Author: NRS Webmaster

Saturday,August 23, 10:00am-6:00pm – Tennessee Garden Party at the Wilson County/Tennessee State Fair

You are invited…

to the Great American / Tennessee Garden Party at Wilson County / Tennessee Stat Fair. The Party will be held on the Hometown Stage of the Expo Center at the James E. Ward Agricultural Center, 945 E. Baddour Parkway, Lebanon, TN on Saturday August 23, 2025.

Sponsors include:

  • Wilson County Gardeners Guild
  • Wilson County Master Gardeners
  • Top Knot Apparel
  • and the ‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’ movie, premieres in theaters nationwide on September 12, 2025

Giveaways! You must be present to win! Wear Your favorite garden party hat!

*SCHEDULE*

10:00am – 11:30am Lucas Holman – Kids Garden Clinic, “Propagating Success for Kids”

11:30am – 12:30pm Jason Reeves – “Planting Evergreens in Your Landscape and Making Holiday Wreath Demo”, Demo and Presentation

12:30pm-1:30pm Registration and submit entries for Charcuterie Showdown!

12:30pm-1:00pm Beekeeper Jessica Dodds-Davis, “What happens in the bee hive?” – Jessica will present the different bees, the role they play, how they pollinate and how honey is made

1:00pm-1:30 Kristen Hightower – “Slice, Stack, and Savor: A Guide to Charcuterie Done Right!” demonstrate the basics of assembling a charcuterie board

1:30pm-3:00pm – Charcuterie Showdown! Competition for building garden themed charcuterie board, Nick Beres, Channel 5 News, Master of Ceremonies

2:30pm -3:00pm Music by Stefani Daniels

3:00pm-4:00pm Ron Daniels, “Growing Roses” – Ron will present tips and tricks for growing prize winning roses. After his talk, Ron will be at a table at the back of the Hometown audience to sign purchased copies of his book “Rose Therapy” and answer rose questions.

4:00pm Rose Showcase – Showcase a variety of entries in the Rose Show – artwork, poetry, music, crafts, etc

4:45pm-5:00pm Sally Murphy – “How are Paintings and Gardens Alike?”

5:00pm-6:00pm Michael Zimmerman of Apple and Dove Cut Flower Farm, Gallatin TN – Step into the elegance of the Victorian era with our Floriography Class, where Mike shares the hidden language of flowers and demonstrates how to craft a bouquet rich with meaning.

Monday, August 4, 5:00-7:30pm – Jim Sproul, “Rose Hybridizing Made Easy”

Diane Summers rose
The August meeting of the Nashville Rose Society will be held on Monday (Note the day!), August 4, 2025, in the Massey Auditorium at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens. Our speaker is Dr. James (Jim) Sproul. Jim will be joining us virtually at 6:00pm to discuss his experiences growing roses from seeds and hybridizing new roses. Hospitality will begin at 5:00pm and NRS Business and Rose Care topics will be at 5:30pm.

Jim is a recently retired family-medicine doctor who enjoys having more time to focus on his family and on his rose breeding program. He has been growing roses from seeds for 40 years. Early on he planted seeds from open pollinated rose hips that he gathered from his neighborhood and local rose gardens. It wasn’t long before he realized that a greater range of seedlings would be possible by purposefully crossing one rose with another.

PowerPuff Pink rose
Jim’s goal is to produce novel rose seedlings that also have good health. Named roses that he has hybridized include ‘Honey Dijon’, ‘Brick House® Pink’, ‘Candy Sunblaze’®, Heather Sproul’, the Eyeconic® series and ‘Thrive!’. Mentored by Mr. Ralph Moore, he has a great love for miniature and Hulthemia (a wild rose species from the plateau of central Asia) roses. His first named rose to combine these traits is ‘Diane Sommers’. His newest rose introduced by Star Roses is ‘PowerPuff™ Pink’.

Save the date! The 2025 Nashville Rose Show will be held on Saturday, September 13 at Cheekwood.

