A virtual presentation by FELCO General Manager, Ryan Amberg
Baby, it is cold outside! It is a good time to get ready for the spring weather that will come to Middle Tennessee soon. One item that you may have on your TODO list is to sharpen your pruners. Ryan Amerg, General Manager of FELCO North America, joined Diane Summer, President of the American Rose Society, to teach us the basics for maintaining our pruners.
Ryan Amberg began his career at his family’s nursery, where he first got his hands on FELCO red-handled tools. After attending Cornell University to study business management, marketing, and agricultural science, he was recruited by the FELCO team in Switzerland to further develop the business in North America.
Ryan worked his way up through various facets of the company, from product management to marketing and business development. He has traveled around the world working for FELCO, developing different markets from Australia to South Africa. Today as the company’s General Manager, he continues to work on and develop the FELCO business in the USA, striving to introduce more consumers to the iconic Swiss brand.
Click here to watch Ryan’s virtual presentation on the American Rose Society YouTube channel.
The Nashville Rose Society Programming Committee is working hard on our monthly meeting calendar for 2024.
A few programs to look forward to in the next few months include our first meeting on February 4, which will be a fun and informative roundtable discussion, “Buzz Session: Rose, Thorn and Bud”, led by our own Consulting Rosarians. On March 3, Ricky Lockhart from Morgantown, Kentucky, and Consulting Rosarian member of the Bowling Green Rose Society, will share his 25-year rose story – which has been a blooming success! Bette Fields will share her tips and tricks for creating beautiful flower arrangements for family and friends on April 7. We are excited to announce our “Rose Garden Crawl and Progressive Picnic” on June 2, starring our very own rose gardeners and their beautiful gardens in East Nashville!
Be sure to mark your calendars for the coming year!
Are you ready for an exciting winter workshop in February? Are you ready to see your friends from around the district and catch up on news and see what new roses they have ordered? If your answer is yes, then you will want to hurry and register for the upcoming event.
The Winter Workshop will be held on February 17,2024, at the Hampton Inn, 2606 Hwy 49 W, Pleasant View, TN 37146. The venue has moved to a new location for several reasons. As you know, traffic, high hotel prices, and high rental for space have been major concerns. The hotel is about 30 miles from Nashville so traffic is not a problem. The price of the hotel is reasonable, and the hotel is new. If you have a new puppy (or other pet) you don’t want to leave at home, no problem; the hotel is pet friendly! We will also have several great speakers.
Dr. Nar Bahadur Ranabhat, from the University of Tennessee Crossville, is in the Entomology and Plant Pathology Department. He will be discussing his research relating to advances in Rose Rosette Disease.
Ken Schmidt, from the Carolina District, will be judging our photo contest and will give us valuable tips on how to take quality photos of our roses.
Dr. David Zlesak, Professor of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls and has had many accomplishments. He has been the coordinator of the Northern Earth-Kind trial and the director of the American Rose Trials for Sustainability ®. He has published numerous articles on diseases and hardiness of roses and other plants. Dr. Zlesak is also is well-known rose breeding. He has had numerous successful introductions you are familiar with including the “Oso”® series, the Pretty Polly® series, and numerous other roses. He will be discussing his sustainable roses and his goals of producing plants that are hardy and disease resistant.
Photographs must be entered by 9 a.m. with a welcome from our director. Seminars will be at 9:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Following lunch, our district business meeting will be held with the final speaker after it. We plan to conclude by 3:30-4 p.m. Click here for the Photography Schedule.
Click here for the registration form and the schedule of events. Information can also be found on our district website at tenarky.org on the home page. This is your opportunity to hear some outstanding rosarians share their rose knowledge, enjoy lunch with rose friends from across the district, enter in our 5th annual photography contest, purchase some new roses, and have an enjoyable winter day!
The first meeting of the Nashville Rose Society in 2024 will be held on February 4, 2024, in the the Massey Auditorium of Botanic Hall / Visitor Services Building at Cheekwood Garden and Estate. We will have refreshments at 1:30 and the program will start at 2:00 PM.
Join us for a Buzz Session! This meeting will provide an opportunity for you to share what you love about growing roses, to present your challenges over the past year or so, and to tell us how the NRS can be helpful to you as you work to cultivate healthy roses. The meeting will begin with introductions, then we will have attendees call-off table numbers to balance the groups (remember picking volleyball teams in school!). The sessions will begin at approximately 2:30pm and will last about 45 minutes. Following the discussions, we will meet back as a group and each table will present any comments of note from their discussions. A CR will be assigned to each table and the table will appoint a “reporter” to note comments and report back to the entire group.
