each of us to bring at least one rose to the meeting. The roses will be judged and before we break for lunch we will participate in a mini-critic about the rose submissions and tips on exhibiting roses.

Touring member gardens is another important tradition of our Society. This is a sub-committee in need of a chair. We tour member gardens in May on the third Thursday, in lieu of a meeting at the library on Pauba Road. We start the tour at Rose Haven, generally meeting at 9:30 am. We try to keep the various gardens within easy distance of each other to minimize travel time between gardens. Three or four gardens make for a nice day and we have lunch at the final garden. Notification would be through the newsletter under "Programs".

Visiting member gardens is a new idea suggested at our December meeting. A chair for this sub-committee is also needed. "Visiting" is less formal than a garden tour. This will be a spur-of-the-moment activity generally involving one garden. Visiting would happen when a member puts out the word that there is something worth seeing in their garden. Members would receive an email blast alerting them "Member So-and-so invites you to visit their garden on [whatever day] between the hours of [whatever time] to enjoy [whatever is special]". Because this is spur-of-the-moment, there would be just one quick email blast to everyone—no phone calls, nothing in the newsletter. If you are able to visit, great; if you are not able to visit, maybe next time.

Day Trip Outings are visits to non-member gardens. These are planned outings usually on non-member meeting days but could be on a member meeting day if we so choose. Notification would be through our newsletter. We like to have at least two per year. We would meet at Rose Haven and carpool to the garden location. One location that has been on our "want-to-see" list is the Myrtle Creek Nursery in Fallbrook. An outing should provide unique gardens, a café for lunch, and some shopping. Again, we need a sub-committee chair.

An extension of this is a Weekend Outing. In the past our Society has taken trips to Wasco for their Wasco Rose Festival held the weekend after Labor Day each year. In the past those wanting to go provided their own transportation, with carpooling encouraged. (If there are enough of us we could look into a bus excursion.) In order to make the most of this weekend we would leave Temecula on Friday morning, stopping at the Huntington Gardens for a visit & lunch before heading on to Bakersfield for a two night stay. Wasco has a Reception on Friday evening and Saturday there is a Rose Parade, a rose show and tours of the rose fields along with an arts & crafts faire in the park . Wasco has a nice little history museum. Back in Bakersfield there are several wonderful Basque Restaurants to choose from for Saturday evening dining. Returning to Temecula on Sunday calls for a stop at Descanco Gardens. Is there a travel agent among us who would like to take on coordinating such a trip?

Coming in October we will be hosting an Arrangement School for Pacific Southwest District (PSWD). The American Rose Society is divided into districts and our Society is located within the PSWD (Southern California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona & Hawaii). Different Societies within our District volunteer to host educational schools for judges and consulting rosarians. Our Society has hosted a Consulting Rosarian School previously and we now have the opportunity to provide the venue for an Arrangement School. Contact Frank Brines if you are interested in helping out!

Rose Haven was at the heart of a number of suggestions involving our community outreach. Suggestions included expanding the number and type of events with Rose Haven as the venue. Currently Rose Haven welcomes
 (1) families with children under 12 years of age for our Third Saturday programs,
 (2) community gardeners for pruning workshops in January/February,
 (3) volunteers performing service on the last Saturday in April,
 (4) June Summer Solstice in collaboration with the City of Temecula,
 (5) artists to paint Plein Aire, and
 (6) community service hours for high school students. Several ideas for expanding upon these existing activities:
 (1) invite the community to a Mother's Day First Bloom Open Garden,
 (2) encourage a "Fun Run" with local runners & running clubs,
 (3) provide enjoyable educational activities for all ages, and
 (4) enlist more youth community groups for garden maintenance and garden enhancement projects. Contact Rebecca Weersing if you would like to be a part of this outreach effort.

Our annual Rose & Arts Festival (aka "Rose Show") will be held on the 4th Saturday in April 2016. Planning has already begun and there are lots of opportunities for each and every one of us to be involved. Look for more information in the February newsletter. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, January 21st after our lunch refreshments from 1 to 2 pm. Direct questions and comments to Rebecca Weersing.

