From the 2018 President’s Desk . . . . . Melinda Early

L’Rose d’Orleans

2018 OFFICERS President

Melinda Early

Vice President Peggy Martin Karen Snyder

Treasurer

Freny Thunthy

Financial Secretary

Margaret DeLord

Recording Secretary

Dr. Donald Ayo

Historian Leo Watermeier

Publicity Chair Maria Lambert

Horticulture Chair Margaret Ganier

Nominating Committee

Peggy Martin Margaret Ganier

Debbie Rothschild

Volume 17 Number 3 A Quarterly Newsletter of the New Orleans Old Garden Rose Society Summer 2018

Greetings NOOGRS Members,

I just re-read my last newsletter message and noted that we were concerned with fluctuations in the weather conditions of early spring including, wind and rain. I know we were all looking forward to a nice spring following a true winter. However, spring was short-lived and we now seem to be in the throes of summer. Summer for me means hibernation; a time to catch up reading, knitting projects, and a time for reflection. My equivalent of a Midwestern winter. One of the things I plan to reflect on is how I can help move the NOOGRS for-ward towards the next twenty-five years.

The purpose of NOOGRS as stated in the By-laws is “[t]o spread the word about old roses, to return old roses to the gardens of the New Orleans area, and to preserve them for generations to come.” One of the ways the members have upheld this pur-pose is to hold sales of old roses obtained primarily from propagating cuttings from members’ gardens and the Armstrong Park collection. The success of the sales has re-sulted in a healthy balance in the bank ac-count. Additionally, the Society leadership has been fiscally conscientious in expendi-tures. The checking account balance as of April 30 was $13,619.66. Our rose sales, however, have fallen off the past few years for a variety of reasons. The principle in-

come is now from dues. A critical question in looking to the future is how can we con-tinue to uphold the purpose of the Society with limited income?

Is there a project we could take on, or valu-able donation we could make with existing funds which would honor the work that has been done over the past twenty-five years while retaining an appropriate operating budget? If we invest some of these funds now, should we embark on some form of fundraising to restore the funds? What would the fundraising be? Or, should we just continue to sit on the accumulated funds spending only what we need for lim-ited operations? These are some of the is-sues I would like to ask you to join me in considering during the heat of the summer. I would, however, like to be proactive and schedule a strategic planning session to explore what you, as NOOGRS members, envision for the future of the Society. I hope you will take a few minutes to reflect on these issues and provide some feedback at the next meeting including, whether you would participate in a strategic planning meeting and, if so, when you would be available to meet during the summer.

I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting, the last before our summer break.

Melinda

The Apothecary Rose

By Margaret Ganier

Page 2

2018 NO BOTANICAL GARDEN SHOW SATURDAY’S CREW

Rear: Sylvia Versowsky, Kathie Graythen, Margaret DeLord, Susan Johanson

Front: Melinda Early, Alice Reese, & Yvette Montz

Rosa gallica offinalis is known as “Apothecary Rose”

because she was for centuries the one-stop pharmacy

for healers in Europe and Asia. The leaves, blooms

and hips were used in poultices, salves, and tinctures

to treat everything from fever to melancholy. In the

twentieth century it was discovered that the medici-

nal properties of roses are quite real: rose hips have a high concentration of Vitamin C. Apothecary Rose

hips are still the favorite for rose hip teas, jellies and

other concoctions.

The flowers of Apothecary Rose are simple, single

or semi-double. Old descriptions call them

“red” (Apothecary Rose is supposedly the “red rose

of York” famous from the War of the Roses of Eng-

lish history), but to modern eyes they are “pink.”

The confusion results from the fact that before the

16th century, the word “pink” was not an adjective;

everything darker than “blush” was called “red.” The

scent is strong and penetratingly sweet. She blooms

only in spring, but the thick, forest green foliage

makes a lovely bush even without flowers. The hips

are huge and ripen to bright red, a remarkable sight

in the winter. The bushes sucker freely, in time

forming good-size thickets. This does have the ad-

vantage of producing a lot of pass-alongs, but, if that is

not what you have in mind, she grows nicely in a large

pot.

Although it does not seem natural for a European

Old Rose like Apothecary Rose to perform well in

our heat and humidity, I’ve seen a really big beautiful

specimen at Ed Moss’s home in Chauvin, practically in

the Gulf of Mexico. Some shade in the summer

seems to be the trick.

