The Nashville Rose Society Spring New Member Workshop will be held on Saturday, May 7, 2022, from 10-12:00pm at Cheekwood.
The workshop will start in the Potter Meeting Room in Botanic Hall where Ron Daniels, NRS Co-President, will give his PowerPoint presentation on “Growing and Caring for Roses. The second half of the workshop will be a number of hands-on demonstrations in the Rose Study Workshop.
This is a perfect opportunity to learn more about caring for roses as well as to experience the beautiful Rose Study Garden at Cheekwood.
This workshop is open to ALL members. Admission to Cheekwood is not required for NRS Workshop attendees.
The 2022 Spring Grand Prix Rose Show will be held during the Nashville Rose Society regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Sunday, May 1, 2022, in the Potter Room at Cheekwood. The Grand Prix is a rose show that is held at a NRS meeting and its purpose is to give members a chance to learn about and practice exhibiting roses.
The show will have two sections – Advanced Exhibitors and Novice Exhibitors. A Novice Exhibitor is a person who has never won a Blue Ribbon in an ARS sanctioned Rose Show with the exception of the Novice category. Having the two sections will give new exhibitors experience showing their roses with fairer competition.
Please note: The NRS Grand Prix rose shows are not sanctioned by the ARS.
A grooming room will be set up at 1:00pm. Consulting Rosarians will be available to teach how to groom roses to show.
While the judges are doing the judging, we will discuss spraying and other activities members should be doing in their gardens in May.
After the judging is over, the judges will explain to our members why they judged the roses the way they did – why the winning roses won and why some of the other roses didn’t.
The author with some of his favorite rose-growing tools.When I first heard this month’s topic I thought to myself, “I don’t use much in the way of tools and gadgets”. I’m pretty old school and cheap. I started a list thinking, ” this won’t be very long”. Actually, without trying very hard, I had a list, a longer list than I imagined. So lets get started.
A good sprayer is at the top of the list. I used a one gallon $10 sprayer for several years. Did I mention I’m thrifty? Certainly one gallon did the job. Now I have the same number of roses with some having grown up to size, and a one gallon doesn’t suffice. Last season I splurged on a two gallon “nice” sprayer. It even has a button to relieve the pressure when finished. It really wasn’t that much more, besides I’ll use it forever. Buy the better sprayer, you’ll be glad you did. With spraying comes the need for safety glasses and some type of respirator.
Next up is a good pair of gauntlet gloves. You know, the ones that are made of goat skin and come up almost to your elbows? There are certain jobs where you flat out need them or be prepared to pay the consequences.
A Hollow Leg is the best door prize I have ever won at our meetings. It is a collection bag with a strap that goes around your waist. If you’re dead heading it is way better than lugging around a trash can.
Every rosarian needs a water wand. I have a couple of hoses snaking through 2/3 of my roses but watering by hand is the best way to “see” what’s going on with your roses. The problem with most wands is the shutoff valve wears out quickly. Credit Bob Martin with the solution. Buy a Dramm brass cutoff. Also from Bob, buy a Foggit Waterfogg. It attaches to the end of your water wand and helps you knock off spider mites. Miticides are expensive and the mites develop resistance to them.
Of course you will need a great pair of pruners and loppers. You can go too cheap in this department, and you’ll be buying new ones all the time. Buy a great pair and they will last a long time. Buy a bypass pruner so you don’t crush the stems of your beauties.
A good pair of knee pads is a must have. They save your knees and your pants. A good pair are the ones with hard plastic and two straps to hold them on.
This next item I’m ambivalent about. You can’t grow great roses without knowing what the pH is in your garden. For years I used the $15 Home Depot pH meter. It will give you a general idea of what it is. I gave in and bought a Kelway meter; and, it is supposed to be accurate. Now here is my problem. A UT soil sample test with soil taken from several spots in my garden, says my pH is above 7. My Kelway meter says most of my garden is below 6 pH. When I mentioned this to the “kid” taking the samples at the Ellington Agriculture Center, he says “well, our testing equipment costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.” A meter is only as good as it is calibrated. Knowing I fertilize the hell out of my roses, which lowers the pH, my meter is probably correct. Sorry UT, maybe your equipment needs re-calibrating.
