Rose Ramblings VOL. LXXXIX NO.6 JOURNAL OF THE SAN DIEGO ROSE SOCIETY JUNE 2017

1

Patron Member of the American Rose Society

President’s Message: Let’s All Be Gardeners

By Dona Martin, Master Consulting Rosarian donamartinca@aol.com

“It was June, and the world smelled of roses.”

~Maud Hart Lovelace

We’re building a new rose garden. Really? It’s true. The water re-

strictions during the last drought did in the front lawn and faced with the ques-tion of whether to re-sod the lawn or add more roses, we took the decision to add more roses. Specifically we have in mind a garden of modern shrubs, centered around the addition of many more David Austin roses to our collection.

As additional inspiration for this message, Bob shared with me ex-cerpts from an article from the January 1940 issue of California Garden, the newsletter of the San Diego Floral Association. The article, written by Alice M. Clark is titled “Gardening, The Art of Living” and, to my mind contains thoughts as appropriate today as then:

“Gardening embodies not only the art of living, but the art of living long. Life insurance companies should subsidize gardeners....

But to get back to this art of living. One sure test of success in it is happiness. Did you ever know a sad floriculturist? Impossible. He must be an optimist to take up the hobby of growing plants, anyway. If it isn’t one new pest, it’s another; if it isn’t a drought, it’s a flood; if it isn’t heat, it’s a freeze or perhaps all together. Your successful gardener props up the survivors, not-ing just how, when and why they pulled through, and plans a new scheme for tomorrow. He deals with living things and is so busy keeping up with them that he is doubly alert himself and has not time to bewail his losses. With this complete absorption comes happiness.

The art of living is expressed not only by one’s pleasure in a special project, but in one’s attitude toward the world and one’s neighbors. And that is just where gardening has its finest influence. One cannot plant alone. One must compare notes and see the results of others, to improve and to grow. So we learn to circulate. An interest in gardening will lift the latch of any gates which enclose flowering vistas, and make an instant contact and bond of un-derstanding with the owner of that particular bower. For each is eager to learn from the other.

What’s Inside?

President’s Message…...1

Pilgrimage…….……….2

Monthly Program……...3

Fair Rose Garden……...4

Monthly Rose Care……7

Tool Tales……………..9

Mark Your Calendars..14

Open Gardens………..15

LRS Winners………...17

LRS Rules……………18

New Members………..19

Calendar……………...20

Consulting Rosarians...21

Thoughts and Prayers..21

Tidbits………………..21

Photo Credits………...22

continued on page 2

We not only know the fellowship of individuals, but of crowds. We go to lectures and flower shows. How many, precious and lasting, are the friendships started there! Let's all be gardeners!”

Amen. Let’s all be gardeners. And, be sure to attend our regular meeting on June 19th where our guest speaker will be Nan Sterman, a garden personality you will recognize from PBS. There she hosts “A Growing Passion”, an award-winning TV and online garden lifestyle program that explores the ways California and the Southwest grow, and gives its viewers a fresh perspective by visiting farms, backyard gardens, vineyards, na-tive habitats to green rooftops, community gardens, nurseries, and beyond. I’m sure she will further inspire us as gardeners.

June also marks the beginning of the San Diego County Fair that will run through July 4. Our team has installed a wonderful exhibit based on a Route 66 theme with roses representing the various areas along Route 66, and an arch to represent the end of Route 66 at the Santa Monica pier. Lana Heck has done a wonderful job of signing up volunteers to docent. Thanks to all who have volunteered – let’s encourage fair-goers to be gar-deners.

And on Sunday, June 11, Ruth Tiffany will host a planning meeting for the American Rose Society national convention to be hosted by our society in October 2018 for the installation of Bob as president. The meeting begins at 3:00 p.m. and everyone is invited to get involved. San Diego is known for its outstanding national conventions and this one is going to be the greatest with the installation of our own Bob Martin as president of the American Rose Society.

Let’s all be gardeners!

Huntington Pilgrimage May 20, 2017

By Sue Streeper, streeper@cox.net

Fifty-three garden enthusiasts from the San Diego Rose Society toured the beauty of the Huntington Library and Gardens on the hottest Saturday of the month. Armored with hats, sunscreen, and plenty of water, the hardy pilgrims met with Tom Carruth and enjoyed the recent improve-

ments to the horticulture on the massive grounds. Highlights were, of course, the 3-acre rose garden and the large Japanese and Chinese gardens. Tom pointed out several newly replaced structures for the climbing roses such as the white ladder-like supports and others that imitated tree branches. Most of the participants enjoyed lunch in the 1919 Cafe which offered a great choice of dishes. All agreed that spending this day at The Huntington was a special treat, offering something for every garden lover.

2

(President’s message, continued from page 1)

3

Noted Host and Author Nan Sterman To Speak at June Meeting

By Ken Huff, kenramona@cox.net

Our meeting is on Monday, June 19, 2016 beginning at 7:30 pm in Room 101 of Casa del Prado in Balboa Park. Our speaker this month is Nan Sterman. A California native she is host, co-producer, and writer of the award-winning TV show, A Growing Passion, which celebrates the “growing” world: from farms and nurseries to backyards and schoolyards, to na-tive habitats and more. Nan is a garden designer, author, botanist, and an award-winning garden communicator. She is dedicated to the transformation of planted landscapes from overly thirsty and resource intensive to climate appropriate and sustainable. She earned a botany degree from Duke University, a master’s in bi-ology from UC Santa Barbara, and a master’s in instructional design from San Diego State University.