Photo by Bill Haber

Calendar Page 3 Volume 17 Number 3

June 5, 2018 —NOOGRS meeting: Kathleen Currie “Roses Infused oil”

June 8, 2018 — NO Botanical Garden Sale

June 16, 2018—Garden Fest, Burden Garden in Baton Rouge, LA 8-1p

Garden Fest is happening June 16 from 8:00-1:00 at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens! Join us for a

day of garden fun: waterslides, hayrides, educational sessions, vegetable tastings, and more! June 22, 2018—-Gulf District workshop See page 11—Crystal Springs, MS

July 14, 2018—NO Botanical Garden Sale

August 11, 2018—NO Botanical Garden Sale

September 4, 2018 — NOOGRS meeting: Neil Odenwald, LSU Agriculture

September 8, 2018—NO Botanical Garden Sale

October 2, 2018—NOOGRS meeting: Pam Smith, Farmer’s Branch Garden European Teas

October 6-7, 2018—-NO Botanical Garden Fall Show

November 6, 2018—NOOGRS meeting: Texas Rose Rustlers

December 4, 2018 — NOOGRS Holiday party — pot luck dinner & sharing presents

“Peace” Rose Stamp Unveiled at ARC April 21, 2018 A first day issue ceremony for the Peace Rose took place in the David Austen rose garden at the American Rose Society outside Shreveport, Louisiana. The “Peace” Rose forever stamp will be avail-able for approximately 3 -4 months. Pick up a book of 20 stamps for $10. Get them while they last. Video and photos of events at: https://www.facebook.com/ GulfDistrictAmericanRoseSociety Scroll down to April 21 to find the video and photos.

Page 4 L’Rose d’Orleans

The function of mulch is the prohibition of weed growth and the conservation of ground moisture by providing a physical barrier covering over the ground. Where does it say it has to be pine bark or pine straw or some other inert stuff? From “covering the ground” it is only a short step to “ground cover,” the designation of a low-growing plant. With very few exceptions, the root systems of these plants are only a few inches deep and will not interfere with the health of the rose bushes. The only limitations to your imagination in using living “mulch” around your roses are sun-tolerance and manageable height that won’t grow up into the bushes, unless, of course, that is the effect you want. If you are after the Big Bang and can handle the la-bor intensity, annuals are unbeatable as far as color effect goes. Ground hugging bloomers like dwarf snapdragon, pansies, and petunias for cool weather and dwarf zinnias, marigolds, melampodium, scabiosa, and periwinkles for summer will create a literal floral carpet. A bonus to using annuals: at the end of the season, instead of pulling them up, just cut them off at ground level; the roots will decom-pose and enrich the soil. Even easier is simply to cover over the withered plants with a layer of leaves or grass clippings and create some “in place” compost. Perennials take a little longer to produce the “Wow” effect, but with a little TLC, they will last for years, getting fuller and prettier all the time. Once again, the possibilities are vast. Some I have tried and can highly recommend are daisies, black-eyed susan, coneflower, creeping phlox, iris cristada, cush-ion mums, verbenas, dianthus, ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint, wandering jew, gold crop sedum, lyre-leaf salvia, creeping jenny, Mexican sage, and day lily. Perennials in general don’t have as long a blooming season as annuals, but, once established, the foliage creates a nice green mat that is attractive even without the flowers and complements the rose blossoms beautifully. Head on out to the garden center and get some new car-peting to spruce up your rose garden this spring.

Love That Blooming Mulch

Margaret Ganier, Horticulture Chair

Iris cristada, evergreen spear foliage

Phlox pilosa, “prairie phlox,” a southern wild-flower

Phlox divericata, “Opelousas phlox,” favorite pass-along

Lyreleaf sage forms a dense mat of leaves Melampodium for dependable sum-mer color Walker’s Low catmint

Page 5 Volume 17 Number 3

Regional Report on Armstrong Park in the American Rose Society magazine

Our Past The New Orleans Old Garden

Rose Society grew out of the efforts of rose

gardeners in the New Orleans area to con-

serve Old Garden Roses, the roses popular

in gardens before 1867, and to spread inter-

est in and cultivation of those roses. Word

was put out for a meeting for anyone inter-

ested and, by the end of the evening, the

New Orleans Old Garden Rose Society, with

40 founding members, was in operation. That

was in 1993; this March we celebrate our

25th anniversary

Our Now New Orleans has a long tradition

of elegant outdoor living and beautiful gar-

dens. Even before the introduction of the

‘Knockout’ series and similar landscape

plants, roses and particularly Old Garden

Roses have been used in municipal plantings

as well as in private gardens in the city. Our

typically freeze-free winters permit us to

have huge, lush specimen of the delicate Tea

roses that struggle in more northerly cli-

mates. And we are favored with two bloom-

ing seasons: in March and November, when many people are digging out of, or digging in for, a hard winter, we are harvesting

the best roses of the year. Unfortunately, that same freeze-free winter prevents our enjoying the many lovely European Old

