Indianapols Rose Society…

FROM THE PRESIDENT:

Glad you stopped by to see what’s going on this year!

We are looking forward to a full schedule for 2018 as we learn TIPS, TRICKS & HACKS FOR GROWING ROSES.

Our group is made up of people of all ages and stages of growing roses. Some have a few roses and some have hundreds. Some are just getting started and some have been growing roses for 40 years or more. A perfect place to learn and grow. And, you’ll meet the best people!

We meet on the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 6:30 in the evening at the Sullivan Munce Cultural Center in charming downtown Zionsville! That is except for special events and they are usually on the weekend. (Schedule below.) Our meetings are open to the public, so invite a friend to join you!

Our time together includes friends, fun, food and loads of ROSE TALK! Door Prizes Too!

Teresa Byington
President

2018 PROGRAMS . . .

TUES, MARCH 13, 6:30 pm
GETTING OUR GARDEN OFF TO A GOOD START
Location: Sullivan Munce / Zionsville
Special Guest: Diane Sommers, ARS District 5 Director, Master Rosarian and VP Candidate for ARS
Program: Let’s Grow Together
Diane will share her tips for getting our gardens off to a good start and her vision for the American Rose Society.
 For more about Diane, read on here.

TUES, APRIL 10, 6:30 pm: SOIL HEALTH
Location: Sullivan Munce / Zionsville
Speaker:  Kevin Allison, Marion County  Soil Health Specialist
Kevin Allison, Marion County SWCD Soil Health Specialist, will lead a discussion on using the principles of soil health to organically improve soil: Minimizing soil disturbance, maximizing diversity, keeping the soil covered, and providing a continuous living root.
Kevin will explore how amendments, diverse mulching and cover crops can be integrated into flower production and preparing new beds.
**Q & A with Kevin

TUES, MAY 8, 6:30 pm: EARTH-KIND ROSES
Location: Sullivan Munce / Zionsville
Speaker: Carol Tumbas, Rose Expert & Former President of Indianapolis Rose Society
The Earth-Kind testing program is responsible for so many sustainable plants for our gardens.
**Round-Table Discussion: What pests are bugging you?
**Panel: Carol Tumbas, Linda Kimmel, John Hefner

SAT, MAY 26, 9 – 3: ROSEFEST: ROSES OLD AND NEW
Hamilton Co. 4-H Fairgrounds, Noblesville
Focus on Early Bloomers: Old Garden Roses, Rugosas, as well as the new modern roses etc.
Speaker: Mike Shoup / Author and Owner Antique Rose Emporium
In addition:  There will be Garden Tour, Rose Show, Educational Displays, Workshops, Roses and Rose Products for sale
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBIC!

THURS – SAT, JUNE 7 – 9
STATE MASTER GARDENER CONFERENCE

4-H Fairground in Danville, IN
Carol Tumbas, rose expert and former President of Indianapolis Rose Society, will give a program entitled The Incredible Edible Rose
**The Indianapolis Rose Society will have an information booth and will sell roses.

TUES, JUNE 12, 6:00 pm: ICE CREAM SOCIAL & GARDEN PARTY
Location: Marilyn and Dick Ferguson’s  beautiful garden
**More details to come.

TUES, JULY 10: PROPAGATION WORKSHOP / CUTTINGS
Location: Sullivan Munce / Zionsville
Humberto DeLuca: Will show us techniques of taking rose cuttings
**Round Table Discussion: How to care for roses in extreme heat.
**Panel: Mark Nolen, Teresa Downham, John Hefner

SAT, JULY 21, 5 pm: PROPAGATION / BUDDING WORKSHOP
Location: Mark & Cathy Nolen’s amazing rose garden
Mark Nolen and John Hefner will show us techniques for bud grafting roses.
**Bring a salad, dessert or appetizer to share
**RSVP to Mark at Markbnolen@comcast.net.

TUES, AUGUST 14, 6:30 pm: CLIMBING ROSES
Location: Sullivan Munce / Zionsville
Linda Kimmel, immediate past president of the Indianapolis Rose Society, will share with us the charm and grace of climbing roses—which ones to grow and how to care for them!
**Round Table Discussion: Overwintering roses in pots
**Panel: John Hefner, Linda Kimmel, Teresa Byington

SAT, SEPT 8: DISTRICT MEETING & ROSE SHOW
Hosted by Indianapolis Rose Society
Boone Co. 4-H Fairgrounds
KEYNOTE: Bob Martin, American Rose Society Vice President
**Details are coming together and will be available soon.

OCTOBER TBD: FALL GARDEN PARTY
Teresa Downham’s garden
Costume party (dress as a rose name) and Chili Cookoff.

SAT, DEC 1, 6 pm: HOLIDAY PARTY  / AWARDS BANQUET
Join us for a holiday party in the Hefners’ holiday wonderland.
We will also give out 2018 awards and install our 2019 board.
A ‘not to miss’ event — Food, Fun, Outstanding Decor, Awards!
**RSVP to John and Donna at jdhefner63@gmail.com
**More details to come.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! There is so much to learn and do and it will be more fun if you are there. We are open to the public so invite a friend! 

