Fall is one of the most beautiful times for our rose blooms! Hopefully, the brutal summer heat is on its way OUT!!
The Nashville Rose Society 2024 Fall Grand Prix Rose Show will be held during the regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Sunday, September 8, 2024, in the Massey Auditorium of Botanic Hall / Visitor Services Building at Cheekwood Garden and Estate.
The purpose of the Grand Prix is to give members a chance to learn about and practice exhibiting roses. A grooming room will be open at 1:00 pm. Experienced exhibitors will be there to help anyone needing help grooming their roses. All you need to do is know the names of the roses you bring. This show is an excellent opportunity to learn how to enter your roses in the Tenarky Rose Show on Saturday, October 5, 2024 in Bowling Green.
Click here to open the schedule for the Grand Prix.
The 2024 Tenarky Rose Show schedule will be discussed and there will be members who can help you fill out the tags that go on your entries.
Please note: The NRS Grand Prix rose shows are not sanctioned by the American Rose Society .
The Wilson County Rose Show is open to Wilson County Residents, members of the Wilson County Gardeners Guild, members of the Wilson County Master Gardeners, members of a Wilson County FCE Club, or members of the Nashville Rose Society over 18 years old. The Tennessee State Rose Show is open to any Tennessee resident over 18 years old.
Exhibits for both shows must be entered at the Expo Center between 2pm and 6:30pm on Wednesday, August 14. You must register before the entry date – one registration works for both the Wilson County and the State Rose Shows. There is no cost to enter in either show.
There is no admission charge to enter the Fair Grounds to submit your entries. Once the State Rose Show judging is complete, exhibits will be transferred (by the Fair) to the Made in TN Building where they will be displayed for the duration of the Fair.
Jeff Garrett, ARS Master Rosarian and National Trophy winnerThe speaker for the August 11, 2024, meeting of the Nashville Rose Society will be Jeff Garrett, ARS Master Rosarian and National Trophy winner for rose exhibiting. Jeff’s program will focus on how to participate in the annual Roses In Review program. He will be discussing how to rate the various roses that you will be reporting on.
This will be the 99th time Roses In Review survey will be conducted. Rose growers everywhere can review new roses they’ve grown in their own garden. He will explain the how this survey is conducted and why it is important for all rosarians to complete. The results of the survey from members of our district will be posted on Tenarky website. Results from across the country determine the ratings that will go into the 2025 American Rose Society handbook Selecting Roses, a rose-buying guide to more than 3,000 varieties that all ARS members receive each year.
Please note that everyone can participate in Roses In Review. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY TO PARTICIPATE! Jeff is asking that you wait until after his presentation to complete the survey.
In addition, Jeff will also be sharing information on some disease resistant varieties.
In the early eighty’s, Jeff and Cindy Garrett bought a house in Hixson, Tennessee, and planted their first three roses. They just were not performing for them. After reading an article in the local newspaper by Lester Smith talking about growing good roses, they decided to give him a call. Lester invited them over to his garden, which they found to be absolutely beautiful. He took them under his wing and began mentoring them on growing roses. He also took them to a Tri-State Rose Society of Chattanooga meeting. They were hooked!
They moved to their current home on Lake Chickamauga in 1989. That spring they added two rose beds with about 96 plants total. Over the years they have continued to develop their landscape to its current capacity of just over 350 roses.
They have both served their local society, the Tri-State Rose Society of Chattanooga, as President on numerous occasions. Currently they are editors of their local society newsletter, “Basal Breaks”. The Garretts have been honored with the Bronze Medal from their local society.
They are both active in the American Rose Society and are Master Rosarians. They have won a National Trophy for rose exhibiting and have been honored with the Silver Medal from the Tenarky District of the American Rose Society. They have both also won the Outstanding Consulting Rosarian Award for the Tenarky District. For many years Jeff has been the Tenarky District Roses In Review Coordinator. They are also regional editor’s for the annual Horizon Roses publication.
After thirty years with TVA, they both retired in January 2006. They now spend most of our time playing golf and growing roses. The Garretts have found growing roses to be a great hobby. They both enjoy it and it provides a wonderful stress relief to their hectic lives. Perhaps the only thing better than the beautiful flowers is the wonderful friends they have made through their local society and the ARS.
Don’t forget – The August meeting will be the SECOND Sunday of August, due to construction in the Massey Auditorium of Botanic Hall during the first week of the month.
Don’t miss the fun! The Nashville Rose Society July meeting will include a silent auction, ice cream social, and a presentation by Bette Ann Fields, District II Director of the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs. Bette Ann’s topic will be “Flower Arranging for Your Home, the Season, or a Friend”. The meeting will be held in the Massey Auditorium of Botanic Hall / Visitor Services Building at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens.