Look for a continuation of our suggestions and ideas in the newsletter next month. Finance, communication, and membership committees will be the focus of that article. Thanks again to everyone for sharing. By working together we have achieved amazing things in the past and we will continue to achieve wonderful things in the future. As I have always said, the Temecula Valley Rose Society was born under a lucky star!

Rose Care FUNdamentals

Your next big task in the rose garden will be your annual spring pruning-I will provide details on that in my February column. This will be a major pruning that removes canes and branches that are dead or diseased, are in contact with other branches, and/or that pass through the interior of the plant. It also brings the plant down to three to five major canes, each about 18" tall, and re-directs growth to new "basal" canes and outward-facing buds on strong existing canes. When done properly, this major pruning produces a strong, well-formed plant that optimizes flower production.

Many gardeners mistakenly think that "spring" pruning in December or early January will give them a head start on flower production, but this is a delusion. First, consider that even if January brings us exceptionally warm air temperatures, the soil will still be quite cold, so the roots (and stems) will not be "revved up" for much active growth-your head start won't amount to much. And more importantly, if early pruning is followed by a hard frost you will probably lose the tender young growth and have to prune again. Will the remaining canes be long enough and have enough stored energy for vigorous spring growth? Will you have enough outward-facing buds? Probably not. Simply stated, pruning too early will set back stem growth and flower production, and can ruin your chances of a strong, well-formed plants.

So before you pick up those pruners and launch out into the chilly January air, contemplate the odds of another frost or freeze. The frost dates for the Temecula Valley are mid-November through late March, but we can get damaging frost as late as April. Time your pruning more closely to when the soil begins to warm, temperatures moderate, and the threat of frost is likely past. Pruning in mid-January (at the earliest) to mid-February usually strikes a balance between potential frost damage and time to get two or three good bloom cycles in before the brutal summer. New growth will usually appear 2 to 3 weeks after your SPRING pruning, and new blooms 8 to 12 weeks from pruning-if a cold spell doesn't interrupt.

For now, just "chill." January and February are excellent months for planting new roses in the Temecula Valley and environs; let's be optimistic that the weather for the next few weeks will be relatively dry and warm so planting will be easier. Still, one can usually wait until March to plant and still expect the roots to form relationships with beneficial soil fungi and become showstoppers as early as May, well ahead of the heat of summer.

For now, be thinking about adding one or two new roses to your garden in spring. Roses offered for sale are rated by quality. You want only #1 roses—they are the surest guarantee of success, with all horticultural methods employed to provide satisfaction—don't waste your time and money on anything lower. Higher quality plants have a higher chance of success, require less effort, and acclimate faster. Also, the cost of any rose is a very small fraction of what you will eventually invest in that plant over the years in water, fertilizer, pest control, and effort, so why not start with a first-quality plant?

Roses may come to you as "bare root," potted, or packaged. Bare root plants are just that, usually packed in wood chips to keep the roots damp and viable. They are the slowest to thrive and it is best to get them early and planted immediately so they have the maximum amount of time to become established. Potted roses make the quickest and most successful transition to the garden, but they also tend to be more expensive and not as plentiful in selection, but as I said, the initial cost will pale against what you put into the plant in the years to come.

There are many sources: local nurseries and reputable online retailers who specialize in roses. New stock will begin appearing in nurseries this month, and online suppliers usually ship in mid-January. (Does that tell you anything?) But be sure to shop early for the best selection—and if you have access to it, be sure to consult your American Rose Society Buyer's Guide (which you will receive with your annual ARS membership or renewal).

I will provide more guidance on that all-important annual pruning in the February column. Also, at 9:30 a.m. Saturday January 16, I will give a hands-on pruning class at the TVRS Rose Haven Heritage Garden, located at 30592 Jedediah Smith Road in Temecula (just a few blocks north off of Temecula Parkway). Please bring clean, sharp, by-pass pruners in good working condition, and be prepared to learn and to lend a hand pruning under my direction; this will be a great opportunity to get your questions answered, hone your skills, and boost your confidence.

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!