Nan parlayed her early experiences in sustainability to address modern day issues. She is author of California Gardener’s Guide vol II, the only book about low water, Mediterranean climate gardens written for California home gar-deners. In 2010, she added Waterwise Plants for the Southwest to her publication list. Her next book, Hot Col-ors, Dry Garden, illustrates how colorful low water gardens can be. Watch for Hot Colors, Dry Garden from Timber Press in early 2017. Nan Sterman’s articles appear in Sunset, Better Homes and Gardens, Los Angeles Times, Organic Gardening and other major publications. She has a monthly water-wise garden column in the San Diego Union-Tribune and is the gardening expert for San Diego public radio’s Midday Edition talk show.

At our meeting Nan will be discussing the Netafim drip watering system. Netafim is an Israeli pioneer of drip and micro-irrigation products for agriculture, greenhouse, landscape and mining applications. The com-pany's offering includes drippers, dripperlines, sprinklers and micro-emitters. Netafim dripline products such as Techline CV and Techline feature pressure compensating, continuously self-flushing emitters. With Tech-line CV, a check valve psi is also built into every emitter. With both products, you may install them subsurface or on-surface exactly where you want to irrigate.

Even though we have had substantial rainfall this winter, it will be nice to hear about an efficient irri-gation product like Netafim. Come and learn!

Special Pre-meeting Program: 2017 San Diego County Fair Rose Garden Project

Prior to our formal presentation for the evening, Bill and Elaine Ornelas will give a short PowerPoint

program about the successful journey of creating the Del Mar Fair rose garden this year. This is a major project for our San Diego Rose Society and often the planning and effort involved is not known to all of our members. So come and enjoy the slide presentation by Bill and Elaine.

LITTLE ROSE SHOW AT THIS MONTH’S MEETING! This will be the last Little Rose Show before September.

Bring your most beautiful roses! See page 18 for more information and rules.

Pre-meeting Rose Care Program with Questions and Answers At 7:00 p.m., John Lester, Consulting Rosarian, will be presenting a short program in the Consulting

Rosarian Corner about successfully growing roses. His program will be followed by a question and answer period to offer attendees a chance to have individual questions explored and solutions offered.

Directions to Casa del Prado, Room 101: The Casa del Prado building is immediately west of the Natu-ral History Museum. Entrances to the Casa del Prado lead to an inner court. The rooms are accessible from the court. Room 101 is downstairs on the east end of the court.

NOTE: THIS WILL BE OUR LAST MONTHLY MEETING AND NEWSLETTER UNTIL WE RESUME IN SEPTEMBER

2017 San Diego County Fair

Rose Garden Journey is Complete!

By Elaine Ornelas, eornelas1949@att.net

We’ve done it! After months of planning our small but mighty group of SDRS volunteers has suc-ceeded in completing the installation of the rose garden and the San Diego County Fair! And what a journey it has been...with lots of successes and a few challenges.

It all started when my husband Bill and I attended the first planning meeting with the fair staff in Oc-tober of 2016. Starting in January of 2017, we gathered about fourteen enthusiastic volunteers from our rose society and had monthly meetings at our house to plan out our strategy. Then finally in May, we completed the garden. Here is just a brief outline of our journey:

January: first meeting of planning committee February: made final decision on garden design; completed fair entry process March: finalized layout of garden including roses, trees, boulders, Rosie figure, succulents, saloon,

Route 66 features; securing docents, murals April: completed chalking of garden on-site at the fair; started build of block wall; discussed elec-

tricity and water requirements; secured trees; created new SDRS banner; coordinated delivery of fill dirt and mulch

May: constructed and installed saloon, arch, Rosie, rain barrel with pump, installed drip watering system, lighting, murals, boulders, trees; created new informational sign; obtained tags for plants; installed plants; performed final grooming for fair judging on May 31.

Here are a few pictures which show our journey for this challenging but fun project.

4

Patrick Powell presents his new SDRS banner Planning in the Ornelas living room

Planning committee

Carol Knudsen, Mark Breeding and

Don Angel planning Carol’s murals

Kristine Russell

‘modeling’ for

Robin Breeding’s

Rosie figurine

continued on page 5

5

Kathy Hunyor, Mark Breeding,

and Bill Ornelas planning at

first fair site visit

More planning with Mark Breeding, Bill

Ornelas, Don Angel and Kathy Hunyor Mark Breeding

starts ‘chalking’

the outline of the

garden

Start of building

the wall...hard

work!

Wall complete and fill dirt added

Murals go up...by Kathy

Hunyor, Don Angel and

Bill Ornelas

Larry Hieshetter

attaches arch

Robin Breeding

completes

Rosie...torso only

at this point!

(Fair, continued from page 4)

continued on page 6

Patrick Powel, aka

‘Garden Gnome’ is

ready for work!

Everyone pitches in to plant the roses

and companion plants

Mark Breeding is

‘King of Route

66’!

Steve Berry and

Gary Bulman

taking a donut

break!

Bill Ornelas

installing the

drip watering

system

Larry

Hieshetter

brings DG

in his ‘big

yellow

dumptruck’!

Mark Breeding’s

‘working’ rain

barrel!

Robert Russell

watering (I caught

him off-guard...he’s

really not watering

the asphalt!

THE FINAL PRODUCT...OUR BEAUTIFUL GARDEN!

It’s even lit at night!

water

6

(Fair, continued from page 5)

June Rose Care - From Gloom to Bloom!

