Message from Janice Schmidt, President of the HRS
Dear Fellow Rosarians:
What an interesting summer we have had this year compared to last year.
Last year we needed rain and this year it hasn’t stopped stop raining.
My poor roses!
They stand as bare-naked ladies with all their leaves dropped due to black spot. I know they will survive but they look very unhealthy. Hopefully the month of September will help them to re-establish themselves before the winter comes.
Fall/Winter is just around the corner and I am already thinking what I will change and plant next year. See you in September.
Programs for September and October
Tues. Sept. 19 – Join us at an exciting meeting with Rene Schmitz, co-owner of Palatine Nursery, Virgil, Niagara region. We have been buying their hardy roses for our May sales at Farmers’ Markets for several years. He will share historic highlights of the development of roses through the centuries, bringing us the latest roses available. He also will donate some gift certificates, hopes to bring cut roses to give away. This evening will also be when our Awards from our Rose Show are presented to the winning exhibitors. Bring a guest who is interested in roses, more the merrier.
Then, on Tues. Oct. 17th, our final meeting of 2017 will have Master Gardener, Anna Sauve, present “Carefree and Carpet Roses” that are popular with people who don’t have a lot of time to garden. That evening, Janice will receive your rose photos (each with an entry tag) for our Photographic competition.
Memorial Garden – This summer has been totally different from all other seasons since we established it in 2000. All spring and summer, the plentiful rain has caused bountiful quantities of rose blooms, so much so that that the larger branches were bent down almost to the ground. The second week of June, we were informed that the city was fencing off the whole area for the rest of the summer. We would have to notify the city 24 hours before arriving to work (weeding, deadheading, etc.) and the contractor would let our volunteers inside the fence and “release us” when we were finished. Thanks to Jeanne Leong who managed to access the gardens to deadhead a few times and to Irene Slessor who helped Edna deadhead and weed until the end of July when we no longer had any access. Hopefully, Mother Nature will water the roses enough and they will survive without attention until the fence comes down. Driving past the location through August I could see they were bravely blooming away even though the usual audience of passers-by was not present to enjoy their beauty.
October Meeting AGM
The Huronia Rose Society is always looking for new people to serve on the executive and help with the day to day planning of the society. If you are interested in becoming a new executive member please contact Janice at jantim200698@gmail.com. Our annual AGM and elections will take place at the October meeting.
Annual Rose Show Update
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” —Robert Brault
I feel this way about our annual rose show, it was splendid.
I would like to thank all the membership for their hard work in making it come together to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary.
A special thank- you to Ellen Spencer, Michelle Lynch and Lynn Schnitter, the rose show committee. It would have been impossible without your wisdom and experience.
Our invitational class was spectacular with some stunning entries and even if our show was later than the year before the horticultural exhibits were lovely. Congratulations to all the winners!
Some of the memories are captured in the photos attached and I look forward the show in 2018.
Queen of the Show | South Africa | Ligita Preisbergs
Miniature Queen of the Show | Popcorn | Ellen Spencer
Best Shrub Rose | Morden Ruby | Janice Schmidt
Best Red Rose | Love Magic | Ellen Spencer
The Best Design | Level C | Michelle Lynch
The Best Design | Level B | Lynn Schnitter
Invitational Design Rosette | Beat the Drum | Leslie Harris/Holly Wells
Judge’s Choice Rosette | Beat the Drum | Leslie Harris/Holly Wells
Best Exhibit Non-Member or Youth Rosette | Nicole | Leslie Harris
Best Novice Design Rosette | Jenn Graungaard
Entries: 109 (Specimens 84; Designs 25)
Exhibitors: 18
A Special Thanks to Jeanne Leong and Jack Graves
It is difficult to find words to express how thankful the Huronia Rose Society is for your dedication and hard work over the past few years. We are also grateful for the friendship that we share and our passion for growing and showing roses. We hope you visit us soon as you are always welcome and good luck in all your future endeavours.
Warm regards, the executive and members of the Huronia Rose society
Photographic Competition
Our photographic competition is celebrating several years of success.