Another tool you need is a good shovel. One that won’t bend in half when you’re trying to pry a rock out of a hole you are digging. There are all sorts of weird looking hoes and scoopers available. I don’t own any of them. One of my most trusty tools is a three tined “scratcher-inner.” I like getting down on my knees and scratching in my Mills Mix by hand. Actually makes my back feel better. The act of doing it resembles a yoga pose.
After all that, let me just say, I started my first Hybrid Tea bed of roses with a pair of gloves and a shovel. The soil was good there at that location. With some Miracle Grow those roses grew very well indeed. Much, much later do I now have all these gadgets and tools to help make my life a little easier. They are nice to have, but by no means are they necessary for you to have in order to grow great roses.
From the Webmaster – By the way Gene, every gardener needs a good hat!
Article originally published in Rose Leaf, the NRS newsletter, April 2022.
Photo is of Joanna with her dog, Magnum, at the 2018 Tenarky District Fall Rose Show where she won the ARS National Portland Traveling Trophy along with 10 district challenge classes, hybrid tea queen, miniflora queen, and a few other best of classes.
Joanna Deck is a top exhibitor in the Tenarky District having won 68 Queens of Show which includes hybrid teas, miniatures, and minifloras and 47 district and national trophies. She is a member of the Memphis & Dixie Rose Society and lives in Sheridan, Arkansas.
At the April monthly meeting of the Nashville Rose Society, Joanna will discuss the rose fertilization method she has used in the past and the one she is transitioning to. She will talk a little about how she prepares blooms for a show and how she transports them.
Joanna has been growing roses for 34 years and have been showing them for 24 years. It all started with one neglected rose in the back yard of a rental house where she lived. She bought a book on how to care for roses, and the rose responded quite well so she bought about 18 more hybrid teas from local nurseries. When she relocated from there to another city and realized she wanted to take her roses with her should she move again, she decided to grow them in 15 gallon pots.
2021 09 NRS Rose Show Queen – Joanna Deck’s “My Mary Ann”
A few years after that, she joined the American Rose Society and then a local rose society. She learned about miniature roses and nurseries like The Mini Rose Garden and Nor’east Miniature Roses. Her collection of minis started to grow. Two years later she entered her first rose show and won some challenge classes. She was hooked. Joanna now grows 80 hybrid teas, 60 minis and minifloras, 6 floribundas, and 4 climbers in raised beds. She exhibits at rose shows that are within reasonable driving distance. She also like to share blooms with friends and neighbors. During the last five years, Joanna has been doing a little photography and arranging and has won several certificates and rosettes.
Good news! Belmont has removed their mask mandate!
The April meeting of the Nashville Rose Society will be held at the Ayers Academic Center (Rooms C & D) at Belmont University, 1515 Wedgewood Ave, Nashville, TN 37212, just off Wedgewood Avenue. Ayers Academic Center is Building #8 on the Belmont campus map, and is the building next to the Inman Center where the Frist Lecture Hall is located (location of previous NRS meetings).
Parking: The Ayers Academic Center is located at the corner of Wedgewood and 15th avenues on the northern front of campus. The entrance to the parking garages for both buildings is the same as we used last year. There are two elevator banks in the garage underneath the Ayers Academic Center – the South and North elevators. Members should park by, then use, the North elevators to the 4th floor. These open up directly across from our meeting room – which is Ayers C & D. It is not easy to find the meeting room from the South elevators!
It is time to start planning to prune the roses for their new spring growth.
The Nashville Rose Society Consulting Rosarians are offering a hands-on pruning workshop on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at Lynda and Gordon McClellan’s garden near Opryland from 10 AM -12 PM. New members will have a chance to have hands-on experience with trimming roses by learning from experienced rosarians. Bring your gloves and your pruners.
The garden is located at 2615 Davidwood Court, Nashville 37214. For more information, call Marty Reich at 615-833-0791 or 615-319-9487. Learn more about pruning roses here.
The Nashville Rose Society Spring New Member Workshop will be held on Saturday, May 7, 2022, from 10-12:00pm at Cheekwood. 
The 2022 Spring Grand Prix Rose Show will be held during the Nashville Rose Society regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Sunday, May 1, 2022, in the Potter Room at Cheekwood. The Grand Prix is a rose show that is held at a NRS meeting and its purpose is to give members a chance to learn about and practice exhibiting roses.
It is time to start planning to prune the roses for their new spring growth.