The Providential Gardener

Trees and Roses ~ Some New RI Websites

If you subscribe to Providential Gardener, you'll know I really love trees and roses. And it's fun to be around other tree and rose lovers ~ very enjoyable.

The RI Tree Council just rolled out their newly redesigned website this week. It's beautiful ~ congratulations to one of Rhode Island's important volunteer groups. [Look around and think what the state would look like without any trees.]

Earlier this summer, Rosarian Mike Chute and Angie Chute published their new rose site, Rose Solutions. Mike gives workshops all over the state on rose care, and in fact he's presenting at Blithewold on Saturday, September 20 at the Fall Gardener's Day. The Blithewold blog, by the way, is one of several very fine gardening blogs produced in the Ocean State.

RI Rose Society is for All Rose Lovers

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, the RI Rose Society is welcoming friends and visitors to join them Saturday, February 8, 9:30am at the Garden Classroom of the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center to share stories, ask questions, and get answers about roses. Everyone is welcome. See the full meeting announcement on What Grows On in Rhode Island.

Everyone who loves roses will have a great time at this meeting!

Propagating Roses

If you have been thinking about joining the Rhode Island Rose Society, and you have wondered how to propagate roses, show up at the society's next meeting in the Victorian Rose Garden at Roger Williams Park, Providence on August 11, 2007, 9:30am. see the Rose Society's website for details. They'll also be working on the rose garden, cleaning things up, so bring clippers and gloves. Please come early & help support our public garden!

Rose Society Meeting July 10

Your hands-on opportunity to learn about midsummer rose care is Tuesday, July 10, 2007, in the Roger Williams Park Victorian Rose Garden. The Rhode Island Rose Society is meeting at 5pm for its annual Pizza Stroll. Join them as they weed and dead-head the rose plants. Several consulting rosarians will talk about the roses in each of the beds (there are many beds!) and they'll answer questions. Pizza for all workers!

If you love roses, consider joining the Rhode Island Rose Society. Show up and help out, and then sign up! It's only $20. Monthly meetings are informative, and the quarterly publication is well-worth the membership fee.

Roses ~ Grown and Shown

I didn't clone myself, but I did get to two events Saturday, June 16, 2007: the Rhode Island Rose Society Rose Show and the Smith's Castle Strawberry Festival.

It was such a beautiful day in Wickford that one of the rose show judges proposed they give everyone blue ribbons and head to the beach. But they did go through the judging and I got to follow the judges around in the roll of clerk and staple the ribbons on the tags. It was very informative to hear the judges discuss the roses. They took the time to explain why they made their decisions. I brought one of my own along to see if it could be identified. I know it has been in the garden more than 24 years, possibly 50 or so. It's still unidentified, but I learned it's probably not an Old Garden Rose, which are defined as roses that existed before 1867.

Best in Show was Goldenquill (the 3 yellow blooms in this photo) grown by John Mattia. My personal favorite was Joseph's Coat (just below Goldenquill) ~ stunning. So many lovely roses were entered. Everyone who entered roses should be proud of their hard work. It is difficult to grow fabulous roses, but the members of the RI Rose Society help each other out and learn from each other. This is one fine group to join if you love roses.

On my way home, I realized I could stop at Smith's Castle (built in 1678) and see how the flax was growing. And by the way, they were serving strawberry shortcake. The Master Gardeners were also there and answered a question I've been asked about what to do when clover starts taking over the lawn.

If you have been to Smith's Castle, you know it is on a sheltered harbor that would still be recognizable to Roger Williams and other 17th century Rhode Islanders. The  Master Gardeners are restoring an 18th century garden there that was hard to leave ~ its composure and tranquility are contagious.

I continued up the old Algonquin Trail, otherwise known as Route 1, toward Providence, and stopped off at the Roger Williams Park Rose Garden, established and maintaining by the RI Rose Society. The rose garden is awash in color and fragrance, well worth stopping by to enjoy, another tranquil and glorious place in Rhode Island.

Roses & Newport Flower Show

While I'm on the subject of roses, this deserves its own entry rather than just an added note to the Rhode Island Rose Show post:

The Rhode Island Rose Society''s Mike Chute leads Roseology 101 (scroll down this page), 2pm on Friday, June 22 at the Newport Flower Show. Learn the six basic and easy-to-follow steps to growing great roses. Mike is an accredited American Rose Society Horticultural Judge.

Roses, Roses, Roses:  A Special Forum with David Austin

David J.C. Austin of David Austin Roses will be accepting the Newport Flower Show Lifetime Achievement Award  for his father, David H.C. Austin, at the Newport Flower Show, June 22-24. He is hosting and is on the panel of experts at the Show's Rose Forum as well, on Sunday, June 24 at 1pm. Advance registration required. $45. [The photo in this post is of the first bloom of a neighbor's David Austin rose. Last year there was a metal tag on the plant. Someone took it off (not the owner) since then. Why do people do things like that? So I can't tell you the name of this rose at the moment.]

Barbara Gee, who writes local gardening columns in People, Places, and Plants and is the author of the Massachusetts Gardener's Companion, emailed me about the Newport Flower Show recently to be sure I knew about David Austin. But she hardly began to relate all the great activities at this event. Check out the details! Also, check out the Design Division and the Horticulture Division info. If you haven't been to a flower show, it's another world, but a gorgeous one.

A snippet from Barbara's description:

"...the inside of the mansion is full, I mean full, of unbelievable floral arrangements - make your jaw drop.  The lawn has some very high-end garden and antique things to buy and there's a judged horticulture competition...."

And she concluded by quoting Mike Chute:

"'David Austin captured lightning in a bottle.'"

Rhode Island Roses: Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, Grandifloras, Old Garden Roses...

