BIRMINGHAM GARDENFACES ROSE AMERICANROSESOCIETYAFFILIATE SOCIETY Editor:GlendaBoudreaux

FEBRUARY ambghbmsn.com(205)337­7100

2011

MEMBERSHIP FEES

By Gloria Purnell, Membership Membership dues are still being received. Individual $15.00 and Couple $25.00. Bring check to February meeting or send to Gloria Purnell, 5704 10th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35222. Directories are being mailed to individuals who have not received one at the meeting.

CONSULTING ROSARIAN REPORT By Gloria Purnell, Consulting Rosarian and Horticulture Judge

Soil – the HEART and SOUL of Roses With the clean slate of a new year and the flip of the calendar on January 1st, most of us made resolutions – lose weight, exercise more, be a kinder and gentler person. Did you make such resolutions? Have you kept them? Broken them? Now that January has come and gone and the wintry days of February are bearing down on us, let’s think of some resolutions that would benefit our rose gardens. First, RESOLVE to learn more about growing roses and develop our love for having the best roses possible. Second, RESOLVE to deal with the home of our roses – the soil. The soil is the soul and lifeblood of our roses and must be as near perfect as possible. This means that we should test the soil for pH factor, adjust chemicals for breakdown, and be willing to correct any problems by proper nutrition; drainage and amending the soil. The soil is the HEART and SOUL of life for roses and all our gardens. A famous English rosarian and clergyman, Dean Reynolds Hole, wrote in 1860 that “it takes a lot of digging and dunging to produce good roses”. That is certainly true today as the soil must be pliable, aerated, fed and watered to allow root growth and sustainability. The “digging” is emphasized by digging good holes for our expensive plants. The “dunging” takes many forms. Manures have for years been used for fertilizer. Some of our own rosarians use chicken manure, horse, or cow manure, and when we can’t get the real stuff, we resort to “Black Cow” from the home improvement stores. Many of us compost in our yards and containers to have good amendments to our soil. Thankfully, we don’t have to rely on our own organics as there are many excellent ready-mixed products on the market. One great advantage is that this eliminates the need to apply all the organics separately. We cannot talk about soil and roses, and even the food supply that is grown in our country, without mentioning chemical fertilizers. Their importance is monumental and there is quite a huge selection. Lastly, as we RESOLVE to be a better and more informed rosarian, I remember reading an article by Ted Mills, the creator of Mills Magic, and he said we should never refer to soil as “dirt”. He reminds us that soil is the HEART and SOUL of growing roses, and we should dig and dung it so it will reward us with show-quality roses.

THE ANNUAL PRUNING OF THE DUNN ROSE GARDEN By Bob Eskew, Master Consulting Rosarian The annual pruning will be Saturday, March 5th, 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. Bring your pruning tools and lets have a fun outing.

OUR NEXT MEETING Monday, February 28th

6:30 p.m. Hodges Room Birmingham Botanical Gardens Join us for the February meeting of the Birmingham Rose Society. Our guest speaker will be Phillip Oliver of Florence, Alabama. Phillip is a writer and photographer whose work can be seen in publications such

as "The Alabama Gardner". He also hosts the popular online blog "Dirt Therapy". He will be speaking to us on the evolution of his garden, which boasts many varieties of old garden roses.

Hostesses are Nora Coffee, Brenda Bodine, and Fran Brandon.

SPRING PLANT SALE 2011 By Bob Eskew , Master Consulting Roasarian The Friends of the Birmingham Botanical Garden Spring Plant Sale 2011 will be Thursday through Sunday, April 14th – 17th. We need rose society members’ help in the rose booth for the sale. Contact either Robert Eskew at 205-823-6621 or daddybobsq@aol.com or Clayton Richard at 205-807-0762 or claytonrjr@earthlink.net. Let us know when you can help.

MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 31ST MEETING By George Ann Hamilton, Recording Secretary Frank Baier, President, called the meeting to order. We had a total attendance of thirty-eight including a new member Marsh Mortek from Talladega. Chris VanCleave, Vice President, introduced our speaker Bob Bamburg. Bob shared his artwork and photography of roses. During the summer he visited the gardens of Rose Society members for the program. He thanked those members for allowing him free rein in their gardens. The handouts listed the items you need for painting roses, photographing roses and different techniques used in obtaining the best pictures. There was also a quiz on rose identification and a prize for the most correct answers. The balance of the program consisted of members sharing and discussing their favorite rose gardening books they had brought from home to the meeting for display. The minutes from the November 29th meeting were approved as printed in the January issue of Garden Faces. Hyacinth Prince gave the Treasurer’s Report. The checking account balance as of January 31st, 2011 is $5,399.81 and the Certificate of Deposit balance is unchanged at $5,000.00. Old business: The Holiday Dinner was held in the Ireland Room on December 6th at 7:00 PM. Magnolia Café catered the dinner for $12.00 per person. There were twenty members present. Gifts were exchanged after dinner. Gloria Purnell, Membership, announced that the dues for Birmingham Rose Society are due this month. Bob Eskew announced that March 5th is Annual Pruning of the Rose Garden. If you can please come help, bring your tools to the garden on Saturday at 8:00am. The Spring Plant Sale will be April 14th ,15th & 16th and the site is to be announced. Set up will be April 14th. Roses will be from Petals of the Past and K & M Roses. The cost will be from $17.50 to $30.00. Everyone is encouraged to come and support this event. Glenn Hodge announced the Bronze Medal was awarded to Harold and Jean Settle this year. He also reported that the American Rose Society is having a cash flow problem. The ARS has a lot to maintain. They have had some layoffs. The Deep South District is in good shape financially. We were assessed $1,000.00 by the American Rose Society. Ann Jones, Awards Chairman, needs a volunteer to help with the awards table on Saturday and Sunday, May 7th and 8th. Also the Consulting Rosarian reports are due. Clayton Richardson Rose Show Chairman, reported they are getting everything set up and will have a better report at the next meeting. Judy Williams will head up selling ads for the Rose Show. It would be great if everyone could or would sell one ad. Chris VanCleave made a motion to have a photography category added to the Rose Show. Jane Hinds seconded the motion. The motion will be discussed at the next meeting. George Ann Hamilton, Chris and Tina VanCleave and Judy Williams were thanked for the refreshments tonight. The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 P.M.

BIRMINGHAM ROSE SHOW

AWARDS By Ann Jones, Consulting Rosarian LAST CALL This is the last opportunity to contribute "recycled" items that can be used as awards at our Rose Show in May. Please either bring them to the next BRS meeting or call/e-mail Ann Jones for pick-up. Names of donors will be listed in the Rose Show Program. If you would like to sponsor/name an award, the following opportunities are still available: King - Multiple Bloom Floribunda - $40 King - Miniature - $40 King - Miniflora - $40 Princess - Miniature - $25 Princess - Miniflora - $25 Donors will receive recognition in the Rose Show Program and also on a placard by each rose on the Awards Table. Checks should be made payable to the Birmingham Rose Society and given/sent to Ann Jones, 1510 Smolian Place, Birmingham, AL 35205. For questions, please contact Ann Jones at 939-3559 or akcejones@aol.com. PHOTOGRAPHY CATEGORY PROPOSED By Chris VanCleave As you know, at the January meeting of the Birmingham Rose Society it was proposed that we introduce a photography category to the Birmingham Rose Show. This will open an opportunity for us to introduce a whole new group of people to the joys of roses! We are trying to determine from within our own society would be interested in entering this category should it be approved. Please e-mail or call Chris VanCleave at Chris@RedneckRosarian.com or 205-585-9687 to let us know if you would be interested in entering this category.

Special thanks to Elaine and Marty Pawlikoski for allowing us to reprint this excellent article. Elaine is the Editor of Wind-Chimes, newsletter of the Central Florida Rose Society. This article appeared in the January-February 2011 edition.

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While the advice and information in this newsletter is believed to be true and accurate at the time of publication, neither the authors nor the editor accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The Birmingham Rose Society makes no warranty, expressed or

implied with respect to the material contained herein. GLENDA BOUDREAUX 4493 PRESERVE DRIVE HOOVER, AL 35226