SOUTHWEST LOUISIANNA ROSE SOCIE-

AFFILIATED WITH THE AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY

The Rosette

Calendar of Events

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Gumbo Gathering

LSU AgCenter

January: No Meeting

January 26-27, 2018

Gulf District Mid-Winter Workshop

Lafayette, LA

Friday, March 9, 2018

Horticulture Symposium at the

American Rose Center

Spring Garden Expo

March 15-17, 2018

Mark Your Calendar!

Christmas Gathering

Meet at the AgCenter 5 PM

Gumbo by Steve Roussell

& Carmen Roussell’s special tamales

Bring Desserts or Sides

ARS Program on Rose Diseases

What’s Inside:

Photos from the Fall Rose Show

Information & Registration form for

Gulf District MidWinter Workshop

Gulf District Rose of the Year

Dues Are Due renewal forms inside

Bits ‘n’ Pieces

‘Legends & Lore of Texas Wildflowers’ by

Elizabeth Silverthorne, a review

The Queens: HT ‘Veterans' Honor’

exhibited by BJ Abshire, Acadiana

Rose Society; Miniflora Queen ‘Abby’s

Angel’ exhibited by Sheryl Broussard

Golden Triangle RS; Miniature ‘Daddy

Frank’ exhibited by Sheryl Broussard

Golden Triangle RS

Steve Roussell with his ‘Best Seedling’

SWLA Rose Society

Friends from the Orchid Society stopping

by to smell the roses!

Rita, Ruth, and Whitney Talley and

Record the winners!

Dowager Queen ‘Duchess de

Brabant’ exhibited by Rita Hudg-

ins SWLA RS

Oriental Award won

by Kelly Texada

CenLa Rose Society

Marilyn Wellan and Steve Roussell

confer at SWLA Rose Show

Royalty Award won by Sheryl Brous-

sard of Golden Triangle Rose Society

SWLA Rose Society’s Fall Rose Show “Honoring Our Veterans” had entries from 15 Exhibitors representing

5 Rose Societies from Texas and Louisiana, including Photography, Horticulture and Arrangements; as well as Art from the

students of Ms Julie Groth at Sam Houston High School.

Photos by Billie Flynn

CenLa Rose Society

Gulf District Mid-Winter Workshop

“A Passion for Roses”

January 26-27, 2018 in Lafayette

Scheduled Speakers:

Don Adlong – Soil, water, fertilization

Dr. Alan Henn – Diseases and Chemicals

Steve Roussell – Lake Charles hybridizer

Ken Kelley – Mychorrizae – A Fungus for Your Roses

Marilyn Wellan – Gulf District Garden update

Kelly Texada – Our Passion for Roses

Kris Kelley – Gulf District website update

Diane Rountree – What a successful exhibitor does in the garden

Meeting Location: Holiday Inn – Lafayette North, 2219 NW Evangeline Thruway, Lafayette, LA 70501. $92 + 11.5% tax (Friday night and includes buffet breakfast – ask for Gulf District rate)

Deadline to reserve rooms is January 12, 2018 by calling 337-706-8199

Remember to mail your check for registration to: Kelly Texada, 5205 St. Germain Blvd, Alexandria, LA 71303, by January 12, 2018

OR register on the web at www.GulfDistrictRose.org

____________________________________________________________________________________

Include this form with your check

First Name _______________________________

Last Name________________________________

Spouse or additional registrant information: First Name_____________________________

Last Name ______________________

Street Address________________________________ City / State /Zip__________________________

Local Rose Society Name__________________________

Registration Option (please select one)

$75 per person (includes Friday Dinner, Saturday Workshop / Lunch)

$150 per couple (includes Friday Dinner, Saturday Workshop / Lunch)

$40 per person (includes Saturday Workshop / Lunch)

$80 per person (includes Saturday Workshop / Lunch)

$35 per person (includes Friday Dinner ONLY)

$70 per person (includes Friday Dinner ONLY)

Signature__________________________________________________

2018 Gulf District Rose of the Year – ‘Julia Child’

‘ Julia Child’ is a medium yellow floribunda rose that was

hybridized by Tom Carruth / Weeks Roses. It has a strong

anise, licorice fragrance with 30-45 petals and average

diameter of the bloom of 3 inches. The bush is compact in

height of 28” – 33”. This rose has an excellent rating and

is heat tolerant and very disease resistant to both blackspot

and mildew. Christian Bédard (Research Director at Weeks Roses) stated at the National Rose

Show in Gettysburg “that of all the roses, he wished he had hybridized this rose”. From NELA Rose Ga-

2018 Dues are Due

Southwest Louisiana Rose Society

An affiliate of the American Rose Society

Memberships are on a calendar year basis from January 1 through December

31 for both new members and annual membership renewals. Local society

dues are $15.00 per household. Please make checks payable to

the Southwest Louisiana Rose Society and give your pay-

ment to Ann Hartman December gathering; or, mail it to

Ann Hartman at 1018 Lakelyn Dr, LC LA 70605.