This will be the first time I go to The Rhode Island Rose Show, organized by the Rhode Island Rose Society and held on Saturday, June 16th. It's open to the public from 1:00 to 3:30pm.

I joined this organization a few years ago at the RI Spring Flower & Garden Show because I love roses and there are some old rose plants in my front rock garden I wanted to know better. The RI Rose Society meetings are great ~ highly informative ~ and the members are very open and welcoming of folks who would like to know more about roses.   

This year, there's finally a little more time to smell the roses, as they say,  and learn about them. So as part of my own rose education program, I signed on to be one of the "clerks" who assist the judges at the Rhode Island Rose Show. What better way to learn about roses than to listen in on experts discussing their best beloved flower? My tasks are to keep quiet unless a judge speaks to me and, primarily, attach the appropriate ribbon to the right tag.

Exhibitors have a choice of 34 classes in 8 categories of roses. I wasn't sure I could tell the difference between a hybrid tea and a floribunda, so I'm straightening out my brain on some rose specifics this week and next. By the end of the show, I should have a good idea of other terminology, such as what disbudding is. Maybe I will even be able to name different David Austin's or Old Garden Roses when I see them. Rose Society members talk about roses as though they were people ~ they know the specific names of the various roses in the Roger Williams Park Rose Garden, such as 'Knockout,' 'Cuthbert Grant," and 'Baby Love.'

The photos in this post are of the Roger William Park Rose Garden taken last week, just as the garden was beginning to blossom. It hits its peak in mid-June and is one of the favorite places in the area for photographing wedding parties.

Here are a few links to web-based rose resources.

• Rhode Island Rose Society LEARN page
• New England Rose Society Rose Culture Information page
• American Rose Society Rose Care Articles page
• A URI Master Gardener "Favorites" page: Organic Rose Gardening

Do you have other favorite Rose Information Links? Add a Comment to this post and share with other readers.

Garden Guys To Do List - November 19, 2006

Today's Garden Guys show on WHJJ (920 AM) had many suggestions for tucking things away in the garden for the winter. When I can I take some notes, which I like to share here on the Providential Gardener. It will be great when they can transform the Garden Talk section of their website into a weblog with categories. That will make their great Q&A service much more user friendly. Another feature I'd love to see on their site would be a weekly to-do list or summary of some of their advice to those who call in. Sometimes the advice is complicated, or they use Latin names for plants. Many of us don't know how to spell the Latin names for genus and species, so some written backup on The Garden Guys website would really help listeners who have web access. I'm summarizing some info from the shows on the Providential Gardener now and then, but I don't get it all down.

I'm also lobbying for WHJJ to stream the Garden Guys program so those of us who have to be elsewhere on some Sunday mornings can listen to the show at another time. I don't think this is happening yet, but it would multiply their audience, I'd think. If streaming the Garden Guys interests you, contact WHJJ and tell them! From the WHJJ website, I see that Bill George is Program Director. The phone number is 401-781-9979.

The shows are always fresh and fun, so you're missing a lot when you're not listening, but adding these features to the Garden Guys' and WHJJ's websites will boost awareness of the show and increase the listening audience.

The Garden Guys To Do this week (Thanksgiving week, November 19-26, 2006):

• Throw away tomato sticks (at least clean them well, because of plant diseases)
• Empty the water from hoses, coil them up, attach one end to the other to keep out the critters, and put away for the winter - don't hang them up.
• Store limestone, fertilizer, etc. OFF the cement floors on pallets or piece of wood - otherwise the dampness will make the bag contents turn into hard masses instead of fine granules
• Tie up hydrangeas to prevent their drying out

It's not all about gardening. We got a turkey brining recipe this morning that they've promised to post on the Garden Guys website. I'm glad they added about keeping the brined turkey in a cold place for the 10-12 hour brining period. You don't want the turkey to spoil. It sounds like a great idea, and I'm going to try this. But I have to be careful, because I can get myself in deep pretty fast. I don't have a large refrigerator, but maybe if it's cold enough in the garage, I could put a large pot with the brine and turkey in the car trunk or back seat or front passenger floor so the neighborhood rascally critters don't get into it. But then how am I going to carry all that weight of the gallons of water and the turkey out there, and what if I forget the turkey is in the trunk and I go off in the car and it sloshes all over the place? I don't know what problems you can get into, but I know I can get into some difficulties if I don't think out what I'm doing.

Anyway, check out the Garden Guys for the Turkey Brining advice and everything else, and have a wonderful, tasty and tender Thanksgiving! The Garden Guys is a must-hear show every Sunday from 8 am to 10 am. Their website is www.garden-guys.com.

Take Time to Prune the Roses

After its spectacular display of blossoms in June, the Rose Garden in Providence's Roger Williams Park received some much needed attention from more than 20 volunteers from the Rhode Island Rose Society. Three times a year they gather at the Rose Garden to maintain it. They weeded and pruned the bushes on Tuesday, July 11, which will encourage more blooms this year. As one jogger said as he ran through the pavillion, "Thank you for taking care of the garden. It looks beautiful!" And as you can see, some of the roses are still in full glory. The Rose Garden is a very popular spot for wedding photos.

Now I just have to do the same to my five old rose bushes.... They could use some trimming back about now.

Roger Williams Park Victorian Rose Garden

The RI Rose Society wil be deadheading and sprucing up the Roger Williams Park Victorian Rose Garden on Tuesday, July 11, from 5 to 6:30. Bring pruners, gloves, and a folding chair for the program after the cleanup ~ on insect and disease control as well as midsummer rose care. Bring your rose garden problems, including insect and disease damaged foliage and blooms. RIRS will provide pizza and cold drinks to the workers. For more info, contact Curt Lufkin.