And, please share this post on your social media accounts or email to a friend.

If you have any questions, contact us HERE.

Fireworks and Fragrance

In life and in gardens the right companions can make the difference. They can make us stronger, cover up our short comings and enhance our beauty.

My garden style is cottage gardening …. I grow everything from trees and shrubs to herbs and roses. These garden companions work beautifully together to give me just what I want—continuous beauty. In fact, once we get through one of the midwest’s hard, cold winters, I am looking for fireworks and fragrance. Nothing adds the fireworks and fragrance like roses.

In April, lilacs give me beauty and fragrance that garden dreams are made of however, in a few weeks they are finished — for a year. Forsythia make a huge showing too— bringing all that yellow sunshine into our world—for a few weeks. Just as I am saying goodbye to those lovely shrubs, along comes the Rugosa Roses and Old Garden Roses with an explosion of blooms that fill the garden and many vases to the brim with beauty, fragrance and over the top charm. While most of the old garden roses only have one bloom per season (about 4 weeks), many of the rugosas don’t stop with just one bloom cycle and will give you at least a few fragrant blooms throughout the growing season.

Just as the rugosas are taking a break and the one-time blooming old garden roses are finished for the season, here come the easy care roses I call garden roses (sometimes referred to as shrub roses).  These power bloomers go to work and believe me their bloom season will continue all the way to fall. There is no shrub or perennial that gives me season-long bloom like the garden roses and paired together, they work their cottage charm.

Rugosas putting on a show in my garden!

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Roseraie de la Hay putting on her show this week!

Whether you are like me and have have lots of space, or you have a few nooks and crannies you would like to brighten or have containers on a balcony that need some punch, there is a garden rose for you. Garden roses come in all sizes and colors and will take no more care than any other plant or shrub in your garden. Give them sunshine, water, a bit of fertilizer, a quick trim of the spent blooms, then just stand back and enjoy. (And have your vases ready to fill and share.)

When deciding on companions for your roses, the first thing to consider is compatible growing conditions and here are two companions that have their relationship all worked out and have become a match made in heaven… roses and clematis!

Etoile de Violette and New Dawn Climber

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Here are some easy care, power blooming shrub roses that fill my garden with beauty and work well with all of the other plants that catch my fancy.

Petit Pink… This small shrub from the Proven Winners OSO Happy series is constantly happy in my garden covered in these dainty pink flowers. We can thank David Zlesak for this amazing shrub!

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Music Box and her companions… This is a lovely blooming machine from the Ping Lim’s Easy Elegance Collection. Starts out creamy yellow and adds more pink as it matures.

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Sunrise Sunset… also from the Easy Elegance Collection paired with Double Red Knockout

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The Generous Gardener… One of the best and most disease resistant David Austin roses I have ever had!

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Peach, Apricot and Red Drift Roses… These beauties from Star Roses and Plants grow low and spreading fitting nicely in the front of a border but they also do equally as well in a container. These are super blooming garden roses.

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Quietness… This lovely Buck Rose is a part of the Earth Kind series and is one of the most beautiful bloomers in my garden. If it can make it through the rigors of the Earth Kind testing program and is considered hardy for your zone… take a chance! Did I mention it is very fragrant!!

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Quietness with her lily companions…

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Beverly HT from Kordes... Beautiful, sustainable and fragrant. Big winner at the Biltmore International Rose Trails. Love it!

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Belinda’s Dream and her companions… This is another rose from the Earth-Kind series. This rose grows big and strong in a container on my deck and is rarely without beautiful and fragrant blooms.

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Cherry Pie… The amazing bloomer below is from the Proven Winner’s OSO Easy collection. This picture is of a three-year-old rose in my herb garden. What started out as a tiny test rose, is now a show stopper.  She has more than proven herself to me!

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The rose is our national floral emblem and
the most popular
and beloved flower!

So, if you have shied away from roses in the past, thinking they are divas that take more time and energy than you have … Think again!

It’s not just hair styles that have changed since the 80s… The new Millennium brought us new classes of easy care, sustainable garden roses and we are getting more and more every year.

Maybe it’s time to dress up your shrub borders and add more blooms to your flower beds with the new rose kids on the block–they will bring the fireworks!

2015 Top 5 Roses

2015 was a beautiful rose year in my neck of the woods. To pick only 5 roses from this year provides quite a challenge. But, I do want to get down to some of the top performers in my Zone 5 garden and share some standouts with you.

Rose Buzz_Top 5_2015

Dick Clark – Grandiflora: This was the 3rd year in my garden and it was a blooming machine. Staying healthy all the way to October. Very little disease. I have to say the first year this rose was not impressive in the blooming department but that was all forgotten this year! Many roses do not show their best self until the third year. Maybe you’ve heard this about perennials and shrubs…

1st Year: Sleep
2nd Year: Creep
3rd Year: LEAP!