By Rita Perwich, ritaperwich@gmail.com

Our roses can be challenged with fungal diseases throughout the year, and sum-mer is no exception. The main diseases we should be on the lookout for as we transition from May gray to June gloom are powdery mildew, rust and botrytis. The overcast skies, clouds and marine layer are ideal conditions for these fungi to proliferate. Powdery mildew is easily recognized by a fine white powdery growth on the upper sides of the youngest leaves, shoots, buds and sepals. Slight upward cupping of new leaflets is an early sign of this fungal disease. Un-like many of the other fungal diseases, powdery mildew does not require free water on the plant surfaces to devel-

op, and is active when cool nights are followed by warm, dry conditions during the day. The spore-release cycle can be disrupted by wetting the leaves with a blast of water during the day, but always ensure this is done in time for the foli-

age to sun-dry. Shrub roses and roses with glossy foliage often have good disease resistance to powdery mildew. Rust is a fungus which develops when we have hot days followed by cool nights and some rose varieties are more susceptible than others. The spores only need moisture for 2-4 hours to develop. The orange pustules on the undersides of leaves make rust easy to identify. The upper sides of the leaves may also display small yellow, dark green or black spots. Rust-infected leaves must be detected ear-ly and removed from the garden as the spores can easily be transported to other

roses. Air circulation is key in trying to prevent rust. It is a good practice to thin out dense leaf growth on the inside of the plant, and also to remove the lower few inches of leaves as rust tends to occur on the bottom part of the rose and work its way up.

Botrytis is a fungus that can be present during cool, rainy periods, and coastal areas may have trouble with this during the June gloom days. It can appear as a gray mold on rose buds and sometimes the bud will ball up and fail to open. Check and modify irrigation and curtail overhead watering. In addition, reduce companion plant-ings to increase air circulation and lessen humidity. We can’t control the weather, but we can limit problems with pathogens with the following good cultural prac-tices. 1) Roses must be planted in full sun. 2) Good air circulation is a must so roses must be properly spaced, pruned and dead-headed to create open cen-ters. 3) Take off diseased leaves as soon as you see them and don’t allow the pathogen to spread. 4) Garden sanitation and disposal of all infected plant material from the garden throughout the growing season go a long way in fungal control. 5) Many fungal pathogens thrive with moisture, so irrigate early in the morning. Drip irrigation is the preferred method of watering as it not only saves water, but it also helps to limit many fungal diseases.

7

Late Breaking News: We are happy to announce that at the awards ceremony for the 2017 San Diego County Fair Garden Show held on May 31st our SDRS garden was awarded the coveted Dee Bennett Award for the best use of roses in a garden! And during judging our rose garden earned a score of 445 points out of a possible 500 which gave our society $2225! Many congratulations to the fair rose garden team who worked so hard to make this happen!

continued on page 8

Roses that exhibit superior resistance to disease include ‘Sally Holmes’, ‘Olivia Rose Austin’, ‘Ebb Tide’, ‘Daybreaker’, ‘Lady Elsie May’, ‘Oh My!’, ‘Walking on Sunshine’, ‘Colorific’, ‘Easter Basket’ and ‘Julia Child’. You may notice some fungal disease on generally very disease resistant roses, such as ‘Secret’, ‘Neil Diamond’, ‘Gemini’, ‘Memorial Day’, ‘Flower Girl’, ‘French Lace’, ‘Fame!’ and ‘Strike It Rich’. How-ever, these roses are extremely disease tolerant and if you take off the diseased leaves as soon as you see them, the fungi won’t spread and the roses will continue to perform beautifully.

While you are up close to your rose bush, look out for spider mites whose presence is given away by the fine webbing on the underside of the leaves. If you see them, wash them off every three to four days with jets of water. Also, if you see lacy

leaves, cut them out or squish the culprit rose slugs that may still be present on the underside of the leaves. Buds and blooms that have tiny puncture holes or other damage should be cut out in order to get the pests, their larvae and eggs out of the garden. You may need to increase the time on your irrigation this month depending on how hot it gets. There is good news among all this talk of gray and gloom! Healthy roses can withstand disease, weather conditions do change, June gloom always burns off, and pathogens do diminish as the weather gets sunnier. And the best news of all,

our clever roses re-bloom every 6-8 weeks, and my math and all the buds on my rose bushes are telling me that June is not all gloom…our roses are ready and will be beautiful with their second bloom cycle!

8

June Rose Care Practices Offered by Other Rosarians

Bob Martin (from his Rookie Rosarian series): The water wand should be used at least weekly. Turn it so that the head is upside down and use it to wash off the undersides of your leaves. This will blast off the spider mites and will also open and cleanse the stoma. Then turn it right side up and come down over the top of the foliage with a strong shower to wash off dirt, pests and powdery mildew spores. Water-wanding can be done at about anytime during the day, however it is a good idea to leave enough time in the day for the water to dry off before nightfall. Based on my study, my fungicide of choice is Compass. It has the lowest Ros-EIQ of any fungicide and although initially expensive, is very cheap on a per application basis. Compass is a strobilurin fungicide, as are the newer fungicides, Heritage and Pageant, which are also effective. I alternate Compass with Banner Maxx (also sold as Honor Guard or as a generic propicanazole). Those with smaller gardens, or who simply want to find a product at the local nursery or home improvement store, could use Bayer’s Advanced Disease Control, the active ingredient of which is the same as Banner Maxx. For those who prefer products that have accepted followings by organic gardeners, the new Serenade Biofungicide (Bacillus subtilis) is an organic fun-gicide that controls all major rose diseases. It has a Rose-E-IQ that is less than any fungicide except Compass.

