10 November 2009 by Faith.

What a treat we have ahead of us at the November monthly meeting!  Now I may be just a little prejudiced as Ray Ponton is one of my Texas Rose Rustler friends.  Whether he talks about rose hybridizing or his roses, an interesting and educational experience will occur.

As I have mentioned, Ray’s hobby (or avocation) is rose hybridization.  Cameron Bohls, Meridith Bohls, Chireno and Deanna are just a few of his roses that are commercially available.  He has registered the names of his roses but has chosen not to patent them which means that we can share cuttings.

Ray and his wife, Margaret, live in Taylor, northeast of Austin.  Several of us have had the enjoyable experience of visiting them and have seen his roses and seedlings firsthand.  Ray has planted his roses in what was once a pasture and operates very much like the Earth-Kind trials- very little care after initial establishment.  The last two years of drought have been very hard on his roses, but he perseveres with his hybridizing.

Those of us who have been the happy recipients of his roses, sometimes testing them for him, prize these roses.  Look in the future for one of his roses to be named Phyllis’ Delight in honor of my mother.

See you November 19th!

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19 October 2009 by Faith.

How many times have you seen or read about a rose with a remarkable bloom and succumbed to the desire to purchase it without knowing anything about it?  For some of us this is definitely the norm.  However often when you get this rose home, you suddenly need more details than are on the tag (if there even is a tag).

The internet has provided us with so many valuable resources.  Here are four of the many available that I personally find helpful in finding info on old garden roses (OGR’s), Buck roses, and other roses:

• The Antique Emporium-  antiqueroseemporium.com
• Chamblee’s Roses-  chambleeroses.com
• Vintage Rosery- vintagerosery.com
• Help Me Find-  HelpMeFind.com/Roses

It is possible to create a spreadsheet for your roses as Becky S. and Barbara B.  have done.  I was amazed when I saw Becky’s but then saw Barbara’s which is even color-coded.

One of these days I hope to become more organized like (I can’t say “as organized as”) my friends but am honest about my limitations.  I have made a list of my roses which is a start- a big one for a person like me.

Have fun learning more about the roses you have and/or want.

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