Garden Rose species and hybrids — the gallicas, albas, centifolias, hybrid perpetuals, damasks and others — at their best. That

privilege is reserved for up North. Down South, the stars of our gardens are our teas, chinas, noisettes, and hybrid musks. To

choose just one or even just a dozen favorites is impossible, but some of our beloved stalwarts (and excellent introductions for

the newcomer to the world of Old Garden Roses) are the teas ‘Duchesse de Brabant’, ‘Mrs B.R. Cant’, and ‘Mme Berkeley’;

noisettes ‘Reve d’Or’, ‘Lamarque’, and ‘Blush Noisette’; and chinas “Martha Gonzales”, ‘Cramoisi Superieur’, and ‘Mutabilis’, all

outstanding landscape roses.

Attractions One of the attractions of Old Garden Ros-

es is their ease of cultivation. Before the current swing to

chemical-free rose gardening, OGRs offered the most

satisfactory means of enjoying the beauty of roses with-

out danger to the environment or to the gardener. From

the beginning of NOOGRS, we have been committed to

chemical-free rose growing and the spectacular gardens

of members, like ‘Peggy Martin’, a dedicated organic gar-

dener, is proof of the utility of it.

The Antique Rose Garden at Armstrong Park The

jewel of New Orleans rose culture is the Antique Rose

Garden at Louis Armstrong Park, just across Rampart

Street from the French Quarter. The rose garden is

home to one of the largest collection of tea, china, poly-

antha, hybrid musk and noisette roses in the United

States, many of them rare and found only in a few other

gardens worldwide, all under the loving curatorship of

Leo Watermeier, one of the New Orleans Old Garden

Rose Society founding members. The best time to view

the garden is early spring or late fall, when the weather is perfect for strolling. There is no charge for admission. If you are there

on Sunday morning, you will probably run into Leo, pruning, weeding or watering.

Margaret Ganier submitted the photos and Peggy Martin provided the information.

Page 6 L’Rose d’Orleans

Volume 17 Number 3 Page 7

Page 8 L’Rose d’Orleans

“Roses are the ultimate juxtaposition of beauty and evil.

They’re so delicate, yet their thorns can draw blood.”

Fallon Shea Anderson

1. Fallon Shea Anderson has accomplished so much in the rose world and is a true rose worship-

per. At age 19, she was offered a chance to work on a wholesale rose farm in California Sonoma

County. With passion but no experience, she ended up overseeing 5 acres of roses with at least

5,000 roses. Today she’s a rose star and consultants on rose cultivation and floral design in South-

ern California. Her roses are used in wedding bouquets and she is setting the standard. Follow her on Facebook, twitter, or if you are like me, purchase the May 2018 issue of Sunset magazine. As

Fallon says, “roses aren’t the fussy divas they used to be. They’re actually totally functional features of the

landscape. Just be careful. It’s an addiction.” (Amen!) 2. Add The Garden Primer: Second Edition Revised by Barbara Damrosch to your must-read-book-

list. Her book has been described as “the only book on perennial gardening that you’ll ever need”. Bar-

bara was the garden writer for The Washington Post. She is a fabulous writer and she thinks like a

plant! Originally written in 1988, and she teamed up with her husband, Eliot Coleman, to update the

book in 2018 with more information including gardening in the south and west. She has now gone

completely organic. A great book! They own an experimental market garden in Harborside, Maine

so also check out fourseasonfarm.com for more information - a beautiful website, too! 3. The Peace Rose stamp is now available and it is a beauty! The French horticulturist Francis Meiland

in Germany developed the Peace Rose during WWII. Meiland was able to smuggle rose cuttings out

to 3 known sources. It was known by different names. After WWII the rose was renamed Peace

because it was the greatest hope of the world. If only peace could be that easy. Pick up some

Peace Rose stamps to use on your travels this summer and mail peace to the world!! 4. Be sure to practice “safe gardening” this summer. Wear a hat, sunscreen, and sunglasses to pro-

tect you from the sun. Wear gloves to protect your hands (and manicure!). 5. After a hard day in your rose garden, relax on your patio surrounded by your roses with a glass of

wine from Thorny Rose! 6. For your hair spritz on Diptyque’s Eau Rose Hair Mist. This scented hair mist will give you a

boost. Order it from Diptyqueparis.com! 7. I recently read Younger Next Year for Women by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, M.D.

