Temecula Valley Rose Society Newsletter for June, 2021

Co-President's Message, by Judy Sundermann

This is the June 2021 Co-President's Letter, but my mind is still in Marvelous May! What an amazing time to be in Temecula.

During our celebration of GoPublicGarden Days we were able to showcase our 30 year project and honor two of our members who were instrumental in creating Rose Haven Heritage Garden. Virginia Boos and Rebecca Weersing, Charter Members of TVRS, along with Bob Martin, President of the American Rose Society, performed the ribbon cutting for the Boos Family Courtyard labyrinth on May 7th, to begin the celebration of our garden. Just imagine: 30 years ago, about the time of the first traffic light, a small group decided to buy a 3.4 acre plot and create a rose garden.

Our members continue that enthusiasm and hard work year round to make Rose Haven an oasis of beauty and serenity. On behalf of all our members I wish to express our appreciation to all the volunteers that made GoPublicGarden Days celebration a success.

The Cork Tree Has A New Look

by Kathy Trudeau

Visitors to Rose Haven Garden have a new shady spot to sit and enjoy the sounds of the waterfall while taking in views of the roses and Boos Family Courtyard. The hexagon shaped bench is made of recycled plastic from milk jugs and was donated by the Trudeau – Webb family celebrating the Garden's 30th anniversary. As a further spruce‑up the cork tree was recently trimmed.

June 2021 Program

Date: Thursday, June 17, 2021

Time: 10:00 a.m.

Place: GoToMeeting online. Members will receive an email invitation the first week of June with a link to the meeting. The meeting will open at 9:45AM to allow member socializing. Members can join also by telephone to hear the program. The phone number will be in the invitation.

Topic: "Secret" Gardens of Balboa Park

Speaker: Lucy Warren

Lucy has been involved in the horticulture community in San Diego for over 30 years. She is an author, Master Gardener, former editor of California Garden magazine and is currently on the Board, and is Horticulture Chair for Friends of Balboa Park. Lucy will present a virtual tour of Balboa Park gardens. The tour will begin with some history of the park and its gardens, proceed to some of the better known gardens in the central mesa area, and then onto some of the farther reaches of the park to gardens with which few people are familiar. The Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden, often called the Balboa Park rose garden, has over 1,000 roses.

TVRS will have a member meeting following Lucy's presentation with Rose Haven updates, and Rose Society business. Don't forget "Show your Vase". Take a tour around your garden and show us what is growing and display it in a vase! We will be doing this monthly to share what is growing in our gardens. In between meetings, please send a picture of your vases to Linda Freeman with rose names.

GoToMeeing is an online meeting program very similar to ZOOM. If you have used ZOOM recently you will be very comfortable using GoToMeeting. The program is also available by phone. Also, visit us on Facebook for roses from around the world as well as Rose Haven pictures and videos. If you would like to practice using GoToMeeting, please contact Linda Freeman at 951-204-6141.

June Rose Haven Flora, by Bonnie Bell

The rose Let Freedom Ring is a spectacular, bright red long stemmed Hybrid Tea with scrumptious large buds. With a long vase life and perfect flower form it will be a hit in any arrangement. Its growth habit is tall and upright with blooms that are large and double with a high center and a delightful light tea fragrance.

Let Freedom Ring was created in 2006 by amateur hybridizer Ernest Earman a WWII veteran. The parentage is Touch of Class and Prima Donna. It has an ARS rating of 7.9 and grows quite well in our Temecula Valley climate.

At Rose Haven, Let Freedom Ring can be found along the driveway with many other outstanding rose varieties.

Show Your Vase

Here are this month's submissions:

Frank Brines has Garden Director Bartje Miller (formerly Dark Night) on display.

Kathy Trudeau has Queen Elizabeth at her home.

Ann Schryer has the wonderful Sally Holmes in a crystal vase and an unnamed miniature rose from Trader Joe's in a black native American vase.

Margaret Granlund's rose is Sorcerer, a mini, red with dark green foliage, prolific bloomer, now almost waist high. The other foliage is leucondendron and scented myrtle. The vase is cobalt blue from Poland. Margaret said it was her patriotic arrangement for the weekend.

Linda Freeman has Hot Cocoa, which is from Rose Haven and was used for display during Public Gardens Week, and California Dreamin'.

San Diego Rose Society Show, Conven­tion & Auc­tion

by Linda Clark, ARS Pacific Southwest District Director

Yes! We Are Actually Having a Rose Show! By Linda Clark, linsline@cox.net Hooray! The show will undoubtedly look a bit different, (masked, socially distant), but we are so excited to be able to host our San Diego Rose Society's 93rd Annual Show and Pacific Southwest District Convention, June 12th and 13th 2021.

The location will be: Courtyard Marriott in El Cajon 141 North Magnolia Ave, El Cajon, CA 92020. It will be not only a rose show, but a District Convention and Rose Auction as well. There will be much to do to get ready for this event. We will have the usual show set up Friday June 11th. On Saturday morning, bring some roses to enter so we can fill the room. If you have questions about how to enter email me here and I will try to help you. I will also be there along with other exhibitors entering some blooms.

Please bring what you have and join the fun! After the roses have been judged, the show will be open to everyone for free this year. (Donations are accepted.) There will also be a silent auction open during the show hours, 1:00‑7:00, and sale of cut blooms too.

Sunday there will be a 10:00 a.m. District Breakfast Meeting and election of Pacific Southwest Officers. We will be choosing someone to lead Prizes and Awards as well as confirming the candidate for secretary. I welcome everyone to come cast their vote and join us for the business of the Pacific Southwest District.