(Rose Care, continued from page 7)

“All day I faced the barren waste without a taste of water.

Cool clear water”

Sons of the Pioneers

The three most important factors in real estate are said to be “location, location and location.” These are important factors for roses as well, but the three most important factors in growing good roses are “water, water and water”. Roses need water – lots of water. When I am asked for one thing a person can do to grow better roses, I will invariably say, “Give them more water”.

In summer water is even more important. As temperatures go over 90 degrees a rose will transpirate, i.e. give off water, faster than it can take it up. Exposed canes actually get sunburn. And so the rose suffers. What the rose needs during the summer is the same thing you do – it needs to keep cool. So your gardening objective is to water roses during the summer and to hold them in reasonably good shape until around Labor Day when you can moderately prune them for the beautiful fall bloom.

How Much Water?

In these times of periodic water shortages, and given the cost of water, there is some small value in providing the rose with no more water than it might need. However, the answer to the question of how much water a rose may need is another of those “it depends” we encounter so often in rose growing. The amount of water needed depends on the weather, the size of the plant, the composition of the soil, the cycle of growth, the variety of the plant, and probably several other factors.

One certainty is that roses need more water when it’s hot and less when it’s not. A mature, full-size hybrid tea in clay soil requires about 6-9 gallons of water a week when the high temperatures are in the 70s. As temperatures rise into the 80s the rose will require about 9 gallons of water per week. In the 90s, the rose will require about 12 gallons per week and even more. A miniature rose, depending on size, requires about one-third to one-half as much. These figures are rough and based on the amount of water needed to maintain a high level of quality.

One gallon of water equals 231 cubic inches by volume. A typical full size rose in our area has a root zone with a diameter of about 30 inches; more for large roses and those on Fortuniana rootstock. Using my calculator app to figure out the pi times the radius squared etc., I have learned that one inch of water delivers about three gallons. So I deliver this amount 3-5 times a week depending on temperature. In adjusting this measure for containers and different size roses, I also keep in mind the radius squared business as this means that a rose with half the root diameter needs one-fourth the water.

Adding this all up, roses on automatic sprinklers should be watered three to four times a week during the summer depending on temperatures and whether your soil holds moisture or drains rapidly. Roses in con-tainers should ideally be watered an average of four-to-five times a week, in fact when the weather is over 90 degrees container roses should be watered daily.

With this in mind, let us consider some watering tools.

Water Delivery Tools Since it rarely rains in San Diego during our rose growing season a sprinkler system is a must, prefera-

bly one operated on a timer. It is also best if the timer controls the water delivered to your roses separate from other parts of the garden. This is so you don’t have to water your lawn or shady areas with as much water as you need for your roses.

9

Tool Tales – June

Water Tools

By Robert B. Martin, Jr., Master Consulting Rosarian, Vice President American Rose Society

petrose@aol.com

continued on page 10

A quick search on sprinkler systems at my local Home Depot turns up 270 items, including dozens of sprinkler heads. Drip irrigation turns up an additional 432 items. And, in the seven rose gardens I have main-tained in both California and Arizona, I think I have probably tried them all. They have all worked, more or less, because the objective here is to get water on your roses and just about any delivery system can do that. Having said that, the best system we have found is drip irrigation. Drip irrigation supplies water directly to the root system of the rose without excessive run-off or evaporation. It is therefore more effective and it is also cheaper. We also found that during the most recent water crisis, drip irrigation was favored and not subject to the same restrictions on use as the pop up sprinklers.

*Netafim Techline® DL Drip Irrigation

Those who may have read some of my earlier articles on roses will find that I once disfavored drip irrigation and considered such systems to be tricky with roses. My major concern was that the emitters sooner or later clog and one often only discovers this when the rose begins to suffer from insufficient water. Earlier drip systems also tended to deliver an uneven quantity of water to the rose. So I found it hard to become excit-ed about them. This was before I moved to Arizona, where watering in the summer is even more important and a clogged drip emitter was flagged by a dead rose. There I learned about Netafim Drip Irrigation.

Netafim advertises itself as the world’s leading irrigation company. It has an entire line of products including its Techline® brand of drip irrigation that we use in all of our rose beds. Specifically we use the Techline DL dripline that has pressure compensating, self-flushing emitters and an anti-siphon feature that pre-vents ingestion of debris into the tubing. What that means is that the emitters don’t clog and the pressure at the end of the line is the same as at the beginning. The tubing is flexible and UV resistant so it can be installed on the surface of your beds, or under your mulch. It is available at different emitter flow rates from 0.26 to 0.9 gallons per hour, with the 0.4 or 0.6 rates the most common. It is also available with emitter spacing of 12″ or 18″; we prefer the 12″ spacing.

Netafim Techline DL is self-contained and easy to install, with instruction materials available online at http://www.netafimusa.com/landscape/support-materials/. Many members of the society have had it installed and can also recommend an installer in your area.

*Legacy Manufacturing Flexzilla Garden Hose

In my 45 years of rose gardening I have long since lost count of the number of garden hoses I have owned, or the number discarded. You need a garden hose; in fact you need several. We have seven, plus two spares. The main problem here is that garden hoses kink and they can often be heavy and difficult to drag around. I have found it ironic that nearly every hose I have seen in the local home improvement or hardware store is advertised as a hose that does not kink. A non-kink hose is like a blue rose – it doesn’t exist. All garden hoses kink; some just do it less than others.