So, it is best to give them 3 years in your garden to prove what they can do and be for you. This rose was hybridizing giants Tom Carruth and Christian Bedard.
More information @ http://www.weeksroses.com/_Roses/DickClark.html

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DIck Clark in the garden…
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DIck Clark in a vase…

Petit Pink – Shrub: This easy care shrub from the Proven Winners OSO Happy series bloomed all summer with no sign of disease. Looks good up close and from far away. The long-lasting blooms are small—about an inch in diameter.
More information @ https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/rosa/oso-happy-petit-pink-landscape-rose-rosa-x

Petit Pink...
Petit Pink…

Little Mischief – Shrub: (Easy Elegance Collection) These adorable deep pink sprays look amazing in the garden as well as in arrangements. I should know… arranging these little blooms put me in the winners circle at our local district rose show!

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Music Box – Shrub: (Easy Elegance Collection): This is a shrub rose with a pretty little bud and a hybrid tea like bloom. True to the series name, this rose is easy and elegant and completes the package with a lovely fragrance.

More information @ http://www.easyeleganceroses.com/roses  I bought mine the last two years from my local Lowes.

Music Box...
Music Box…

Moje Hammerburg – Rugosa: This rose could not be easier or prettier or more fragrant. A medium size Rugosa — some of them can get quite large! If you are not familiar with Rugosas, let me tell you there is not a more hardy, disease resistant family of roses.

Moje Hammarburg
Moje Hammarburg

There were so many beautiful roses this year. Look at some of my recents posts and you will see many more!


THE 2016 LIST

Like many of you, I am now beginning to make a list of wants and needs for next year. One that is already on the list is my second Tahitian Treasure from Star Roses and Plants. She was a late bloomer and it took the 3 years for her to really show off. But this rose was fabulous this year. Pretty, fragrant, disease resistant and very long lasting in a vase!
More information @ http://www.starrosesandplants.com/plants/grandiflora-rose/tahitian-treasure

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Tahitian Treasure in the garden…
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This rose was on my potting shed desk for more than a week when I took this picture!

AND, JUST ONE MORE…

Honorable Mention for 2015…

Belinda’s Dream: A rose from the Earth Kind Rose collection. This floriferous rose has beautiful form, is disease resistant and has a beautiful fragrance.

More info @ https://www.chambleeroses.com/order.php?id=25.

Belinda's Dream...
Belinda’s Dream…

This picture show’s Belinda’s Dream growing in a large pot on my deck. She will over winter in her pot in our dark, slightly heated garage. Fingers crossed she will emerge in April ready for another wonderful year! Note: All my roses that I over-wintered in the garage last year did very well!


WHAT ABOUT YOUR GARDEN?

If you have roses that have done particularly well for you this year, please share the name and your growing zone in the comment section below. We learn best from each other!

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Earth Kind

I just received three beautiful roses from Chamblee Nursery–Aloha, Belinda’s Dream and Carefree Beauty. Two of these lovelies are considered Earth Kind roses.

Three New Beauties...
Three New Beauties…

photo 2-4EARTH KIND

Earth-Kind is a special designation given to select rose cultivars by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service through the Earth-Kind landscaping program. It is based on the results of extensive research and field trials and is awarded only to those roses demonstrating superior pest tolerance, combined with outstanding landscape performance.
Read more About Earth-Kind Roses.

Belinda’s Dream

  • Classification: Shrub rose
  • Introduced: 1992
  • Size: Medium shrub (5’X 5′)
  • Bloom: Very double, 100+ petals, up to 4″ diameter. Successive flushes of bloom spring, summer, and fall.
  • Fragrant: Moderate
  • Cold Hardiness: Zones 5-9

I had the great pleasure of seeing Belinda’s Dream in all her glory in the Biltmore Rose Garden a few weeks ago. (Read more about that here.)   This rose had first been recommended to me by Peggy Martin as her favorite rose … especially for those new to growing roses. I am not new to growing roses but I just had to have this lovely rose! Wouldn’t you?

Belinda's Dream in the Biltmore Rose Garden...
Belinda’s Dream in the Biltmore Rose Garden…

You can read more about Peggy Martin and her incredible rose here.

Carefree Beauty_PolCarefree Beauty

  • Classification: Shrub
  • ARS Rating: 8.5
  • Introduction: 1977
  • Color: Light rose
  • Size: 3′ – 4′ 3′ – 4′
  • Cold Hardiness: Zones 4 – 9
  • Disease Resistance: Very
  • Fragrance: Mild

To see other Earth Kind roses, read on.

Her is a fascinating article on Dr. Buck’s life and roses by Julie Jean Gustafson Minot–Dr. Bucks Life.

Other Earth Kind roses I have in my garden that do extremely well are New Dawn and The Fairy.

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New Dawn Spring 2013
The Fairy Rose peaking through the fence.
The Fairy Rose peaking through the fence.

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My rose friend, Chris- The Redneck Rosarian, grows Mutabilis and just raves and raves AND RAVES about it. If I had this rose in my garden, I am sure I would rave too!

Here is a picture of Mutabilis in the Biltmore Rose Garden…

Mutabilis at the Biltmore Rose Garden
Mutabilis at the Biltmore Rose Garden

Peggy Thumb_Pol

Click here to hear Peggy Martin tell her story … From Devastation to Inspiration.