February Meeting

18th February 2014

Topic - Care for Roses

Presenter - Beth Williams

Roses are a very hardy plant and even though their leaves get burnt by the sun on very hot Summer days, they bounce back in Autumn. Pruning back the damaged laterals will encourage the plant to develop new shoots and if this is done too early the young shoots will also get burnt. A light prune late in Summer or early Autumn is recommended and a light feed will generate the new growth and blooms.

In Winter the plants are pruned hard to encourage new strong laterals that will carry the blooms through Spring and Autumn. It is a wise gardener that encourages new growth from the base of the plant in Spring. These are called "Water Shoots" and they will become the future framework of the plant. Suckers also come from the base of the plant. They form below the graft and should be immediately removed. As Beth Williams says - Water shoots are wonderful - Suckers are silly!

Beth gave a very comprehensive talk on caring for your roses and members left with many useful tips. Thank you Beth.

This was the first meeting at our new venue - Springfield Park Pavilion - and we got off to a very good start. Members now look forward to the March meeting, when the topic is Preparing for Winter Vegetables.

The Betty Knox Award (Best Exhibit)

From a very good show bench an exhibit of small flowering Protea staged by Rebecca Thomson took the judges eye and was awarded the best exhibit on the day. And once again Rebecca takes home the Betty Knox award. Well done Rebecca.

Popular Vote Award

This month's award was a difficult one with the members dividing their votes between four exhibits. The final vote went to a spike of Spider Lily with two stunning white blooms. It is a member of the hymenocallis family. There are various species and this is possibly "hymenocallisnarcissiflora." Suzette Chan's exhibit had both blooms fully out and not a mark to be seen. Well done Suzette - your entry was a delight to see.