The 2023 Nashville Rose Society December meeting and Christmas party was held at the Ellington Agriculture Center Ed Jones Auditorium on December 3, 2023. The evening was filled with good food and fun gift exchange, the announcement of the 2023 Society awards, and introduction of the 2024 Executive Committee members.
2023 Bronze Medal Award
Gene Meyer, recipient of the Nashville Rose Society 2023 Bronze Medal Award.The 2023 Bronze Honor Medal, the highest award that can be presented by a local rose society, was given to Gene Meyer for his outstanding support of the Society during the past year. Gene is an American Rose Society Master Rosarian and the NRS Consulting Rosarian Chairman. He organizes and conducts the Spring and Fall Grand Prix Rose Shows and serves on the NRS Annual Rose Show and the Programming Committees. Gene supports the rose community in our area by judging the Wilson County and the Tennessee State Fair Rose Shows.
2024 Executive Committee
The 2024 Executive Committee members of the Nashville Rose Society were introduced at the meeting and Christmas dinner.
The next term of the Society president position will be co-led by Janie Hagan and Liz Louie. By sharing the responsibility of president, Janie and Liz will be able to bring more leadership to the Society and to the rose community in Nashville.
Diane Coleman (Recording Secretary and Webmaster), Bob Bowen (Member-at-Large), Janie Hagan (Co-President), Gene Meyer (Consulting Rosarian Chair, Grand Prix), Ron Daniels (Rose Study Garden Manager), John Wendler (NRS Rose Show Coordinator), (front row) Gary Spencer (Treasurer), Lori Emery (Tenarky District Director), Marty Reich (Membership Chairman and Rose Leaf Co-Editor), and Liz Louie (Co-President)
Other members of the Executive Committee, not shown, are Lani Rossman (Programming Committee Chairman), Pam Brown (Rose Leaf Co-Editor), Martha Garman (Corresponding Secretary), Lisa Schaaf, Angel Cohen, Rose Markham, and Karin Bailey (Hospitality Committee), Mary Hext (NRS Rose Show Committee), and Nancy Jones (Member-at-Large).
Ron Daniels and John WendlerAs a show of appreciation, the Nashville Rose Society acknowledged out-going co-presidents, Ron Daniels and John Wendler, for their outstanding contributions and leadership of the Society for the past six years. Their accomplishments include the development of the Rose Study Garden at Cheekwood and growing and strengthening the membership of the society during the COVID crisis.
Rose Dresses!!
Members of the Nashville Rose Society are well known for their rose fashions. Heidi and Jose GonzalesLiz Louie
Heidi and Jose Gonzales are new members of the society, and Heidi is in full swing with roses! She ordered her beautiful dress online at The Pretty Dress Company, www.theprettydresscompany.com, in London, England. It specializes in classical cut dresses and Heidi especially likes 1950’s vintage. They have several dresses with roses on them, for those shoppers among us. (She assures us that she does not vacuum in high-heels and dresses like Mrs. Clever!)
Liz Louie found her rose felted shawl when she was visiting her sister-in-law in Vancouver, BC. She was passing by the Alarte Silks Studio Gallery, alartesilks.com, and saw this shawl on a mannequin. She had to have it!
Getting Ready for 2024
The Nashville Rose Society leadership team is working hard to get ready for 2024. The Programming Committee is working to identify monthly meeting programs that will be interesting and educational for our membership. If you have suggestions or ideas for programs, please let us know.
Baby, it is cold outside! It is a good time to get ready for the spring weather that will come to Middle Tennessee soon. One item that you may have on your TODO list is to sharpen your pruners. Ryan Amerg, General Manager of FELCO North America, joined Diane Summer, President of the American Rose Society, to teach us the basics for maintaining our pruners.
The Nashville Rose Society Programming Committee is working hard on our monthly meeting calendar for 2024. 
Are you ready for an exciting winter workshop in February? Are you ready to see your friends from around the district and catch up on news and see what new roses they have ordered? If your answer is yes, then you will want to hurry and register for the upcoming event. 
The first meeting of the Nashville Rose Society in 2024 will be held on February 4, 2024, in the the Massey Auditorium of Botanic Hall / Visitor Services Building at 