The weekend will culminate at noon with our District Awards Luncheon and Live Rose Auction. We will be giving the rose show awards and the district awards at this time. The live auction will feature many rare and unusual roses going to the highest bidder! What a fun time! Our day will end with the usual cleanup and storage for next year. I encourage everyone to hold the date and plan on supporting your local rose society! Here is the link to our SDRS website with registration information and the list of roses which will be auctioned. There is also a registration form here for those of you preferring the mail‑in method. Rose Auction details can be read here.

Huntington Library New Rose Intro­duction 2021

The new rose hybrid Peace & Harmony was given its name by donor Toshie Mosher, who purchased the naming rights through a generous donation to The Huntington's "Sharing the Love" fundraising campaign. Credits: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Photo courtesy of Weeks Roses.

Visitors seeking Peace & Harmony can find it in the Rose Garden's Huntington Heritage bed, located just left (to the east) of the pergola as you enter from the Shake­speare Garden. The rose bears a temporary label designating it an "unnamed seedling," pending a formal ceremony that will be held privately later this spring. Hybridized by Weeks Roses and purchased outright by The Huntington, Peace & Harmony will not be available in the commercial rose trade but will be sold exclusively at Huntington plant sales, beginning in Spring 2022. Read the rose naming story here.

Rose Care FUNda­men­tals, by Frank Brines

Master Consulting Rosarian. Photos by Frank Brines.

All projections I have read indicate that we may be entering another period of drought. As gardeners we must be watchful and learn how to efficiently manage the amount of water we apply in our gardens. With summer and the warmer temperatures to come this will help diminish heat damage (stress) to the plants.

The strategies I will discuss here are:

• • Delivering water efficiently.
• • Keeping water in the soil using mulch.
• • Allowing your roses a summer dormancy period.

Delivering Water Efficiently: Installing the most efficient delivery system is one method to save (conserve) water. Learning your garden's soil type will help you make a decision on which systems work best and how much water to deliver at any one time. (Growing in pots is another story!)

Typical mature, full-size hybrid teas in Southern California require about 6-9 gallons of water a week in moderate temperatures (e.g. 70s). As temperatures rise into the 80s, they require about 9 gallons per week. In the 90s, about 12+ gallons. A rose can stay alive on considerably less, but they may come through the experience debilitated.

Drip systems are the most efficient way to deliver water because they don't produce a spray that can be carried away by the breeze, and deliver water slowly so it soaks deep rather than running off. If you have a drip system, be sure it's in good shape before you go on to the next step and cover it with mulch! Open each irrigation valve one at a time and repair leaks.

I like Netafim products for their integrated pressure-regulating emitters. Find the information at netafimusa.com

Lastly, estimate how long to run each system: Multiply the number of emitters by their delivery rate (e.g., 1 gallon/hour), then divide by the number of roses. For example, if you have 40 emitters, each delivering 1 gal/hr, you deliver 40 gallons per hour. If you have 10 roses, that's 4 gallons per rose. To deliver 12 gallons per week, run for one hour three times a week.

This should work well in a typical loam soil. You want the water to soak down at least 12" for optimal rose health. A loam soil doesn't allow water to just run through it, so irrigating for an hour at a time can be fairly efficient. On the other hand, if your soil is particularly sandy (water permeates more quickly) an hour may waste water, so run the system twice as often for half as long.

Mulch: If you have read my past columns, you know that I advocate a 3" to 4" layer of mulch. Mulch moderates the soil temperatures, retains moisture and allows it to spread throughout the root zone, discourages weeds, and enriches with nutrients and bio mass. There are many materials you can use, but I recommend composted mulch.

You might experiment with a variety of material, but you'll probably get the best results if you don't mix them in any one garden bed. For example, some gardeners have access to pine needles. They provide a cool airy barrier and break down very slowly to impart a more acidic soil environment which makes mineral nutrients more available to plants.

Another material is any size of wood chip specifically intended as mulch. I recommend the finer cut forms. Possible drawbacks: If not specifically manufactured for garden use, there is the potential for matting due to fungal growth, which can make the mulch impermeable to water-and the need to apply added nitrogen to break down the wood fibers. I'm not an advocate for the dyed wood products.

Whatever material you choose, be careful to NOT apply it up to or over the bud union. Leave an area around the base of the plant of about 12" diameter. (If you can maintain that distance, then as your composted mulch disintegrates it will not raise the soil level around the bud unions.) This open area is one way the bush gets oxygen to the root area. Also, keep foliage pruned to at least 8" above the mulch layer to reduce infestations from pests like spider mites.

Summer Dormancy: Allowing your roses to go dormant during the hot summer months will reduce the stress on your plants. You won't be missing out much because when you allow roses to power through the summer, most blooms are poor quality with burned petals and leaves. To encourage this dormancy, stop feeding established roses near the end of June and be sure to water them deeply.

As blossoms fade, remove only the petals - do not deadhead them - that is, allow hips to form. This discourages new growth and flower formation, thus reducing demand for water. Remove fallen leaves and discard them along with the petals into your green yard waste bin-do not compost them! (It is always a good practice to keep the garden clean in order to reduce fungal diseases and insect pests, particularly in hot dry weather.)

Do not remove sunburned leaves because they provide shade for the cane which can be damaged or killed by sunburn! (See the images below of sun and heat damaged blooms and leaves.)

In summary, until at least September:

• • Do not feed.
• • Make sure your water delivery system is operating efficiently.
• • Apply 4" of mulch over the entire bed.
• • Remove petals as flowers mature.
• • Do not prune or cut back. Allow hips to form.
• • Leave burned leaves on the plant.

Potted plants will require more diligent watching, resources and attention to what they are experiencing during this period. Learn to listen to your plants and observe their reaction to the elements.

As areas open up for socializing and we can venture out, The San Diego Rose Society has quickly arranged to have a Rose Show June 12. Entrance is free and anyone can and is encouraged to enter (an exhibit). More information can be located here.