The number of entries were 48, in 2015 and 62 in 2016. Please bring this year’s entries to our October meeting with completed entry tags. Extra tags will be available at our September meeting if you need some. Is 2017 your year to win the best photograph in the show?
The winner was Ellen Spencer in 2015, and Janice Schmidt in 2016.
All entries are judged by Don Komarechka who is an award- winning nature and landscape photographer who lives in Barrie.
So, get ready, the competition is on!
Social Evening
Vic and Virginia Foster were gracious hosts at our social evening in July.
The weather was cooperative providing us with a lovely evening to enjoy each others company and the wonderful treats and drinks.
Times like these are very precious as we can relax and talk to each other about a variety of topics which also included believe it or not ROSES. A good time was had by all and hopefully next year we can continue this tradition. Perhaps in your garden?
Thank you, Vic and Virginia.
Fundraising Events
Another fundraising event, the sale of potted rose bushes at the Barrie & Orillia Farmers’ Markets, has come to end. One hundred and fifty-four rose bushes were picked up from Palatine & J.C. Bakker Nurseries. Thirty-four rose bushes were sold before the markets. Thank you to the members who participated in the pre-paid/pre-orders. Sincere thank you goes to all and every volunteer who participated to get this event up and running.
Thank you goes to Edna Caldwell for housing the rose bushes for the interim period and hosting the “perennial potting” event. Thanks to the members who donated perennial plants and helped with potting. Thank you, also, to Michelle Lynch, who Saturdays in May brought rhubarb and cut snapdragons from her garden, and Edna who sold them at her spot in the Fairgrounds Farmers’ Market. The sale of which was very successful and part of the fundraising.
I enjoy the market as we are visited by repeat customers who tell their success stories about the roses they purchased from the HRS, and how our advice was taken seriously in planting, feeding, etc. Meeting new customers, who express amazement, when we state that roses do grow in and around Orillia. We do get the odd one whose rose did not survive or is not doing well. They quickly realize that our verbal and written instructions were ignored.
Now, it is the time again to search the rose catalogues and place orders for beautiful and hardy roses for another fundraising event next year.
The sale of potted rose bushes is not only to raise funds, but also to promote Canadian grown roses and to educate the public how easy it is to grow a rose in one’s garden.
Please become a volunteer so that the tradition of selling rose bushes can continue in the future.
Ligita
Canadian Shield Rose
In the Spring 2017 issue of “The Gardener for Canadian Climates” magazine, some background information on the development of this rose appeared. One of the parents of Canadian Shield was “Frontenac” of the Explorer series. ‘Frontenac’ has been the breeding parent in many other recent Canadian roses, including ‘Never Alone’, ‘Campfire’ and ‘Oscar Peterson’. Recently, I saw ‘Never Alone’ bushes in a garden centre. They were in full bloom, plentiful open blooms and buds to come. It was chosen to be a fund-raising rose for Cancer Society, promoted by a CFL retired player in memory of his friend. I was impressed with this patio-type rose bush.
‘Canadian Shield’ was bred at the Vineland Research Centre, a federal facility, breeding roses and other ornamental plants for Canadians. The roots of it’s strong rose breeding program go much deeper than its relatively recent history might suggest. Many of the most loved Canadian roses, including the Explorer and Parkland series, were introduced by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Hardy Rose Breeding program based in Ottawa and Morden, Manitoba. When this program was cancelled by the federal government of the day, much of the promising work was in danger of being lost. In 2010, the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association obtained rights to the stock, and in collaboration with the Vineland Research Centre, continued the breeding program. The program now focuses on developing cold-hardy, disease-resistant roses specifically for the Canadian market, but that will also be strong performers in international markets.
Every year, more than 15,000 roses are planted at the main farm in Vineland, Ontario. The most promising are sent to collaborators across the country. By growing in a variety of conditions and climates, potential new roses are evaluated for their ornamental characteristics, disease-resistance, winter-hardiness and general performance across the country.
Submitted by Edna Caldwell, (who is looking forward to the next rose released in the 49th Parallel
