Festival of Roses — long overdue
With so many things canceled, postponed or disregarded due to the pandemic, it’s nice to know some folks are determined to let traditions triumph.
Roses don’t know there’s a COVID-19 pandemic and the Butte Rose Society is ready to celebrate this fact.
Date: Oct. 30
Time: 1-4:30 p.m.
Place: CARD Community Center, 545 Vallombrosa Ave.
Cost: Zero
A long-neglected, yet not forgotten friend, Laura, sent a reminder about the Festival of Roses, which celebrates this mainstay of gardens. Even if roses did not have beautiful blooms, amazing aromas and endless references in poetry, the plants should be admired for their ability to survive difficult times.
When I searched online for “rose lifespan” I was shocked to read that most live only 6-10 years. I know I have roses that I bought before my friends’ grown children were born, unless the plants somehow spawned rose offspring when I wasn’t paying attention.
Years ago I bought one of those mini roses in a tiny pot and planted it in the ground because it was starving for sunshine on my coffee table. Now it’s a gangly espalier that drapes over the fence into the neighbor’s yard. This plant blooms only in spring because the rest of the year I only water it by accident.
The show on Halloween will include roses that receive far more pampering. The Butte Rose Society expects hundreds of roses to be on display, submitted because folks are hoping to win approval from judges.
A big bonus at the show is the expert rose growers who will be available to answer all those questions you have saved over the past year, while we were avoiding crowds and pretending to enjoy sitting around in your bathrobe. If the drought managed to kill some of your roses, you can ask a certified rosarian about planting anew or mapping out garden plans. Other rose features at the show include educational exhibits, rose photography and rose arts and crafts.
Of course, that won’t be enough, because you’ll want to pop out the back door and check out roses that are in the ground at the rose garden, planted with the help of the Butte Rose Society and spearheaded by the late philanthropist Marilyn Warrens.
Winter is a good time to buy and plant roses, as you can buy them in bare-root form. A bare-root plant means that the rose has gone dormant, and is usually bagged in moist soil. This makes a cheaper purchase.
Those of us who need all the positive affirmation we can get may want to enter some flowers or photographs in the competition. A separate contest takes place for kids. Details can be found at www.butte-rosesociety.org/ 2021 rose show guidebook. htm.
My friend Laura is on my list of super cool people, and I hear there are other nice folks who belong to the rose club. They get together to talk about roses, and presumably other things, on the last Tuesday of each month at the Chico Veterans Memorial Hall, 554 Rio Lindo Ave. All that happens at 7 p.m. No one mentioned if they serve snacks, but nice folks usually do.
Garden enthusiast Heather Hacking loves when you share what’s growing on. Reach out at sowtheregardencolumn@gmail.com, and snail mail, P.O. Box 5166, Chico CA 95927.