11 December 2009 by Shari.

Just a week ago we had snow on the ground! Yes snow in Fort Bend County! After the snow a lot of questions came in about the citrus and how was the cold going to affect it. Basically, your citrus trees are hardy plants, even they can take a little colder weather and survive. The trees themselves should be fine.

With the snow and freeze coming in December, most of the citrus should be close to ripe. For those of you who have citrus here in Fort Bend county - let us know how the fruit and trees survived the cold. Did the fruit on the tree make it through? Is the flavor still good?

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30 November 2009 by Marilyn.

Did you know that fall is considered to be the optimal time to propagate roses by cuttings in Texas? The premise is that cuttings will have all winter to rest in a protected location and form new roots, free from the challenges of harsh summer conditions. It may be tempting to plant the newly rooted roses in the garden the following spring, but young plants will still be tender and planting should be delayed until fall.

During the fall bloom and while rose hormones are abundant, 6 to 8 inch cuttings may be taken from stems that have spent blooms on them. Remove the bloom, preferably keeping 4 sets of leaflets below the bloom, and be sure to keep the cuttings well-hydrated until they’re stuck into the rooting medium. A good rule of thumb for sticking cuttings is to have 2 leaf nodes above the rooting medium and 2 inserted into the medium.

Use of a rooting hormone is optional. Rooting media can consist of a peat and perlite mix, a mixture of perlite and vermiculite, a sterile soil-less mix which usually contains peat and perlite, sand, or any combination of media that maintains moisture while new roots form. Never allow cuttings to dry out. Rooting in water is not recommended because the roots will be brittle. Cuttings will need indirect light, but should never receive direct sunlight during the rooting process.

There are numerous methods for propagating roses. Detailed information can be found on http://aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu/southerngarden/roseprop.html.

If you’re interested in reading about some of the methods used by members of the Texas Rose Rustlers, check out http://texasroserustlers.com/TRR_article1.pdf.

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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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