President's Message - December 2025

Happy Holidays to you all:

With Thanksgiving just a few days off, we all need to be reflecting on our blessings and the true meaning of what Thanksgiving is all about. There are absolutely no one I know that has no reason to be greatful, so let’s take a few minutes eah day to give praise and thanks to our Creator.

I had mentioned last month a list of Fall Garden Activities we should consider now that we are in a much cooler part of the year. Planting or replacing roses was one of my suggestions. There is an article within that gives you my step-by-step method for successful Rose Planting; if you still have questions, I or one of our Consulting Rosarians will be glad to answer your concerns.

As we move deeper into the holiday, don’t forget to continue your general rose care. With it being so dry from the lack of rain, our roses can and will become very stressed if allowed to dry out, even to the point of losing them. If you water by hand, I suggest running water into a 2 gallon bucket. Time how long it takes, then you will have a good idea how long to water each plant. This 2 gallon is adequate for at least 4 days in cooler weather, and repeating this as long as it stays dry. Although the humidity is far less than a month ago, our rose can still get fungal diseases. Spray with a fungicide on a 10-15 day rotation will help keep our roses clean and healthy.

Just a reminder regarding our GRS Christmas party. It again will be at the Homemakers Club Building, 25728 Park Street, Melrose, FL on Sunday, December 7th at 2pm. This is a week earlier than our normal date. The Chinese Gift exchange has always been great fun, so if you want to participate, bring a wrapped gift, approximately $15 in value. Rules will be given at the party. Oh yes, covered dish or desserts to make the party even tastier. See the list or call Jean if you want to know what to bring.

I hope to see you all soon.

President's Message - November 2025

Hello to all and happy fall.

Yes, happy fall, the very best time of the year here in north central Florida. If you are a serious rose grower then you know just how nice the blooms get with the cooler conditions. Even though this past summer was a real challenge for our roses, they did snap back to provide us with some great show quality blooms. In fact, our rose blooms represented GRS in grand fashion at the DSD Convention November 1st. I was particularly proud of my first attempt to enter an arrangement class, which was a National ARS class. I used one of my most bountiful minifloras, Tiffany Lynn. I did a line-mass consisting of eleven blooms and buds. I have to give my Jean a lot of credit for directing me on how to place and arrange every bloom. I did all of the arrangement; Jean just told me when I was not doing it good enough or how I could improve on it. I got a 97 point score, almost perfect.

We are so fortunate to have Bobbie Reed coming down from the Atlanta area this month to present her Old Garden Rose program. Bobbie is considered an expert on O.G.R’s, so she will surely have something to excite even those of us who grow very few O.G.R’s. Let us not disappoint her by having a poor attendance. She will be traveling nearly 8 hours to get here.

There are few things needing done here in the fall with regards to keeping rose plants healthy. Fungal diseases and insects are on the down swing, so spraying plants is less needed. However, they still need regular watering; with less rain, they can become very dehydrated and dry out. This will stress out the plants and become less productive and may even die. With so much instructions and advice being given, it behooves me why people would pay so much for a rose plant to only get a season or two of nice rose blooms. Jean and I have roses in our garden approaching 15 to 20 years old; they have become family. So, we do our best to make sure their needs are met. Just like one of our children.

Fall also is my favorite time for planting and mulching the beds. These couple of things are much too hard to do when it gets hot outdoors. So, let’s get at it. Garden work is much more pleasant when it is cooler.

I hope to see you all on the 9th.