Growing up in the Northeast, young Bette Ann Fields accompanied her mother to flower shows and gardening events, taking an early interest in successful growing techniques and award-winning flower arrangements. Later, after retiring from a 25-year career in Diagnostic Radiology, Bette Ann pursued her love of horticulture and floral design in earnest — becoming a Master Flower Show Judge and Master Landscape Designer. She became active in the Nashville Rose Society. Today, she is a Lifetime Member of National Garden Clubs, Deep South Garden Clubs, and Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc. She maintains a busy schedule attending most state, regional and national garden club conventions, as well as Creative Flower Arrangers of America’s annual forum in Florida.
Don’t forget – The July meeting will be the SECOND Sunday of July, due to the 4th of July holiday.
Do you make homemade ice cream? Please bring your favorite! Attendees will vote for the best ice cream. Yum!!
Arrive for the meeting about 1:00pm if you have items for the silent auction. Bidding will begin at 1:30pm and continue during the ice cream social from 1:30 – 2:00pm. Bette Ann’s program will begin at 2:00pm and bidding will close at 3:30pm.
A silent auction was one of the suggestions to raise funds for the NRS resulting from the recent member survey. Start planning now for what you will bring for the auction. Suggested items include baked goods, garden produce, gardening items such as gloves, trowels, etc., flower arranging items such as vases or Kenzan/frogs, flower arrangements, and plants.
After the ice cream winners are announced and the bidding is closed, Ron Daniels will have a short presentation on drip irrigation. With the heat of the summer just beginning, drip irrigation is a good way to make sure your roses get the water they need.
Admission to Cheekwood is not required – let the gate attendant know that you are attending the NRS Meeting in Botanic Hall. The Cheekwood Campus Map shows the location of Botanic Hall.
The Sumner County Master Gardeners invite you to join us for our 3rd annual self-guided tour of some of Sumner County’s most unique and beautiful gardens. Rain or Shine. Admission is free. Experience five colorful and creative gardens throughout Sumner county.
Begin your tour at any location: Click to open in Google Maps
122 Tamaras Way, Hendersonville
Cathy Davidson, a Master Gardner for 25+ years, uses water features and painted garden art as the focal points for her backyard garden. With an eye for both color and texture, she uses striking ground covers and a beautiful palette of trellis climbers, such as native trumpet honeysuckle, and cottage flowers including hydrangea, daylillies, poppies, iris, and coreopsis to give a sensory experience and create a happy habitat for birds and pollinators.
130 Riviera Drive, Hendersonville
Experienced gardener John Hicks built a wealth of knowledge about shade-loving plants in the years he spent transforming his yard into a woodland oasis. Japanese maples, hydrangeas, ferns and hostas, including Empress Wu, the world’s largest hosta, line the paths surrounding a babbling waterfall to create a peaceful garden. John lost a few trees after the December tornado and used it as an opportunity to plant a bed of wildflowers.
1164 Kimberly Drive, Goodlettsville
Container gardener Dan Sheppard creates a cozy outdoor sanctuary surrounded by vibrant gardens planted in his eclectic terracota pot collection. Bamboo provides privacy and shade behind a fish pond and patio entertainment area, which is bordered with a sloped garden filled with cone flowers, clematis, rhododendron, bottlebrush buckeyes, hydrangeas and more.
1280 Goshentown Road, Hendersonville
Bruce and Alice Mitchell created a rustic, whimsical paradise on this tucked away wooded property with a log home and structures reminencent of the county’s early history. Gardens are filled with native wildflowers, sun and shade-loving plants, and artistic features built from materials on property, including a tree decorated with blue glass bottles and a vegetable garden fence and trellis made from tree limbs. There’s even a koi pond.
441 Gibbs Lane, Gallatin
Since staring Okrashire Farm in 2018, owners Bob and Jennifer Kuhle have incorporated ecologically sound practices, which helped them earn certification as a Tennessee Smart Yard. A greenhouse and rain water collection system help support the self-sustaining farm, which is known for its acres of wildflowers. Colorful zinnias, cosmos, black-eyed Susan and bachelor’s buttons surround a charming shed and fairy garden, where bee balm, lavender, yarrow and herbs grow. Along with an orchard, a shade garden and milkweed areas, this garden is a butterfly and bee haven. Vegetables are grown, too, and Jennifer makes unique okra ornaments, which will be available for purchase.
Fall is one of the most beautiful times for our rose blooms! Hopefully, the brutal summer heat is on its way OUT!! 
Bring your roses to the Fairs! 
Don’t miss the fun! The Nashville Rose Society July meeting will include a silent auction, ice cream social, and a presentation by Bette Ann Fields, District II Director of the 