Garden hoses can also be heavy to drag around, while the lighter ones can be prone to leak or fail at the connection to the fitting. Hardware and improvement stores typically carry several models of hose repair fittings, none of which I have found to actually work. The ideal garden hose would therefore be one that is lightweight, durable and does not kink too much.

My current favorite garden hose is the Legacy Manufacturing Flexzilla garden hose. I like the 5/8-inch diameter size that comes in various lengths. I have them in both the 50-foot and 100-foot lengths, depending on the reach that I need.

The Flexzilla garden hose is as the name implies, quite flexible in all weather conditions and like all other hoses is advertised as kink resistant. This is mostly true in that the hose does lie flat and coils very easily. It will produce kinks along its length but these are easily unkinked by pulling on the hose and twisting it. It is also lightweight which makes it easy to handle, while at the same time it is very durable.

10

(Tools, continued from page 9)

continued on page 11

Flexzilla has anodized aircraft aluminum male and female fittings. I would have preferred brass fit-tings because the hardness of our water corrodes anodized aluminum and in time makes it difficult to remove the hose from the water spigot. I suggest you remove the hose from time to time to loosen the inevitable corro-sion so that the hose does not get stuck to the spigot.

The Legacy Manufacturing Flexzilla garden hose is not perfect but it comes close enough for garden-ing work. The 100-foot length goes for about $60 at Amazon.

*Tuff-Guard PGH – The Perfect Garden Hose

Speaking of the perfect garden hose, I am compelled to write of the hose that claims to be just that. I do so because those who have heard earlier versions of my presentation on tools for the rosarian may recall

that I there extolled the virtues of the Tuff-Guard Perfect Garden Hose. It is light-weight, kink free and comes with brass fittings. It also comes in nifty colors such as blue, and the advertisements shows it tied into a knot and still working just fine. I liked the hose so much that I originally bought one, and then two more to go with it. Later one failed at the connection to the hose fitting and thinking this an oddity, I checked the reviews on line where additional reports of failure at the con-nections had been reported. But, according to the manufacturer, they had fixed this problem and so I ordered another. The fact is that the problem has not been fixed. Each of the remaining hoses also failed, including the replacement. That makes it four out of four failures, which is as perfect as this hose gets. The latest review on Amazon, posted on May 19, 2017 reads, “It’s the best hose ever, until it rips at the

fitting at the end. Then it’s just a $90 slinky that won’t go down stairs.” Yep.

*2WAYZ Premium Hose Splitter Let’s suppose you want to run two hoses off of the same spigot. Or maybe like me you have a timer

hooked up to Netafim tubing, as well as a garden hose to run off the same spigot. The usual solution to this is a brass hose Y with valves. The problem here is that those valves are usually small and tough to turn, especially when you get some corrosion from our hard water.

The solution to this problem is the 2WAYz Premium Hose Splitter. It has a big metal body. And best of all it has smooth long handles for the valves that are very easy to turn open or closed. The latest version costs about $16 at Amazon and comes with a bonus of three washers as well as an unlimited money back guar-antee. They can do this because the splitter is sturdy and it really works.

11

(Tools, continued from page 10)

continued on page 12

*Save A Drop Water Meter Let’s suppose you wanted to determine exactly how much water you have applied with your garden

hose. You could fill up, say, a container of known capacity and count the seconds it takes to do that. Or you could buy a Save A Drop® Water Meter.

I credit this idea, and this product to my good friends Dr. Gary Rankin and Dr. Monica Valentovic of West Virginia, who have chaired the Product Evaluation Com-mittee of the American Rose Society for several years. They give excellent programs on new products including the one I asked them to give at our 2014 National Conven-tion in San Diego. They are in fact the inspiration and the model for my own program on tools, as well as this running series.

The Save A Drop® Water Meter is a small device you attach between the fau-cet and hose and the easy to read meter shows you how much water you’re using. It accurately measures to 1/10th of a gallon both single watering use as well as cumula-tive water usage, both of which are shown on an easy to read LCD display.

Available at about $19.95 from Amazon, the device works rather well but I have found over time that the novelty of calculating exact amounts of water wears off, beside which having measured several times you get a pretty good feel of how long to tarry over a container. So I’m pretty much back to watering by guess and by golly. Thanks anyway Gary and Monica, it is a neat little gadget.

Water Breaker Wands

I turn now to the water wand, which is a very important tool for delivering water. A water wand is typi-

cally a long handled hose attachment with a water breaker at the end. The water breaker breaks the water stream into fine rain-like particles while the long handle permits easy extension to reach under or over plants. I have five of these, one at each of my main hose spigots in the garden.

I use the water-breaker water wands regularly in the rose garden throughout the year, and even more so in the summer. This explains why I have one at each of the hose spigots. My most common use is for container watering. The long handle is useful for reaching down to the container and the gentle spray doesn’t disturb the soil in the pot. A water wand is superior to all other watering devices for hand watering outdoor containers whether of roses or other plants.

The water breaker type of water wand is also useful for washing off the top of the foliage. Roses get dusty and dirty and like an occasional shower. I often do this before spraying. Conventional watering nozzles can damage tender new foliage or push the developed foliage against the thorns, tearing leaves and blooms. In contrast, the water wand provides a gentle rain-like stream, which does not disturb the foliage as much.

I also use the water breaker type for watering in fertilizers. It is desirable to water in dry fertilizers after their application around the base of plants and I have found that this can be best accomplished by the gentle flooding available from the watering wand. *Dramm Colormark Waterwand

I’ve been through a lot of different water wands, including the ones you find at Home Depot or Loews. The problem with most is that they are not very sturdy and will not hold up to continuous use. My favorite is the Dramm Color-mark Waterwand. It is a high quality wand with a heavy-duty brass shut-off valve, foam cushion hand grip, commercial grade brass ferrules, a black heavy plastic water breaker and premium aluminum tubing. The wand measures 30 inches in length and is available at A. M. Leonard in blue, green or berry colors for around $37.

12

(Tools, continued from page 11)

continued on page 13

*Dramm Heavy Duty Water Shutoff Valve

Notice I mention the heavy-duty brass shut-off valve in connection with the Dramm Colormark Waterwand. I also mention the anodized aluminum con-nectors on the Flexzilla garden hose. I do not like anodized aluminum connectors or valves on watering tools. They corrode. I like plastic connectors even less. They break. I prefer heavy-duty brass connectors and, as a consequence, routine-ly replace other connector valves with a Dramm Heavy Duty Water Shutoff Valve. The valve has a full flow design and is of brass construction with stainless steel ball valve, and a large lever for easier operation. It is available at A. M. Leonard for around $19.

Spider Mite Water Wands

In addition to the water breaker water wand, I have another specialized tool called a water wand that

is used principally for the control of spider mites. Older rosarians will recognize this tool as a Cecil Stoakes water wand. Those who have been around even longer, like me, may call it a Walter Vinton water wand. That is because Walter Vinton of Missouri sold these through an advertisement in the American Rose magazine for many years. Later the wand business passed to Cecil Stoakes in Texas, who has since passed on. I still have one, plus most of the parts of a second one, and have been using the wand for years,

The Walter Vinton/Cecil Stoakes water wand is a long (53-inch) thin hose attachment with a sprinkler head at the end. It was also availa-ble in 43-inch and 36-inch lengths. The sprinkler head breaks the water into a strong fine stream that is somewhat similar to the sprinkler heads you probably got to run through in your youth. The sprinkler head on the Walter Vinton/Cecil Stoakes water wand is indispensable for washing the undersides of the foliage of roses. The very strong fine spray blasts off spider mites, which congregate un-der leaves when it is hot. The long handle makes it easy to get under the bush. Although the use of a water wand to control mites is common among rosarians, less known is its value of water in controlling powdery

mildew. Unlike the water-borne fungus diseases such as black spot, powdery mildew spores are inhibited by water. And since we rarely ever see black spot in our dry Southwest summers it is perfectly fine to use water to control powdery mildew as long as it is warm enough or there is enough daylight left to permit the foliage to dry. My practice is to follow up the spraying of the undersides of the leaves by turning the water wand over and blasting off the tops as well. The strong spray will actually remove a lot of any mildew that it con-tacts.

Another advantage in using the Walter Vinton/Cecil Stoakes water wand during the summer is that it helps keep the rose cool. The fine spray of the water wand cools the foliage and also cools the ambient air around the rose. In addition, the brisk shower is of value in keeping the stomata on the undersides of the leaves clear from dust and other particulates, thus allowing the rose to better transpirate water.

13

(Tools, continued from page 12)

continued on page 14

*MITEYFINE Sprayer With the passing of Cecil Stoakes, I have held out hope for several years that someone would step into the breach and make available an equivalent water wand that would be available when I need a new one, and one I could recommend to others. That hope appears to have been re-alized with the advent of the MITEYFINE Sprayer, also rendered as the MiteYFine Sprayer, this I suppose to emphasize its use to battle the mighty spider mite. Advertised as combining the right amount of water pressure, minimal water volume and the appropriate water droplet size, the MiteYFine Sprayer is said to produce a unique fan-shaped spray pattern that creates a blade of water that effectively knocks the mites off the underside of the rose. And from the photos online, it appears to be modeled on the original Walter Vinton/Cecil Stoakes water wand. In fact it is manufactured in Texas, which is where the Cecil Stoakes water wand originally came from Details on the MiteYFine Sprayer are available at its website at http://miteyfine.com/ The 42” Standard Sprayer with a proprietary spray nozzle, 42” extension, and garden hose adapter is available for $61.16 including shipping and handling. A 52” Deluxe Sprayer with a valve, ergo-nomic handle, and garden hose swivel costs about $20 more. I’ve ordered one to see if it measures up to my old Walter Vinton/Cecil Stoakes water wand. Ask me in a month or two how that worked out.

Meanwhile... That’s it for the summer. Come fall we’ll talk about some tools for feeding your roses. Until then

here’s a summer thought to ponder: “Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody.” Mark Twain

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

14

(Tools, continued from page 13)

15

The Open Gardens of May: Backyard Beauty

By Elaine Ornelas, eornelas1949@att.net

May is a the month to open our gardens to visitors and family, and this May there was no shortage of open gardens. Several of our SDRS members, including Bob and Dona Martin, Sue Streeper, Linda Clark, Ruth Tiffany and Robert and Kristine Russell, invited folks to come and see their prolific rose gardens. It was such a wonderful opportunity to see how these folks were able to have hundreds of roses thrive on their prop-erty. It was also a good time to see some of the roses that visitors might want to grow in their own gardens and learn the best practices for growing them from the experts. We hope that each of you will be able to visit these open gardens which are offered each year. Many thanks to these nice volunteers for opening their gardens for us!

Kristine and Robert Russel’s garden:

Sue Streeper’s garden:

continued on page 16

16

Linda Clark’s garden:

(Editor’s note: My apologies to Bob and Dona Martin, and to Ruth Tiffany, as I was unable to attend their open gardens. So there are no pho-tos in this issue of their gardens.)

