Temecula Valley Rose Society

Co-President's Message

Please plan to exhibit your roses or come to view a lovely display of arrangements, rose photography and blooms at our annual Rose Celebration in April.

Roses Past and Present - III

In the past article we briefly reviewed the history of roses going back millions of years. In that time span roses did not undergo any major changes since Mother Nature was insuring the continued evolution of these plants through self-pollination, producing the same "species" of roses over and over again for many millions of years. This means that roses preceded the human race by millions of years.

The earliest humans were undoubtedly more interested in survival so that wild roses were considered to be extremely unimportant. If these people were aware of roses at all, it was probably due to their medicinal or worshipful qualities. We will probably never know the answer to this riddle. These wild roses existed along with numerous plants which eventually became known to humans primarily for their medicinal or religious qualities.

These wild roses still exist today, spread throughout the northern hemisphere. Many of these ancient plants can still be found in rural areas of the United States, growing along roadways, streambeds and hiking trails. All you have to do is know what to look for and see them in abundance. We will continue this journey next month.

2016 Rose and Arts Festival

It is not practical for our community to visit our own gardens to see those beautiful blooms. So we have a way to bring our gardens to our roses. That event is our annual Rose & Arts Festival (Rose Show as it is also known). Saturday, April 23, 2016 is the day that our roses have their moment in the sun — even if we are indoors. The pruning and routine maintenance that we have provided to our rose bushes since January is actually what we look at when we evaluate a rose bloom. That is the reason the rose leaves are left on when we exhibit our roses. We want to see the health of roses — not just the pretty face, but the characteristics that are not just skin deep.

Please peruse this Word document TVRS 2016 Rose & Arts Festival Schedule. We have two divisions: Horticultural and Artistic. Horticultural are our garden blooms that we will display. These blooms will be judged by a team of Society judges. Artistic exhibits include arrangements, tables and trays set to a theme, Blooming Art which is an interpretation of an art piece in roses, and photography. Plan to enter something in each category. Look for email blasts each week with hints on what to do to prepare for our community outreach in roses.

Preparing and participating in our Rose & Arts Festival is a pleasure we can all share. We each have the opportunity to volunteer for a task either on Friday or Saturday. Remember "many hands make light work" and also for greater pleasure. Check out TVRS 2016 Rose & Arts Festival volunteer requests. Send me an email at temroses@gmail.com or call me at 951-595-7046. We can talk about what volunteer opportunity awaits each of us.

Blooming Art is a very special community outreach for us. We collaborate with local artists to interpret their paintings in roses. Below is a photo of the 12 paintings submitted for floral interpretation this year.

Read About The Roses

The rose in history and culture is the topic of the first fifteen pages of the book and is an interesting summary of mankind's long time fascination with the queen of flowers.

Beautiful full color photographs of old garden roses, and a few modern ones also, make up the next eighty-eight pages. The photos illustrate a variety of methods of rose photography and would be most helpful for those interested in that subject.

The last twenty-one pages provide brief historical information about each of the pictured roses as well as an overview of its growth, flowering habits and fragrance.

Calling All Rose Society Crafters & Gardeners

Community Caring

April 1st was a special day for me, bringing to mind all of the caring for our community we and past members of our Society have expressed in the years since our founding in 1990. One of our first civic acts was to advocate the first City Council to adopt the rose as our city flower. We helped plant roses in the median at Rancho California Road and Ynez Road, tying yellow ribbons on each plant as this was at the beginning of what we now call the First Gulf War. With the return of soldiers from this war, a parade was held in Temecula with Rose Society members gathering rose petals to scatter along the parade route.

Last week an email arrived from Gail Zigler, Sr. Coordinator for Arts, Culture and Events for the City of Temecula. Gail explained the special request she was making of the Rose Society. A deployed marine from Temecula, a young man who graduated from Chaparral High School in 2006, was killed in action. A closed casket ceremony would be held at Civic Center on April 1st. Would it be possible for the Rose Society to provide a floral arrangement for this ceremony? Our answer was yes. We arranged for a large floral display with predominately red and white roses to be placed at the top of the stairs in front of the casket, beautifully executed by Murrieta VIP Florist.

We also put out a call to members to bring roses to Rose Haven on Thursday evening. A special thank you to Jim and Laurie Moss who brought roses from their home garden and picked roses from the Hall of Fame Garden that they so lovingly and expertly maintain — the Ingird Bergman rose blooms are especially beautiful. Our garden rose bouquets were placed in the Heritage Room at City Hall, which served as a retreat for the family. The family was touched by our outreach to them.

We have a history of community caring that we should nurture and treasure. We are fortunate that in times when special floral statements are desired, people turn to the Temecula Valley Rose Society.

