This Article by Sandy Lundberg, a Past President of the Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society won an Award of Merit from the American Rose Society in the 2013 ARS Newsletter/Bulletin competition, announced recently in the American Rose Magazine, May/June 2014 issue.
May 11, 2013-----Show time for the
Charleston Rose Society. This spring has
been a challenge for growers. Last year
the roses came two weeks early and this year they are two weeks late!
For novice or inexperienced
exhibitors, the question is "what do I need to do to win"? Many new exhibitors will try to bring
everything they can from the garden and hope that they will get lucky. Experienced exhibitors will advise you that
in order to win, only the best quality roses should be entered and then the
time that would have been spent trying to enter a large volume of roses, can be
used to work on further improving the best specimens that you have.
What can be done in the
garden?
Improvements to your roses can start in
the garden. Often a bloom will be bent
because it stayed attached to one of the sepals. Gently pull the sepal loose and attach a
small dowel stick just under the small bud.
Wrap the stick tight to the stem with parafilm or plastic bread wrapper
material cut in strips. Crooked stems
can be gradually straightened by the same method. Pale foliage can be darkened by using
Sequestrine or Sprint 330 at the rate of 1 tablespoon per big bush or 1
teaspoon per miniature rose bush.
Continue to cut side growth early in its development so that you leave
only about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch. Do
remember to pop these out at the show! Potential sprays that you forgot to remove
the center bud from can sometimes be pulled together with some yarn while
growing and storing so that the gap will fill in. Mist with Orthene WP at the rate of 1
tablespoon per gallon every two or three nights to prevent thrip damage. This must be started as soon as the sepals
begin to part on the blooms and show color.
Many exhibitors like to fertilize with a bloom builder formulation a
couple of weeks before the show.
Wal-Mart and K-Mart carry Green Light Super Bloom 12-55-6 or you can
continue to use Miracle-Gro. Some
exhibitors will also use fish emulsion for enhancing the color. Don't forget to keep up your regular spray
program and watch for spider mites. They
usually are present in our Lowcountry gardens by the third or fourth week of
April.
Watering should be done every day the week
before the show. It is the moisture in
the petals that enables the rose to form starch in those petals. Without this moisture to create substance in
the petals, the rose will not last and will become limp. Cutting the stem again at the show before
putting it in the vase will also allow the rose to take up water to the petals
enabling it to last longer.
What is the ideal winning entry?
The ideal entry will be on a long,
straight stem, free of insect and/or disease damage, both in the flower and
foliage. Since "form" is the
most important factor in judging a rose, only roses with good form should be
entered. If a rose displays more than
one point in the center (split centers) or "bull noses" (where a
portion of the inner petal has folded over making a curved center), these are
not worth entering. The rose should
exhibit exhibition form, which means that the center of the bloom should spiral
to a high point and the rows of petals are evenly spaced out from the
center. Size, although given only 10
points on the judging scale, usually becomes very important in selecting the
Queen. With other factors being equal,
generally the larger bloom will win Queen of Show. Of course, old garden roses exhibit
characteristics different from hybrid teas, floribundas and minis. The foliage should be evenly spaced, undamaged,
and not twisted.
How and when should the roses
be cut?
The ideal time for cutting blooms is early
morning or early evening when the rose has a lot of moisture, but roses do not
always reach their ideal cutting stage at these times. If a bloom is ready in the middle of the day,
go ahead and cut it. Just bring it into
the cool house right away. As you cut,
place the blooms in a bucket of warm water.
Do not cram too many in the bucket at one time as you may tear some of
the foliage. Cut enough stem length to
allow for a re-cut for conditioning and one at the show, but try not to rob the
plant of more leaves than necessary. If
you have access to refrigeration, blooms can be cut mid-week, although some
varieties will hold even longer in refrigeration. You should experiment with your roses to see
how many days various varieties will last.
How should the roses be
conditioned and stored?
After washing the foliage with warm, soapy
water to remove any spray residue, place the bloom in a bucket of warm water,
preferably up to the neck for a period of 1 1/2 to 2 hours to "harden
off" for large roses. "Harden
off" minis and minifloras for 30 minutes and I like to “harden off” big roses for about an hour
before refrigeration. Then place in
conditioned water for refrigeration.
Crysal RVB or Flora-Life are good for this. In order to save time on the morning of the
show, it is a good idea to polish the leaves and trim any damaged foliage right
before refrigerating the rose. Trim any oversized sepals and check under the
leaves for insect eggs. Do not trim
any petals on the bloom until the morning of the show, otherwise they will
bruise.
What other things can be done
before the show?
The more you can do ahead of time, the
more time you will have in the prep room to work on enhancing your roses. Study the show schedule and try to decide in
general terms those categories you want to enter based on what you believe will
be available from your garden. Remember
the rule of thumb: If a bud isn't showing color between the sepals on
Sunday, it will not be ready for the show the following Saturday. Fill out entry tags for all the varieties
you plan to enter. If you plan a large
number of entries, it would be wise to place them in alphabetical order in a
file box. Fill in all the information
except for section and class and exhibitor's number unless you can get the
number in advance. Make a list of the
varieties you plan to take and look up the correct spelling in the 2013
Handbook for Selecting Roses or The Combined Rose List. The name printed in boldfaced type is the
exhibition name that must be used. If
you are afraid you will forget the name of your roses, attach some kind of tag
with the name on it to the rose. But,
remember to remove those identification tags before entering the rose.
How do you prepare roses for
entry to the best advantage?
If you have had to transport your roses to
the show in a cooler, you need to get them set into vases and allow at least 30
minutes for them to warm up before attempting to do necessary grooming such as
opening up ones that are too tight with Q-tips.
During this time, you can be selecting and putting miniatures and
floribundas, etc. into vases and putting entry tags on them. Check each hybrid tea for the short stubs you
left when you cut off the emerging side growth.
They should pop out easily. If
not, use a sharp knife to cut them being careful to not cut the foliage
beneath. Work the opening of hybrid teas
gradually row by row. Once you have the
Queen, Miniflora Queen and Mini Queen contenders well under way, then you can
look at the rest of the roses for possibilities for other classes such as
collections, English boxes, floating bloom in a bowl, etc. For collections, try to match the bloom size
as closely as possible. For full open
entries make sure the stamens show and are fresh and that the bloom presents a
circular outline. Sprays should form a
curved appearance with no blooms sticking above the plane and no large gaps in
the spray. Old garden roses should be
fresh and exhibit the characteristics of that particular variety.
Exhibiting can be challenging and a great
deal of fun. If you have preplanned it
will keep you from feeling rushed and making mistakes. So, bring your best roses to the show and
plan to win!