Little Rose Show Winners!

By Elaine Ornelas, eornelas1949@att.net

Here is a listing of the winners of the May Little Rose Show:

17

Section 1st Prize Shown By 2nd Prize Shown By 3rd Prize Shown By

Section 1 One Hybrid team or GF

bloom

John F

Kennedy

Debbie

Magnuson

Chicago

Peace

Patrick

Powell

First Love Kathy Hunyor

Section 2 One floribunda spray

Sexy Rexy Bill Wallace Camille

Pisarro

Kathy Strong

Sunsprite Bill Wallace

Section 3 One miniature or miniflora

bloom

Glowing Amber

Bill Wallace Butter

Cream

Bill Wallace Fairhope Bill Wallace

Section 4 One miniature or miniflora

spray

Fresh Pink Rita Perwich Popcorn Bill &

Elaine

Ornelas

Family

Holiday

Bill & Elaine

Ornelas

Section 5 NOVICE One hybrid tea

or GF bloom

Just Joey Mary Shaver (no entries) (no entries) (no entries) (no entries)

Section 6 NOVICE One miniature of

miniflora bloom

Diamond

Eyes

Audrey Walz (no entries) (no entries) (no entries) (no entries)

Section 7

One bloom or Spray, any

other type

Prosperity Alicia Schwartz

Gemini Rita Perwich Good as Gold

Kathy Strong

Section 8

Most fragrant bloom

Mister

Lincoln

Kathy Hunyor Pope John

Paul

Bill & Elaine

Ornelas

Neil

Diamond

Patrick Powell

Rose of the Night Sexy Rexy Bill Wallace

Runion Arrangement

Frank Brines

SAN DIEGO ROSE SOCIETY 2017 LITTLE ROSE SHOW RULES Chairpersons: Bill and Elaine Ornelas

GENERAL INFORMATION:

There will be five “six-pack’ shows at the SDRS meetings in April, May, June, September, and October.

Exhibitors do not need to be experienced in showing roses. Novices are encouraged! Experienced exhibi-

tors will be on-site to assist in the staging (preparing) of rose blooms for the show.

Each person bringing one or more flowers will receive a free raffle ticket.

RULES OF ENTRY FOR ALL SIX-PACK SHOWS:

1. All roses must be properly named and entered in the appropriate section.

2. Containers for exhibits will be supplied by the San Diego Rose Society.

3. Each exhibitor is limited to six entries. You may concentrate your entries in one section or distribute them

over all the sections you are eligible to enter.

4. Entry tags will be supplied and only the top section of each tag needs to be filled out and attached to the

flower’s vase.

5. Sections 5 and 6 are restricted to novices (anyone who has never won a trophy in any rose competition).

However, novices are not restricted to the novice sections and may enter any section.

6. Exhibitors are asked to remove all exhibits at the end of the meeting.

JUDGING: Judging will be in accordance with the ARS (American Rose Society) guidelines. The fir st

place winners of each section will be judged against each other to determine the Rose of the Night, and that

entry will be displayed at the front of the meeting room.

SCHEDULE:

Section 1 One hybrid tea or grandiflora bloom without sidebuds

Section 2 One floribunda spray

Section 3 One miniature or miniflora bloom without sidebuds

Section 4 One miniature or miniflora spray

Section 5 NOVICE ONLY – One hybrid tea or grandiflora bloom without sidebuds

Section 6 NOVICE ONLY – One miniature or minflora bloom without sidebuds

Section 7 One bloom or spray, any other type

Section 8 Most fragrant bloom

Section 9 “Just for Fun!” (This section is not judged but blooms are submitted for viewer enjoyment.)

HOME ARRANGEMENT COMPETITION – Runion Arrangement Trophy

Rose arrangements will be entered in conjunction with the Little Rose Show. Roses of any type should domi-

nate in all arrangements. No more than two arrangements per household per show are permitted and the roses

must be grown by the exhibitors. The use of dried or artificial material is permitted. There are no restrictions

on height or width.

SCORING

The Rose of the Night will be awarded an additional 3 points and will also receive a

special award. At the end of the year, trophies will be awarded at the holiday banquet to

the highest-scoring novice exhibitor and to the overall highest-scoring exhibitor. Sec-

tions 8 and 9 are not included in the point system. The Reunion Trophy will be awards

at the holiday banquet to the highest-scoring arranger.

18

1st Place – 5 points 2nd Place – 3 points 3rd Place – 1 point

Meet Our New Members !

By Christine Allan, callan@san.rr.com

We welcome the following new members to the San Diego Rose Society. Most of these individuals joined at

our April Rose Show. We hope you all have a chance to meet and talk with these newest members.

