Co-President's Message

We already have a fairly high profile in the community, demonstrated by the generous grants we've already received for 2008, including from the City of Temecula and the Arts Council. Our 2007 Rose Show, held in conjunction with the Arts Council, was the biggest ever, with many more members of the public attending. And Rose Haven continues to develop into a welcoming retreat that rivals public rose gardens in much larger cities. Each person who contributed time, effort, and donations to TVRS in 2007 should feel a lot of pride and satisfaction at what we've accomplished!

But, when you succeed like we have, you have to work harder to maintain what you've built! In 2008, each of us will need to stretch a bit more; I estimate that we will need a 20% increase in membership and member participation during 2008 to keep our momentum. It won't be hard for you to find something satisfying to do, because the Board has been brainstorming many creative program ideas, so there should be plenty of new opportunities for each member! I encourage each of you to join me in stepping beyond your comfort zone, and to work together so TVRS can make an even greater contribution to our members and our community.

Co-President's Message

On a personal level, I hope to have a chance to visit with and get to know every one of you. I have found the Rose Society to be a most friendly group. We are so hard working and busy, however, that we really have to work hard to get to know each other. I hope everyone will be sure I learn their names and know what they like and want from the group. That is my goal, to know and represent the ideas for our group of all our members.

I do need some help with the refreshments now. With the co-presidency on my plate, I need someone else to be in charge. The wonderful refreshment committee and membership make this a fun job with all the help one could ask for. If you are interested, please contact me at (909) 227-1553 or kkatz@iinet.com.

Little Rose Show

Bargain! 75% Discount!

Renew Your Membership

It's time to renew your TVRS membership for the 2008 year. Dues are: Individual $20, Family $30. Please bring your payment to our January 17th Member meeting or mail to: TVRS, PO Box 890367, Temecula, CA 92589. Renewal forms are available at the Membership Desk or on our Web site via the link Membership.

Rose Haven Update

Welcome 2008. The garden is actually looking quite good in spite of the January cold weather. With the addition of many succulents and southwest type plants, there is still plenty of color, interesting grasses, and leaf varietals to be enjoyed. The rose pruning will remove a lot of the glamour in the garden, but once spring comes your eyes will "pop" at the beauty.

During January and February all members are invited to come out and prune a few roses anytime, but we encourage Wednesday and Saturday mornings so we can prune together. There will be a gardening workshop open to the public on Saturday, January 19th from 9 to noon. Look for more details in the Community Workshop article.

A major garden enhancement planned for 2008 is landscaping the new entrance area. We are hoping to obtain a grant for the development and are anxious to get the project underway. Frank and Betty will head up the project.

Please drop by the garden and see/volunteer yourself. If you are new to the area, the address is 30592 Jedediah Smith Road, Temecula 92592. Please refer to our website for a map and photos, or pick up a map at our member meeting.

We have an enthusiastic member who will match your volunteer efforts hour-for-hour at Rose Haven. Report your hours worked to Bonnie, please.

Our New Newsletter!

Member Meeting Program

Thomas L. Curry III, General Manager, Temecula Olive Oil Company, will be speaking about the history, production and appreciation of various olive oils grown in Temecula.

Thom has an extensive background in food and wine. While traveling through Europe he also gained a great understanding of the history and growing principles of olives that have been followed there for thousands of years. He is certified as a Master Taster by the International Olive Oil Council. Thom currently sits on the tasting panel for the California Olive Oil Council, and certifies olive oils as "Extra Virgin."

His family is one of two families that own the Temecula Olive Oil Company and Olive View Vineyards and Winery. The Temecula Olive Oil Company has won awards and received acclaim all over the world. Their web site is at www.temeculaoliveoil.com/shop/.

Birthdays This Month

Rose Care FUNdamentals

Now for some pruning basics! You will make each cut just above a bud. You can find buds wherever leaves were attached to a branch. Choose outward-facing buds; this ensures that the cane growing from the bud will extend away from the center of the plant, giving it a fuller look and aiding air circulation to reduce disease. Make each cut at a slight angle, so it slants away from the bud. How high above a bud should you cut? I believe the best height is the thickness of the stem you are cutting. This ensures that the cane that grows from the bud will have space to grow a healthy new cane thick as the stem it is growing from.

Begin by cutting away any twiggy growth in the center of the plant, any dead branches, and any canes that are crossing and rubbing against another cane. If a cane needs to be removed completely, cut it as close to the base of the plant as possible. If it has a diameter greater than a wooden pencil, you can seal the end with a dab of Elmer's Glue.

Next, prune all the main canes down so you end up with three to five total, distributed as evenly around the plant as possible.

January is a good time to dig up and discard any rose bush that hasn't performed well for you (assuming, of course, that you performed well for it with adequate pruning, feeding, and watering)! If you can't bear to put it into the green-waste recycling barrel, you can always give it away; after all, it is often the case that a poor-performing rose just doesn't like your garden conditions and may thrive for someone else. Then you can prepare the same spot and plant a new rose. Now is a good time to plant bare-root plants available at the home improvement centers and nurseries. (You can plant potted roses any time of the year.)

Clean up all debris from the ground in the garden and discard it. If you were troubled with mildew last season, now is a good time to apply "dormant spray" on your plants and soil. Be sure to follow the directions on the label and wear gloves and protective clothing. Wash your clothing immediately and shower.

