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.