Lark Bearden Charles Best Fushan Cu John Davis Barbara Deyoe Deva Edelman Leslie Espanol Ryan Fiscus Mary Garbella Linda Blackburn Geis Tony Gibbs Edelmira Gomez Melanie Gorman Jazmine Green Liz Greenwood and Krisken Cross Abraham Hernandez Ping He Bill and Victoria Hanlon Ming Hu Anne Jacobs Susan Kelly Fran Knell Andy Kocher Andy Lim

Andy Kocher Andy Lim Debbie Logreco Donna McGill Nettie Marty Jacqueline May Sue Miller Brendan Moore Kimberly Ann Mumford Beckie Neely Karen Oberle Sharon Oeser Hui Peng Jemma Ponce Mary Jayn Race Barbara Reeves Clarice Sheldon Liz Sigal Don Skinner Jessica Spung Mary Taeckens Judy Tanner Joyce Trinh Julie Van der Auwera Barbara Villasenor Susan Weaver

19

20

Event Calendars and Web Sites

San Diego Rose Society Calendar of Events

2017

June 6, 2017: SDRS Board Meeting

June 11, 2017: 2018 ARS Convention Planning

Meeting at Ruth Tiffany’s house

June 19, 2017: SDRS Monthly Meeting including

the last Little Rose Show until September

2018

April 14-15, 2018: SDRS Annual Rose Show, Lib-

erty Station, San Diego

October 25-28, 2018 American Rose Society Con-

vention hosted by San Diego Rose Society, San

Diego, CA

2019

April 13-15, 2019: SDRS Annual Rose Show, Lib-

erty Station, San Diego

Local/Regional Events

2017

June 2—July 4, 2017: San Diego County Fair

June 10, 2017: Annual Live Rose Auction, Silent Auction and Plant Sale; hosted by San Fernando Val-ley Rose Society; Wilkinson Senior Center, 8956 Van Alden Ave., Northridge, CA 91324; email Dave at Greenscapesbypassani@gmail.com or Irene at ire-nesuniverse@socal.rr.com

National Calendar of Events

May 26-June 11: 2017 Portland Rose Festival,

Portland, OR; www.RoseFestival.org

September 5-11, 2017: 2017 National Fall Con-

vention Rose Show & Penn-Jersey District Con-

vention, Gettyburg, PA. (see ARS web site for de-

tails)

Useful Websites and Links

San Diego Rose Society (sdrosesociety.org)

American Rose Society (rose.org)

American Rose Society Pacific Southwest District

(pswdroses.org)

Help Me Find (Roses) (helpmefind.com/rose)

Consulting Rosarians for San Diego Rose Society

Christine Allan 619 890-0880 La Jolla callan@san.rr.com

Gary Bulman 760 739 8342 Escondido gossbulman@cox.net

Linda Clark 619 312 2468 La Mesa linsline@cox.net

Frank Hastings 619 444 2552 El Cajon frankierose@cox.net

Ken Huff 619 980 2989 Escondido kenramona@cox.net

Bob Kolb 619 222 4114 Sunset Cliffs bobkolb@cox.net

John Lester 858 279 7578 Tierra Santa roseloversjb@gmail.com

Carl Mahanay 619 423 6278 Imperial Beach ibrose@sbcglobal.net

Dona Martin, Master Rosarian 602 430 6941 Escondido donamartinca@aol.com

Bob Martin, Master Rosarian 626 840 3472 Escondido petrose@aol.com Elaine Ornelas 858 531-4793 Clairemont eornelas1949@att.net Bill Ornelas 858 531-3572 Clairemont bornelas1945@att.net Rita Perwich 619 435-3365 Coronado ritaperwich@gmail.com Jim Price 619 286 3255 San Diego jnprice@pacbell.net Dwyn Robbie, Master Rosarian 858 792 6406 Del Mar maydaybday@gmail.com Robert Russell 619 843-0401 Crest ruslranch@cox.net

Sue Streeper, Master Rosarian 619 448 0321 El Cajon streeper@cox.net Ruth Tiffany, Master Rosarian 619 548 6950 San Diego ruthsgarden@msn.com Patti Vickery 858 336 2248 San Diego pattiv2535@gmail.com

21

TIDBITS !

Feeling lucky?

Remember that each attendee of our monthly society meetings receives a free raffle ticket! Sometimes in June members will bring rose bushes in containers for the raffle so you may have a chance to win a $25 rose bush for free! If you would like to increase your chances 7 additional tickets may be obtained for $5. Other items are often brought as part of the raffle also.

Goodies! Please remember to bring a few of your favorite goodies, like cookies, cake, cheese and crack-ers, grapes and other fruit, to the monthly meet-ings. Everyone really enjoys them!

Missing Old Newsletters? Some of you have commented that you have previously saved and been able to later access the SDRS newsletters, but now you can no longer access the attachment on those emails. Dona Martin, our webmistress, announced that she has recently upgraded our SDRS website and it is a ‘work in progress’. So please be patient as we work to resolve this issue.

Please don’t forget to bring your rose blooms to the last Little Rose Show at our monthly meeting! It’s fun and amateurs are welcome! And there are prizes to be won!

In Our Thoughts and Prayers….

Please send your healing thoughts and prayers to SDRS member Don Angel who has been having some ex-

tended medical issues with his feet and legs and is now facing possible surgery for one problem. As you know,

Don is always there to help us wherever needed so please offer him your support.

If anyone is missing a Corona pruner, we discovered one was left after the May Little Rose Show. Please contact Elaine Ornelas at 858-531-4793.

Rose Ramblings

Newsletter of the San Diego Rose Society

Editor: Elaine Ornelas, eornelas1949@att.net

Assistant Editor: Sue Streeper, streeper@cox.net

Webmistress: Dona Martin, donamartinca@aol.com

Photo Credits for this Issue

Page 1: Photos by Elaine Ornelas, Dona Martin

Page 2: Photos by Rita Perwich

Page 3: Photo provided by Nan Sterman

Page 4-6: Photos by Elaine Ornelas

Pages 7-8: Photos by Elaine Ornelas and also provided on web sites

Pages 9-14: Photos provided by Bob Martin

Pages 15-16: Photos provided by Elaine Ornelas

22