For a finishing touch, stimulate the production of new basal canes by applying 1/4 cup of Epsom Salts around the base of each bush and scratch it into the soil. (This is the same stuff you can buy at the drug store to soak your feet in, and you might want to do that after this marathon rose-care session!) You can also give each bush 1/2 cup of granular fertilizer, preferably one with high phosphorous. (I prefer to do this after new growth has really started to show.) Finally, you can keep weeds down and provide a steady supply of minerals by spreading 4" of composted mulch all over the rose bed, leaving a few inches uncovered around the base of each plant.

And one more thing: Don't forget to tell every rose grower you know that there will be a free pruning demonstration at Rose Haven garden at 9 a.m. on Saturday, January 19.

Rose Haven Workshops

Join us in our beginning-of-the-year community education outreach. We will be providing demonstrations and discussion on pruning, garden cleanup, irrigation checkup and monitoring, care and feeding of beneficial critters, propagation and composting. In addition to our consulting rosarians, we will be joined by Master Composters for that demonstration. We will need volunteers to help with registration, answering questions and help with pruning. Contact Frank or Rebecca.

Stomata — Windows to the Outside World

Imagine for a moment that you are a nanoperson who can crawl inside a rose leaf. What would it look like? What would it feel like? What sorts of structures would you see?

Above you there would be masses of green, tightly packed cells arranged in palisades. At mid-leaf, where you are, the cells become loosely packed with large air spaces between them. The surfaces of these cells are wet to the touch. The air is very damp - 100 percent relative humidity in fact. Throughout this labyrinth of cells you see complex systems of pipes running to and from each cell. Some (called xylem) are filled with water, while others (called phloem) are filled with a sugary solution. These are the leaf veins that ultimately connect the cells to the rest of the plant.

Below you is a dark green carpet of thin, tightly interconnected cells – the epidermis – which is covered on its outside by a thin layer of wax called the cuticle. Scattered across the epidermis are thousands of tiny windows leading to the outside world. These windows are the stomata. In previous articles we've mentioned stomata in several contexts, but have never discussed them in any detail. Here we will explore what stomata do and how they work.

The main thing stomata do is to open and close. When they are open, gases inside the leaf, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO₂) and oxygen, diffuse out of the leaf into the atmosphere. The diffusion of water vapor from the leaf is called transpiration. CO₂ that diffuses out is a byproduct of respiration, while the oxygen that escapes is a byproduct of photosynthesis.

Correspondingly, CO₂ from outside the leaf can diffuse into the leaf, providing your rose with the carbon it needs to make food. This exchange of gasses is absolutely critical – without stomata plants could not live, life on Earth would cease, and the stock market would tank.

The stomatal pore is not actually a structure in itself. Rather, it is a space created when two cells, called guard cells which are embedded in the epidermis of the leaf, become either turgid (filled with water) or flaccid. The drawing at right shows how this happens. The guard cells are shaped like tiny kidney beans. When they are flaccid there is no space between them – i.e. the stomate (singular of stomata) is closed. But when they are pumped full of water, they stretch and pull apart in the middle, forming a pore.

Ideally, it would be advantageous to plants if stomata were always open. This would allow transpiration and photosynthesis to proceed continuously.

Transpiration is important because it pulls nutrient ions up into the plant, and it cools the leaves on hot days. Photosynthesis is important because it produces food. So, for the plant to gain both nutrients and food the stomata must be open. But this is problematic, because when stomata are open transpiration sucks water from leaves, causing them to dehydrate. When leaves dehydrate, stomata close blocking the uptake of CO₂. So the plant must strike a balance between absorbing CO₂ while not depleting its internal water balance.

To realize these conflicting objectives, hundreds of millions of years of plant evolution have created an exquisite array of interacting mechanisms and feedbacks. These control and optimize stomatal movement. For example, stomata close in darkness and open in light. The logic for this is clear – photosynthesis requires light. Stomata close when the leaves begin to dry. Again, this is a mechanism that preserves leaf moisture and prevents dehydration. They also close when humidity is low and when the CO₂ concentration of the internal leaf atmosphere is high.

Stomatal opening and closing are modulated by what is know as a "potassium pump." Potassium ions (K+) contained in the guard cells influence their osmotic properties. As the K+ concentration increases, the cell osmotic potential drops. This pulls water into the guard cells, opening the stomata. This active process accumulates potassium ions against a concentration gradient. Therefore, it requires that the plant expend energy.

An amazing discovery was made recently relating stomata to global climate change. Plant physiologists found that stomatal frequency (number of stomata per unit of leaf area) is directly related to the ambient atmospheric CO₂ content – as CO₂ increases, stomatal frequency decreases. Paleobotanists (kooks who make their living studying plant fossils) can use this relationship to reconstruct ancient CO₂ profiles. First, they determine the age of fossil leaves, then they count their stomatal frequency. The more stomata that occur on the leaves, the lower the atmospheric CO₂ was when the leaves were formed. This, then, provides a very long-term record of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Pretty cool stuff.

Other interesting research conducted several decades ago involves indirect stomatal responses to the environment. Scientists found that when soil moisture begins to decline, ever so slightly, around a plant's roots, the young root tips are able to perceive this stimulus. They then send chemical signals (hormones) up to the leaves that tell the stomata to close in "anticipation" of pending drought.

While this is a very interesting phenomenon, it's also a great lead-in to the next series of articles. There we will explore plant hormones – the chemical messengers that move around in plants and tell them what to do and when to do it. You won't want to miss this, so stay tuned.