Name(s) _________________________________ Home Phone:___________

Cell Phone:_______________

Residence Address: ______________________________________________

Mailing Address (if different): ________________________________________

City: ______________________________ State: ________ Zip: __________

Email address___________________________________________________,

if you’d like to receive your bulletin on line.

Do you have a full membership in the ARS? _____. E-membership?________.

New Members: How did you learn about SWLA Rose Society? ____________

______________________________________________________________

Renew Your Membership

The Miss Lou Bulletin is the official bulletin of the Gulf District of the ARS. It is an informative quarterly publication with pertinent information for the rose grower in our area. For paper copy of Miss Lou: Make check to Gulf Dis-trict for $8 per year. Mail to: Kelly Texada, 5205 St. Germain Blvd, Alexan-

American Rose Society Membership Application

Members receive 6 issues of the beautiful American Rose magazine, The American Rose Annual, &

The Annual Rose Selection Guide, access to exclusive online resources on ARS website, plus spe-

cial discounts with ARS partners.

Annual Membership: $49 Regular...$140 for a 3 year membership $46 Senior (65+)...$132 for a 3 year membership

Mail ARS membership to: American Rose Society, PO Box 30000, Shreveport, LA 71130

Name____________________________________________________________

Address__________________________________________________________________

City__________________________________________ State_______ Zip____________

Email_______________________________________ Phone _______________________

Renew

Bits ‘n’ Pieces

As with all things, the Rose Club is going through an evolution; ebbing and flow-

ing with the change of seasons, friends moving or resigning, roses once thought the

best no longer so, many things requiring adjustments! SWLA Rose Society must say

good bye to our friends Lois and Whitney Derise. Throughout the years Lois and Whit-

ney have represented what all us want to be: Good Rosarians, Good Friends! They’ve

grown award winning roses, hosted Garden Tours, produced good, informative pro-

grams and never said ‘no’ to a request for help in the garden, for the show, in the club.

They will be sorely missed for their wit and wisdom and especially for their devoted

support of SWLA Rose Society! We say ‘Goodbye’ to Norris ‘Corky’ Bradford, longtime

rosarian who died last week. And, we pray for Caroline Hollins and Daisy Mills.

Plan on coming to the December Gathering (not a meeting) for good food, fel-

lowship and a fun evening with rose friends! Yes, there will be a Power Point Presenta-

tion more for information rather than a formal program.

Thanks to all who helped produce our Fall Rose Show, small on the Horticulture

side but large on Arrangements! We had help from the Master Gardener Volunteers,

too. Twenty-four students exhibited their art!

Book Review: Legends & Lore of Texas Wildflowers by Donald Burger, Master Ro-

sarian, Houston Rose Society. Reprinted from December issue of The Rose-ette, Manning Correa, PhD, editor

The Herb Society of America, South Texas Unit, held its fall herb festival on No-vember 3, 2017. One of the booths was selling books from Lucia’s Garden, and I spied Legends & Lore of Texas Wildflowers, by Elizabeth Silverthorne, 1996. While thumbing through it, I noticed sections on bluebonnets, dandelions, milkweeds, paintbrush, phlox and roses. At first I thought it was a stretch to classify the rose as a wildflower, but then I got to thinking about the Texas Rose Rustlers and all those hardy roses that have flourished for hundreds of years without human care. Something growing in an aban-doned cemetery is certainly a candidate for the designation of wildflower, especially in a book devoted to “legends and lore.” The book devotes a separate chapter to each of the forty-four wildflowers covered. Turning to the chapter on roses, I saw listings for Macartney rose, Cherokee rose, Pasture rose, Carolina rose, Arkansas rose and the SweetBrier rose, among others. The rose chapter is a wonderful summary of early his-torical references to roses. It relates praises for the rose from Confucius to Sir Walter Scott. Silverthorne relates how roses made it to America. William Penn brought rose bushes in his luggage. George Washington planted roses at Mount Vernon, and Thom-as Jefferson did the same at Monticello. John Adams planted a rose and vegetable garden at the White House in 1800, and, in 1913, Mrs. Woodrow Wilson designated an area outside the President’s office as the Rose Garden. According to Silverthorne, the Greek poet Anacreon (circa 582 BCE to 485 BCE) called the rose “the Queen of the Garden,” and the poet Sappho (circa 630 BCE to 570 BCE) wrote:

If Zeus had willed it so,

That o’er the flowers one flower should reign a Queen,

I know, ah well I know,

The rose, the rose, that royal flower had been.

Silverthorne relates the Greek legend that says that Aphrodite presented the rose to her son, Eros, who in turn gave it to Harpocrates, the god of silence, as a bribe to make sure the indiscretions of the gods and goddesses would not be revealed. At Ro-man banquets, the rose was hung above the tables, to signal that what happened at the banquet stayed at the banquet. This gave rise to the expression, sub rosa. England has designated the rose as its national flower (as did the US in 1986), and in France, from 1799 to 1814, Napoleon’s wife Josephine developed her rose garden at Malmai-son and commissioned Pierre-Joseph Redoute to preserve the beauty of its roses in his famous paintings. Silverthorne traces the Macartney rose from China to Texas via English colonists. She traces the Cherokee rose from China to Texas via Spanish colo-nists. Both stories are worth reading in detail. She also discusses the uses of rose pet-als in perfumes and the making of attar of roses (rose oil) from the petals. She says it takes sixty thousand rose petals to make an ounce of attar. If you want to learn how the Cherokee rose got its name, or how early healers such as Pliny, Hippocrates and Galen viewed the health benefits of roses, this is a pleasant read that should not be missed. And remember, this review only covers one of the forty-four wildflowers dis-cussed in this most interesting book, which is still available from Amazon.com

Always nice to read other comments on ‘the rose’! Enjoy! J.Engert, editor,swla rosette

What Good Rosarians Are Doing in December reprinted from the Houston Rose Society’s The

Rose-ette, Maria Trevino, editor

As our year comes to an end and our “winter” begins, it is time to let the garden rest. There is not much

to be done to the landscape. However, there are a few things that you could do. …….

Moisture. We have not had significant rain lately. We have days that are fairly warm. Don’t let the

rose beds dry out. Keeping the beds moist reduces the stress on the bushes. Remember, you want to

keep those bushes in good health to really take off next spring. Mulch. Mulch on the beds will protect the

roots during really cold days and, in addition, keep weeds to a minimum. Spraying. If you have fungus,

continue spraying until the first hard freeze. Again, this helps the bush next spring. Deadheading. Cut

some blooms to enjoy in your home, but leave most on the bush. Bloom production will slow down. En-

joy the rose hips. Keep beds clean. Removing the dropped leaves and other debris around the rose

bush helps if there are leaves that dropped and had blackspot. The blackspot spores can live both on

the leaves and in the ground. Remove dead bushes. Go ahead and dig up those bushes that died and

you have been meaning to dig up. It will certainly make your garden beds look nicer over winter. If you

are planning on replacing the rose bush, then work in some compost and expanded shale into that area.

These new amendments will have mellowed by the time you plant the new bush. Check your bed bor-

ders. Look for grass that may have crept up on the bed to that nice soil. I (ms Trevino) recently pulled

some St. Augustine runners that must have been 3 feet long! If you have rock or wood borders, you may

need to restack or replace wood. That is not a bad project for cooler days. Build a new bed. This is an

ideal time to build and prepare a new bed for next spring. There are good rose soils available at the

nurseries and soil yards around town. You should consider adding expanded shale when you are pre-

paring the bed. Clay soil is prevalent in the Houston area (and in Lake Charles, too). Expanded shale

helps improve the soil aeration, drainage and makes it easier to work in. Texas A & M recommends us-

ing three inches of shale to incorporate in a new bed then till it into the existing soil. Before you begin

building the new bed, there are a few things to take into consideration. Make sure the location gets at

least six hours of sun a day. Any less and you will see leggy roses. Check for trees near this new bed.

How big are the trees? Raised beds work best in this area. Decide what your border will be. Spend

some time doing research to ensure you end up with a success and great rose blooms. …..

(We benefit from this good information made available in the Rose-ette published by the Houston Rose

Society. The soil is similar as is the climate. There are some other ‘soil loosening’ products one might

use: gypsum, sand, a small amount of peat. Some liquid products too: ‘Soil Menders’ & ‘Soil Activators’).

[Use this time to catch up in the garden and don’t forget to share those blooms! Organic Fertiliz-

ers aren’t readily available when soils are cool, but if added now they’ll will be there in the spring when

soils warm up. And, that’s a job checked off the list of spring garden chores. Don’t forget to get a soil test

if you haven’t done so lately. Remember to water deeply when there’s no rain—something we haven’t

had much of since Harvey dropped so much on east Texas! Check the nurseries for new roses, espe-

cially disease-resistant varieties; K&M roses will be at the MidWinter Workshop. Kordes Roses are being

touted as disease resistant and tolerant; check them out! K&M has many varieties on Fortuniana and

Antique Emporium has several varieties on their own roots. When planting new bushes, remove the

buds. Roots are the first priority; allow the bushes to get established, then enjoy the blooms! If you’ve

struggled with disease this year, work hard at eliminating it over these winter months. Try using a good

contact fungicide every three days three times over a period of a week, i.e., day one, day four, and day

seven. Then return to a regular schedule with alternating sprays of contacts and systemics. Look out for

cucumber beetles at this time of year; light green with black spots. They ruin buds by eating through to

the center so sometimes they go unnoticed. Manual method is best but a spray of insecticide should rid

you of those! Remember: the spray must hit the bug to rid the bug! That’s why manual is sure!

Enjoy your garden these clear mild days! See you next week!] Julie Engert