Don’t worry men, their first book, Younger Next Year was written for you! Both books discuss

the importance of exercise and how you can live strong, fit and sexy, until your 80s and beyond!

Gardening is great exercise for both mental and physical benefits. It is a great mind-expanding hob-

by and can help you de-stress and feel “grounded”. So stay involved with gardening – even if by re-

mote control! “Simply sticking our fingers into the soil or sniffing a flower brings a mental benefit that may

be difficult to define but is certainly real.” Family Circle, May 2018.

So spritz on some Eau Rose Hair Mist, do safe gardening and wear a hat, relax with a glass of wine from

Thorny Rose, read The Garden Primer and Sunset, write a letter and mail Peace, and stop and smell the

ROSES!!

Across the Fence,

Summer 2018

by Laura Querens

Page 9 ROSE RAMBLINGS ON THE WEB, Summer 2018

By Margaret Delord

9 of 10

You can’t buy Happiness but you can buy Plants

& that’s pretty much the same thing!!

What happened to our beautiful spring weather??? It’s so hot now so I think I should garden inside,

on the sofa, and with my ipad! I love to cruise the Internet looking at gardens and of course, roses. It’s a

great escape and an easy way to learn about rose gardening.

1. Carolyneroehm.com – Carolyne Roehm is a fashion trendsetter, author, artist and rose lover. Click

on Topics and go to The Glorious Roses this Summer.” She has beautiful garden books and drawings availa-

ble for purchase. Check out her website for ideas. Her floral arrangements are beautiful. As she says,

“It’s too big to describe” is my answer when asked why the rose and peony are my favorite flower. Beautiful

photographs, great ideas. 2. Susanrushton.net – Susan Rushton “celebrates gardens, nature, photography and a creative life” all in

one. She has a beautiful website and a blog that you can follow. The pictures are GORGEOUS!! Scroll

down and find the article, “Roses are the Most Graceful Flowers.” The pictures are so colorful. My other

favorite article is “Recipe for a Traditional English Cottage Garden.” Her inspirational posts make me want

to plant more flowers – and roses!! 3. Rockrose.blogspot – The blog’s author just attended the 10th Annual Garden Bloggers Fling in Austin,

TX. The author is from Austin, too. She has lots of tips and lots of other websites you can link to in-

cluding My European Tour and More English Gardens. So many gardens to see!! 4. I recently went to Bantings Nursery across the river, and they have old garden roses from The An-

tique Rose Emporium! Who knew!!! I treated myself to a Mother’s Day gift - a Marie Pavie rose – it

has a beautiful scent with pale pink buds that unfold to creamy white flowers. The cost was the same as

the on-line price – And no shipping charges. Check out Bantings Nursery (across the river & across the

lake) – it is beautiful and they have many roses – both modern and old garden. Buy local!!

The Dainty Rose The dainty rose stood

By Caren Krutsinger Proud of her tight thorns

Fragrance in garden

Thanks to Ed and Sue Sanchez for

sharing their rose garden with us!

The pink rose sprawling behind

Sue and Eddie is Abraham

Darby.

P. O. Box 7704

Metairie, LA

70009-7704

Newsletter

submissions:

NOroses2013@

gmail.com

THE NEW ORLEANS OLD GARDEN ROSE SOCIETY

MEETS AT JOHN CALVIN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, FELLOWSHIP HALL

4201 TRANSCONTINENTAL

METAIRIE, LA 70006

The New Orleans Old Garden Rose Society is a non-profit organization dedicat-ed to preserving and fostering Old Garden Roses. Our mission is to spread the word about old roses, to return old roses to the gardens of the New Orleans ar-ea and to preserve them for generations to come. Membership is open to any-one interested in old garden roses. Annual dues are $25.00. We meet on the first Tuesday of the month except July & August at 7 p.m. The church is 2 blocks from West Esplanade between Fairfield and Glendale. Turn onto Glendale to get to the parking lot. The Fellowship Hall is located toward the back. For more information visit our website: www.neworleans-oldroses.com or our Face-book page:

https://www.facebook.com/neworleansoldrose/info/

Newsletter Committee: Ann Byerly, Co-Editor; Margaret Granier, Co-Editor; Margaret Delord, Laura Querens, Melinda Early, and Leo Watermeier.

NEW ORLEANS OLD

GARDEN ROSE

SOCIETY

www.neworleans-oldroses.com

New Orleans Old Garden Rose Society

P.O. Box 7704

Metairie, Louisiana

70009-7704 www.neworleans-oldroses.com

Page 10

Rouge Royal rose

in the

Sanchez’s

garden