RoseLore Volume 4 Number 2 February 2021 Bulletin for the Mesa-East Valley Rose Society Mary Van Vlack, Editor Contents FEBRUARY MEETING Page 1 – February Meeting Page 2 – Maggie’s Rumblings Our February meeting will be Thursday, 2/11/2021 at 7 pm, via Page 3 – Rose Auction Page 4 – February Gardening Zoom. Sherman Weekes will present our program on mulching Page 6 – Rose Arbor roses. This topic is especially timely – February is a great month to Page 7 – Profile-Dave Bang apply mulch to our rose gardens. A 3 – 4 inch layer of quality mulch Page 14 – February Rose helps to hold moisture in the soil below and keeps the rose roots Page 14 – Biting the Dust cooler. Page 14 – Internet Ghouls Page 15 – Membership Page 15- Calendar Without access to the Mesa Page 16 – Join ARS Community College facilities, we continue holding our meetings using Zoom, a popular Officers & Board virtual meeting program that can President– Maggie Holloway [email protected] be used on a desktop or laptop VP-Programs – Lynn Twitchell computer or tablet with access [email protected] to the internet or by smart Treasurer - Bud Morrison phone. If you have not used it [email protected] before, you might want to Membership – Carole Holkenbrink [email protected] download the program ahead of Recording Secretary - Sherman time at zoom.us. ‘Intrigue’ Weekes [email protected] The link to join the Zoom Meeting is: Corresponding Secretary - Cathy Thiel https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4770043990 [email protected] The Meeting ID: 477 004 3990 Members at-large: Yvonne Morrison [email protected] If you need help, you may contact Sherman Weekes or Pat Thiel for Cheryl Doan [email protected] assistance in using Zoom. James Racinowski [email protected] Again, we won’t be having a raffle this month, but the good news is PatThiel pat.thiel455 @gmail.com that you can choose your own refreshments and enjoy them Past President LeRoy Brady throughout the meeting. [email protected] Watch for our March meeting when our guest presenter will be ARS President and former Mesa resident Bob Martin. 1 The Rose Lore February 2021 RUMBLINGS FROM THE PRESIDENT BY MAGGIE HOLLOWAY Happy New Year! I have a confession. What a way to start a letter, right? Well, I know it’s January and I know we’re probably looking at another difficult summer again with the way our temperatures seem to climb, but I have yet to prune more than 2 roses in my garden this winter. I know I said last month I would get started, but I just haven’t made myself get out and do it. I have been enjoying an abundance of blooms, taking them to friends and neighbors alike. I have one neighbor that thinks she needs to “trade” grapefruit for the roses I give her, but how much grapefruit can one person actually eat? I bet if I looked right now, I have at least 15 waiting for me. But I digress… The rain has brought out the dandelions and clover, so I have some work to do! No doubt I will finish and will have to turn around and apply mulch. Maybe I’ll cheat and do both at the same time this year. That should be an interesting experiment, but boy, will it save me some time! I hope you are all well and staying safe as we (hopefully) see COVID numbers starting to level off. I am hoping we will see more research on the vaccine soon – do we know how long it lasts, and are people who get it going to stop wearing masks? It scares me a little to think that people will think it is “safe” because they have had the shots, but now we have different strains popping up around the planet to think about. I am happy to report that the 3 times I have been out to the MCC garden to prune, I do see social distancing at work. I do carry a mask in my work-apron just in case though. Better to be safe, as they say. Please join us for the meeting on Thursday if you are able. I hope to learn more about mulching from Sherman than I know currently, which isn’t much! Photos: ‘Maggie (top), “New Year’ (left), and ‘New Year’ reaching for the sky. Editor’s Note: With the exception of the article on Dave Bang, all photos of roses in this issue are by Maggie Holloway, taken in her garden one evening in early February. 