Roses — the `it' flower at event
If you love roses — appreciating, growing, photographing or just learning more about them — the Celebration of Roses at the
Bon Air shopping center in Greenbrae is the place to be.
Everyone is invited to bring their rose-growing questions to be answered by expert rosarians, enter their roses in a rose show or their photographs of roses in a photography show to win cash prizes and try their hand at a carnival-style table tennis toss for rose- and garden-related prizes at the May 7 event. And the first 100 youth, 12 years old or younger, can take home a tote bag with stickers and a miniature rose plant grown by Burlington Roses.
“Roses date back to prehistoric times and are celebrated for their beauty,” says Connie Pelissero, a board director of the Marin Rose Society, the show's sponsor. “They are one of nature's amazing gifts to us and have been revered through history. By celebrating them, we are carrying on a tradition.”
The Marin Rose Society was founded in 1974 with just 10 members and has grown to 80 enthusiastic members who promote the rose through monthly programs and rose shows, a website with educational articles and videos, and public events, such as the annual rose shows.
Even in water-strapped
Marin, the rose has earned its place in the garden, Pelissero says.
“Roses can withstand water challenges or they wouldn't have survived for thousands of years,” she points out. “It's important to have a variety of plants within one's garden. Roses can be a beautiful addition, providing color and fragrance to your garden while providing pollen to beneficial insects even with limited water.”
Those who would like to enter their homegrown roses must bring them in any type of vase or container and complete a form between 9 and 11 a.m. on the day of the show. Winners will be determined by MRS members and the public, and are
eligible for cash prizes.
People can also enter photographs of any rose, homegrown or not, that they've taken either by camera or cellphone in a juried American Rose Society photography show. Photographers under the age of 17 may enter the junior division.
All mounted photographs must be submitted between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. May 4 in the shop space next to Roadrunner Burrito, 158 Bon Air Center. Winners will be eligible for cash prizes.
The complete details for entering the rose and photography shows are outlined on the MRS website at marinrose.org.
This year's event will highlight the newly introduced miniature rose, Violet Hour, hybridized by Terra Linda resident Gail Trimble, a member of the Marin Rose Society for the past 36 years.
Trimble, who has progressed from a rose lover to an award-winning rose grower, master rosarian and horticulture judge, says her love affair with roses started in 1986, when she wanted to improve the curb appeal of her home and lingered just a little a too long at a display of tree roses at a Longs Drugs store.
Soon, she had planted roses, joined the Marin Rose Society and was mentored by the late Joseph Klima, one of its founders.
Today, she grows 120 roses of all types, including once-bloomers, in her garden and has just brought her first rose, a miniature named Violet Hour, to the rose market.
Named in homage to the color of the sky just after sunset, Violet Hour “loves the Mediterranean climate and does very well in pots,” Trimble says. “It starts out as a pink blend and changes to a light violet.”
In 2016, it won the American Rose Society's award of merit in the no spray division after being tested for two years across the United States.
“The no spray award means that the rose was relatively disease-free in many areas of the country with no pesticide or fungicide spraying,” she says.
Although Violet Hour is Trimble's first commercial rose, she's been hybridizing since 2002.
“The first year, I planted the seeds in May and none germinated,” she says. “Successful hybridizing and planting has to occur during cool weather.”
The process involves putting pollen from the male part of one rose onto the stigma of a female rose.
“One has to wait for the hips to mature, usually about 90 or more days,” she says. “After a few months of stratification in the refrigerator, the seeds are cleaned and planted in January or February.”
The hybridizing takes place outdoors but the germination is most successful in a greenhouse, she says, even in a very simple, small one, and the results are revealed within nine to 12 months.
It then takes nine to 10 years to bring a rose from germination to the commercial market, though.
“Besides growing out your own seedlings and planting them in different parts of your garden, seedlings can be submitted to test gardens all over the United States for several years to see how they do in those areas,” she says.
They are graded on many points including color, vigor, disease-resistance and the ability to withstand fluctuating temperatures.
Violet Hour is being grown and sold by Burlington Roses (burlingtonroses.com). There will be a limited supply of Violet Hour available at the Celebration of Roses for a donation to the MRS, and Trimble will answer any questions about roses and hybridizing at the event.
“The excitement of seeing your own seedlings' blooms open up cannot be equaled by any other part of rose growing,” she says.
“Watching them open up is thrilling. My next goal is to hybridize the purpliest rose that I can. ”
• Details: Marin Rose Society's annual Celebration of Roses is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 7 at the Bon Air shopping center (near Wells Fargo Bank) at 50 Bon Air Center in Greenbrae. Free entry. For more information, call 415-488-4040 or go to marinrose.org.
Don't-miss events
• Join “Garden Allies” author Frédérique Lavoipierre at an illustrated talk on the life cycles and environmental benefits of beneficial creatures in your garden and how to attract them, followed by a walk through the Marin Art and Garden Center, light refreshments and a book signing from 2 to 4 p.m. May 5. Her books are available for purchase ($24.95) at the Shop at the Marin Art and Garden Center at 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Ross. A ticket costs $15. Call 415-455-5260 or go to maringarden.org.
• The Marin Art and Garden Center will hold a pop-up plant sale, including tillandsias, as well as gardening tools and books from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
May 7 at the Marin Art and Garden Center at 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Ross. Call 415-455-5260 or go to maringarden.org.
Show off
If you have a beautiful or interesting Marin garden or a newly designed Marin home, I'd love to know about it.
Please send an email describing either one (or both), what you love most about it, and a photograph or two. I will post the very best ones in upcoming columns. Your name will be published and you must be over 18 years old and a Marin resident.