Member Meeting Program

Linda, 29 year resident of Temecula, prior Rose Society and Garden Club member, now a professional landscape designer, received her certificate in Landscape Architecure from Mira Costa College in 2010 after being told by many of her gardening friends that she should do landscaping "professionally", will be discussing old roses and how to incorporate them into our gardens. Specifically into drought tolerant garden settings as this is her specialty, and this doesn't mean desert landscaping either!.

Linda lived up in Glen Oaks Hills for 12 years on five acres, east of Temecula, where she grew over 250 varieties of old garden roses, from rugosas and musks, to Portlands, Damasks, floribundas and teas, and would like to share her knowledge of those old roses with you in the context of incorporating some into your own garden settings. She will discuss specific cultivars that she recommends highly for this area, and how to grow them successfully.

A light buffet luncheon will be served at 11:30. Guests are welcome.

April Birthdays & New Members

Birthdays Dan Wyncott, 4-1, Ann Schryer and Howard Katz, 4-8, Val Fujihara, 4-9, Ann Coakes and Pat Torres, 4-13, Virginia Boos, 4-14, Bob Crain, 4-23, Simonne Arnould, 4-25, Anna Mae Ackerman, 4-26, Rebecca Weersing, 4-28.

New Members There are no new members this month.

Little Rose Show

Virginia Boos was our top winner last year. She brought many roses even if they weren't all perfect. The more you bring, there will likely be a winner there somewhere. If you haven't brought roses to show before don't worry. There will be someone to help you get started.

Rose Haven Garden

Thank you so much all you hard working volunteers for coming out to the garden and pruning and pruning, raking and cleaning up during the winter. It was cold, it was hot, it was windy and rainy but your dedication paid off by making Rose Haven Garden look lovely again. Ben Jahanbani received a special Early Bloomer award as a new volunteer at the garden.

Our next garden committee meeting is Wednesday, April 27th at 9:30. The meeting location is again at the garden, 30592 Jedediah Smith Road, Temecula. We will discuss projects to improve areas in the garden. Members interested are always welcome to attend the meeting.

OGR Fortune Double Yellow

Old Blush

Families in the Garden

We have taken on a new project which Kathy Swanson (Master Gardner) has helped us organize. With a $150 donation from the Temecula Valley Woman's Club Conservation Committee we have purchased 12 apple trees from Kuffel Creek Apple Nursery who produces apple trees for hot climates. The benchgraft is 14 inches long and a perfect size for the young children to plant during our April program. We will espalier these trees against a trellis in the Tree of Life. Stop by the garden periodically and watch these very young trees grow, become beautifully sculpted trees, and produce a variety of delicious apples.

The raised beds are now ready for our spring planting. The young children will also be helping us plant watermelon seedlings and potatoes during the April program. Val Fujihara and I will also be planting tomatoes (grown from seed) in April and a variety of other vegetables will follow in May.

If you are interested in helping us plant in the vegetable garden we are starting a "planting in the Tree of Life day" on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 9:00 a.m. until noon for Rose Society Members. Contact me or Val Fujihara for more information or to let us know that you are interested.

March Cabbage

Winter Vegetables

An English Country Rose Garden

The next installment, #4, of Karen Ortega's history of the Rose Society can be read here.

Grocery Cards Benefit TVRS

Rose Care FUNdamentals

Continue fertilizing—hopefully ready for the third application—organic I trust. As I always say, organics are much better for your soil and ultimately for your garden and the environment. The soil microbiology is complex and multi-tiered. A healthy garden soil system is teeming with beneficial microbes that inhibit, compete with, and consume disease-causing organisms. This creates a sustainable soil "immune system." In fact, plants grown with organic fertilizers are themselves more resistant to pests and diseases. In addition, when you feed those beneficial organisms, they feed your roses. That's because they are busy breaking down organic matter and releasing mineral nutrients slowly and reliably.

Many gardeners become discouraged when they first experiment with organic treatments while still using chemical fertilizers. It is difficult—in fact, almost impossible—to have it both ways. Chemical fertilizers negatively impact the soil food web by poisoning entire portions of it. The fact is, chemical fertilizers are salts! What gardener hasn't seen what table salt does to a slug or snail? Salts absorb water and dehydrate the soil microbes which are the foundation of the soil nutrient system. Once you've used chemical fertilizers regularly you must keep adding more because the soil microbiology is weakened and unable to do its job of releasing naturally available nutrients to your plants.

Chemical fertilizers are artificial growth stimulants and, in the long run, harm your soil and pollute local waterways because, as dissolved salts, they quickly leach through the soil (becoming unavailable to your plants) and enter the ground water. On the other hand, organic amendments (such as manure, compost, or mulch) break down slowly, generally staying where you put them, and don't contribute to ground water pollution (as long as you prevent run off into drains). In addition, they improve the soil food web, so in the long run you end up using less product.

How about swearing off chemical fertilizers for the rest of the year and starting to use organics? Give it a year. See if your roses don't reward you!

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!