2 The Rose Lore February 2021 ROSE AUCTION TIME! In case you haven’t noticed (WHAT??), our annual rose auction is up and running online. If you took a quick look earlier on, you should certainly look again as more items have been added. The auction will be closed to bidding – that is your deadline – on Thursday, 2/11, at 9 pm, AZ time, after our general meeting on Zoom. At present 44 bidders have placed more than 300 bids. Here is the link if you need it: Mesa Rose Auction As of Monday morning (2/8), there are 120 items available for bidding including 11 rose care items, 2 trees, 6 climbers, 30 hybrid teas along with lots of floribundas, grandifloras, minis and minifloras. Roses have been donated by Star Roses, Weeks Roses, K & M Nursery, our own Steve Sheard and other sources. There are still plenty of bargains to be found: ‘Beauty Secret’ ‘Bonfire’, Arctic Blue’, ‘Pink Peace’ and ‘Sunshine Daydream’ for a $20 bid; ‘Lady of the Dawn’, Antique’, Showbiz’ and more for a $15 bid. If you truly don’t have space for one more rose bush, you can still score some Captain Jack’s for those chilli thrips, a bottle of Ken Singh’s fish emulsion, or LeRoy’s favorite, Physan. Your newsletter editor is having a blast with this auction from the comforts of home but may have some explaining to her spouse to do when closing time comes. Some folks have said that going to an online auction is understandable, but they still miss Kyle Burnis with her live auctioneering skills, great sense of fun and Band-Aids. Well, she has come to our rescue, donating gift bag surprises for the auction winners who will receive them with their roses. All winners’ roses, products, and gift bags will be available for pickup on Saturday morning, 2/20, at Mesa Community College. We should all thank Ryan Regehr for having the confidence and imagination to give us this auction this year. Photos: Above, ‘Black Magic’ and left, ‘Maggie Barry’ 3 The Rose Lore February 2021 protection, and hat, and consider using a respirator. Your own health is more important than the health of your plants. FEBRUARY IN THE ROSE GARDEN By Mary Van Vlack While the work in the rose garden in February is not as intensive as in January, there are tasks that need attention and are best accomplished now. It is not a time to move on to other things and just ignore the roses. Finish what you started in January. Finish your pruning as soon as possible, and also rake and clean up cuttings, spent blooms, and other garden debris. A clean garden will have fewer problems with insects and diseases. Planting. Finish planting any new bare-root roses by Valentine’s Day – that should be easy to ‘’Patchwork’ remember. Try to plant any container roses this month as well; we want to give the newly planted Water matters. Watering practices have had to roses maximum opportunity to grow a good root change as our winters have grown warmer. system before the summer heat arrives. Containers may need to be watered more frequently than in previous winters, especially if the Spray for insects and disease. We used to treat temperatures are in the 70’s or higher. This is the the bare canes and beds for the mold spores and ideal time to examine your watering system to be insect eggs that remain, but with our brief winters sure it is working properly, has no leaks or clogs, and rapidly warming temperatures, plants leaf out and is dispensing the appropriate quantity of water. quickly and it is soon time to move on to my You surely do have a watering system. Roses are preferred strategy of prevention and then treatment very thirsty plants, not xeriscape or succulent when prevention fails. Keeping a clean garden free plants like so many of our desert landscape of debris and weeds and spraying down the canes favorites, and they need regular water. Some folks are the first line of prevention. Where it’s prefer a drip system, which is generally thrifty with necessary to use chemicals, I will use one product the water and less affected by evaporation. The at a time, only when I have a specific problem to water from drip emitters comes out slowly and address, and only spraying the parts of the plant generally moves straight down through the soil. It where it will be beneficial. If I must use two will take quite a few emitters to get the broad separate products now, I will apply the pesticide distribution a rose needs. Bubblers are also a good first and then the fungicide a day or two later. Some system for roses and do not result in an excessive folks who prefer organic gardening will use Neem aerosol effect, which wastes water. A spray oil or another agricultural oil for this purpose. If you system such as would be used on a lawn has been decide to go this route, be very careful and read the out of favor for roses, but many rosarians now package directions carefully.