Blush
Noisette
Roses, Roses, Roses Everywhere!
Roses
are at their peak bloom in May in the Lowcountry and the Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society is
celebrating May as their Rose Month. In the South and on the West Coast, the
Rose reigns supreme in the garden in May, but from Mid-Atlantic regions and all
the way up to Maine, it is in June.
The
Charleston
Lowcountry Rose Society will have a display of roses and rose items for the
whole month of May at two libraries, one on either side of Charleston across
the two rivers, one at Mt. Pleasant Public Library and another one at Johns
Island Public Library. We have our monthly meeting on May 4 at Berkeley
Electric Coop Office, 3351 Maybank Highway, Johns Island at 3 PM with a program
on how to exhibit your roses. Everyone is welcome to attend and the admission
is free. Our Annual Rose Show is on May 10 at Citadel Mall and open to the
public. Everyone can enter their roses to exhibit and the show is free. We will
have an educational table there where American
Rose Society Consulting Rosarians will be doing pro bono service answering
various questions on rose culture. Consulting Rosarians are nationally
accredited rose authorities. They take classes from the American Rose Society
sponsored schools and take continuing education every three years to maintain
their status. They offer free advice to the public. We will also have a booth
at the Charleston Farmer’s Market on May 17 at Marion Square in downtown
Charleston manned by members of the Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society. We are
closing the event with a picnic and an auction on Saturday, June 1 at a waterfront
private garden in Mt. Pleasant open only to CLRS members and their friends, a
benefit of CLRS membership. For info on how to join CLRS, visit www.charlestonrose.com. Roses will be
in abundance in all these places.
The Rose has been around for millions of years and has grown naturally
throughout North America.
The
petals and rose hips are edible and have been used in medicines since ancient
times. The rose has been revered for
millions of years as a symbol of love and beauty and has been an inspiration to
poets and artists. Rose leaf impressions have been discovered in chalk formed
in the Miocence age of 70 million years ago. The first rose illustrations were
found in the ruins of the 4000-year-old Minoan capital, Knossos, in Crete. Empress
Josephine (1763-1814), wife of Napoleon was so enamored by them, she
commissioned Pierre Redoute to paint them from her garden at Malmaison in
France and immortalized in his book ‘Les
Roses’ (1817-1824).
The
poetess Sappho at 650 B.C. declared it the Queen of Flowers in her “Ode to the
Rose.”
"Would you appoint some other
flower to reign
In matchless beauty on the plain,
The Rose (mankind will all agree)
The Rose the Queen of Flowers should
be.”
Some gardeners have the wrong notion
that roses are difficult to grow. It is not so. Yes,
you can grow beautiful roses. The Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society
will teach you how to grow beautiful roses. There are so many roses on the
market that growing roses is not that difficult as choosing the varieties to
plant. Just like people, roses need the basic things to live: water, food
and sunshine. If you supply these basic needs of the rose, you will have no
trouble growing them and they will reward you with the most beautiful flower
there is. Roses need plenty of sunshine, at least five hours, food and water to
live and good drainage. Some roses will grow in dappled shade but roses do not
like wet feet. The roots will rot and the rose will eventually die.
The
rose was designated the United
States National Floral Emblem and several states have it too as their state
flower. President Ronald Reagan signed the proclamation declaring The Rose as
our National Floral Emblem on November 20, 1986. Charleston is home to the only
class of old garden roses, the
Noisette Rose, that was bred, evaluated and introduced to the world by the
United States.
Let’s
celebrate May as the Rose Month in the Lowcountry! We are blessed with this
beautiful flower in our midst so let’s all grow roses. The Charleston
Lowcountry Rose Society and the American Rose Society join together to teach you
how to grow beautiful roses, at least One
Rose for Every Home!
For more info on growing roses,
visit the following sites:
