Tags: 2014, David Bassani, Meeting, rose care, roses, Season 2013-2014

For our January meeting, President of the San Fernando Valley Rose Society, President-Elect of the Beverly Hills Rose Society, Member of the International Rose Trials at Rose Hills in Whittier and noted rosarian, David Bassani, presented on “Growing Roses in Malibu: Rose Selection and Cultivation.”

During the presentation, David mentioned that if you prune your roses high, you will get more flowers. If you prune your roses low, you will get bigger and fewer flowers. He also recommended selecting only disease-resistant varieties and not to bother with roses that don’t produce. He called getting rid of those non-production plants a “shovel pruning.” Dig it out now with a shovel and replace it with a good and highly rated rose, whose rating can be found on the American Rose Society website. David only uses organic fertilizers and feeds three times a year: March, June, and September. He’s also a big advocate of heavy mulching with the caveat of making sure that the mulch does not touch the trunk of the rose. He waters his roses only 3 times a week for five minutes with a bubbler emitter. Lastly, he invited us all to the Rose show in the San Fernando Valley on April 12th at the Sepulveda Garden Center in Encino.

At the end of the meeting, David raffled off a rose named after Dick Clark.