Co-President's Message

Save the date of September 27 to enjoy food and music in the garden at Rose Haven at "The Last Rose of Summer" celebration, our annual fundraiser for the Rose Haven maintenance fund. Plan to enjoy two hours in support of Rose Haven. Buy your tickets now-and buy a few for your special guests so we can keep Rose Haven looking beautiful.

The next general membership meeting is September 18 and First Vice President Sochie Rumbold has a great speaker lined up: Dixie Dahl will be demonstrating some rose arranging techniques. Dixie has won many awards and is widely recognized as a superb rose arranger, so please attend and bring a guest to learn and enjoy.

Be sure to check the full schedule of events elsewhere in the newsletter. I expect to see you in attendance!

PS: I apologize to the member who came to me after the meeting with a question regarding a rose bush whose foliage has turned bronze/burgundy. I promised to research and get back to you, but I don't remember who the person was! So, if you'll contact me again, maybe I can come over and take a look at the bush so I can research it further.

Co-President's Message

In order to understand ourselves as a Society, we need to understand our past – as someone great said 'Past is prologue'. In 1999 we were fortunate to be the subject of a local gardening program 'In and Out the Garden'. At our August meeting we showed this video and we were able to appreciate that our current successes are built on our past successes. If you have not seen the video, check it out from our Society library. Denise Vacarro will be most pleased to assist you.

As a Society we elect a Board of Directors at our November annual meeting whose responsibility it is to manage the activities of the Society for that year. As a member we each have a responsibility to bring to the attention of Board members any problems and frustrations that have been experienced as well as what has been loved and appreciated.

We are at the beginning of our strategic planning process. Please share your thoughts, concerns and suggestions. Please feel free to contact me at .

Our meetings and programs, lunches and social times seem quite lovely. The Rose and Arts Festival, with our emphasis on the arts, is generally appreciated in the community.

As to Rose Haven, the amount of maintenance for our lovely, expanded garden can sometimes seem to be overwhelming and beyond the abilities of just our members. Recognizing our limitations, we sought professional assistance with the weeds and erosion resulting from the otherwise lovely spring rains.

It seems obvious in retrospect that we need to provide a way to fund the care of the garden. We have obtained grants for garden development. For upkeep and promotion, Rose Haven needs an endowment fund and this is the direction in which we need to move.

Our major fundraiser for Rose Haven is the 'Last Rose of Summer' event scheduled for Saturday, September 27 at Rose Haven. I hope everyone will come and enjoy this event and bring a couple of friends. There will be light refreshments and the music of the Valley Wind Swing Band. Send your donation of $25 per person to our TVRS post office box. We all look forward to seeing you among the roses.

New Members

New Rose Introductions

"Enchanted Evening" – a fragrant, lavender floribunda with silver petal reverse. Comments: Has a hypnotic citrus scent beautifully complementing large clusters of lavender blooms that sparkle with a twilight hued color play with excellent disease resistance on a compact rounded plant. The rose is fantastic for mixed perennial beds, borders, and containers. Blooms are 3 ˝", petal count 20-25, fragrance is very strong citrus. Jackson & Perkins.

"Lady Bird" – a coral orange lightly fragrant hybrid tea rose. Comments: Is large-flowered with a striking, warm bloom color, great vase life, and long stems. Named after former first lady, Lady Bird Johnson. Blooms are 5", petal count 35-40, fragrance is light spicy, and height is 5'. Jackson & Perkins.

Member Meeting Program

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

Birthdays This Month

Little Rose Show Competition

At the monthly meetings from April through November 2008 we will conduct six Little Rose Shows. These will be fun opportunities to learn and polish your skills in exhibiting roses. Each month, you will receive points for any specimen that is awarded first, second, or third place. In addition, you will receive a prize if your rose is judged Rose of the Day. And at the Holiday Meeting, a grand prize will be awarded to the exhibitor who accumulated the highest number of points during all the preceding Little Rose Shows.

Rose shows are organized into "classes." We will be using these six classes:

Class 1: One hybrid tea or grandiflora shown without side buds.
Class 2: One floribunda without side buds.
Class 3: One miniature without side buds.
Class 4: One floribunda spray.
Class 5: One miniature spray.
Class 6: One stem of any other type or unknown.

• First Place: 5 points.
• Second Place: 3 points.
• Third Place: 1 point.

The first place winners in each section will be judged against each other to determine the Rose of the Day. That entry will be awarded an additional 3 points and displayed separately.

Here are the rules that we will follow:

• All roses must be properly named and entered in the appropriate section. (Don't worry, Rebecca and Frank will do their best to help you identify your nameless varieties!)
• Exhibitors must supply their own containers. (You already have these. 12 oz beverage bottles are ideal for large roses; 4-6oz beverage containers work well for miniature roses.)
• Each exhibitor is limited to six entries per show. You may concentrate your entries in one section or distribute them over all the sections.
• The club will supply entry tags; only the top section needs to be filled out. (We'll show you how.)
• Your specimens will be judged based on the ARS guidelines. (This is a great opportunity to learn by doing!)
• Exhibitors are asked to remove all specimens at the end of the meeting.

Rose Haven Update

At our regular monthly Rose Haven meeting we discussed a 2009 maintenance budget, erosion control, and planting a rose "fence" along Cabrillo to replace the dilapidated split rail fence. A couple other items on our wish list are: additional concrete tables and benches for the picnic area, and a new entry sign at the corner of Jedediah Smith and Cabrillo. All of our members are invited to participate in the monthly planning meeting held the 4th Wednesday of each month at 9:00 a.m. We hope to see you at our next meeting September 24th. The address is 30592 Jedediah Smith Road, Temecula 92592.

Community Outreach

Currently we have four members taking roses to community offices and libraries but can always use more. Please let me know if you can join Ann, Peggy, May and myself in this Community Outreach project. There are only a couple more months of rose blooms to share and the recipients are tremendously appreciative.

I would also like to sincerely thank Terry Hawkins for being such a good sport and helping me during these past years. She delivered many, many bouquets but is unable to continue at this time. Thank you, Terry.

Please call me if you feel you can come aboard this wonderful adventure at 951-677-4272. Regards, Simonne.

A Message From Bill Scheufler

Continued from the previous column.

September is a good time to do fall cleaning. After that pruning, remove all weeds and collect and dispose of all other debris such as fallen petals and leaves. Do not compost the rose material: Disease organisms can often carry over in them. If you saw disease this year and you are using a top dressing other than composted mulch, it may be a good idea to remove that material too. Replace it with composted mulch to moderate water and temperature and to nourish the soil.

Now that you've got more room to move around in the garden, fertilize with an organic product that is slightly higher in phosphate. (To learn more about this important mineral nutrient read 'The Mystery of Phosphorous' article here.) As always, water your plants the day before; if you apply a dry fertilizer and you have a drip irrigation system, water the fertilizer in by hand to make sure it gets down into the root zone. I like to alternate dry fertilizers with diluted fish emulsion. Always read the direction on all product packaging. In general, it's advisable to use a little less than to use too much.

September is also a good month to plan and prepare for future improvements in your garden. Request rose catalogs from suppliers, select new varieties or old favorites. It's an ideal time to transfer potted roses into the ground. If a rose didn't perform well or has other unfavorable conditions, now is a great time to "shovel prune" it-that is, take it out and throw it away! (I confess that I have great difficulty parting with roses, especially those who seem to need special rehabilitation!) When you remove a rose that has suffered from "suckers" (shoots coming off of the root stock) be sure you get all those suckers too. You don't need to eradicate every last root, and you almost never have to replace the soil unless the spot has very poor drainage. You can remove the plant even if you don't yet have a replacement plant-just fill the hole back in for now.

And while you're planning for next year, consider adding companion plants such as daffodils, iris, and freesias. When planted along the front margin of a rose garden they are lovely additions that provide interest before and during your first bloom cycle of next year, and they don't compete for soil space with your roses.