The Cheekwood Estate and Gardens is located at 1200 Forrest Park Dr, Nashville, Tennessee 37205. The meetings are free to guests, as is admission to Cheekwood for meetings. Simply tell the gate attendant that you are there for the Nashville Rose Society meeting.

We look forward to seeing you at our August meeting!

August 13 – Wilson County and Tennessee State Fairs Rose Show Entries

Nashville Rose Society Members – Bring your roses to the Fairs!

Both the Wilson County Fair and the Tennessee State Fair will be held in the James E. Ward Agricultural Center, 945 E. Baddour Parkway, Lebanon, TN from Thursday, August 15 through Saturday, August 23, 2025.

The Wilson County Rose Show is open to Wilson County Residents, members of the Wilson County Gardeners Guild, members of the Wilson County Master Gardeners, members of a Wilson County FCE Club, or members of the Nashville Rose Society over 18 years old. The Tennessee State Rose Show is open to any Tennessee resident over 18 years old.

Exhibits for both shows must be entered at the Expo Center between 12pm and 5pm on Wednesday, August 13. Anyone in line at 5pm will be allowed to enter their roses. Judging will begin for both the Wilson County and the State Rose Shows once entries are complete. After judging, Tennessee state entries will transferred (by Fair volunteers) to the the Hale Moss building to be displayed for the duration of the fair. Wilson County entries will be displayed at the Expo during the fair. There is no admission charge to enter the Fair Grounds to submit your entries.

Please preregister online before Sunday, August 10 to speed up the entry process – one registration works for both the Wilson County and the State Rose Shows. There is no cost to enter in either show.


Click the following to register and for more information, including the show schedules and the division premiums:

Tennessee Rose Show

Wilson County Rose Show

We hope to see you at the Fair!

2025 Music City Rose Show presented by the Nashville Rose Society

Rose Study Garden – Photo Courtesy of Cheekwood Estate & Gardens
Mass Arrangement – Best in Show 2024 NRS Rose Society Show exhibited by Barbara Taube

The 2025 Music City Rose Show presented by the Nashville Rose Society will be held at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens – Massey Auditorium on Saturday, September 13 (1:00pm – 5:00pm), and Sunday, September 14 (11:00am – 4:00pm).

The rose preparation area at Massey Hall will open at 6 a.m. on Saturday. Horticulture entries will be placed on the exhibition tables by show personnel from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Challenge exhibits will be placed by the exhibitor. Judging will begin at 10:30 a.m.

The back gate opens at 6 a.m. on Saturday, September 13, 2025. If you plan to enter the back gate 6-8 a.m., please contact Gene Meyer so your name will be on a list for the guard. The back gate is accessed off of Cheek Road. The front gate opens at 8 a.m.

Click here for a copy of the Rose Show Schedule.

The Rose Show will be open to the public from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Weekend Events are FREE to the Public (all in Massey Auditorium)

Saturday, September 13 at 2:30 p.m.- Seminar on the “Basics of Growing Roses”, presented by: Ron Daniels, ARS Master Rosarian and NRS Past President.

Following the seminar Ron will have a “Meet the Author & Book Signing” for his book Rose Therapy.

We look forward to seeing you at the Nashville Rose Society Annual Rose Show!

Monday, July 14, 5:00-7:30pm – Hands on propagation workshop with Gene Meyers

Gene Meyers, ARS Master Rosarian
The July 2025, meeting of the Nashville Rose Society will be held in Massey Hall at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens on Monday, July 14, beginning at 5:30pm.

Gene Meyers, a Master Rosarian with the American Rose Society, will lead a hands on propagation workshop. All you need to bring is your pruners and a rose you’d like to root!

Gene has been a member of the Nashville Rose Society 30+ years. He grows Hybrid Teas, Miniatures, Minifloras, Climbing roses, Ramblers, and last but not least, his favorites, Old Garden Roses. He has been rooting roses for years and has been very successful at it. Recently he learned a trick from another rosarian that has bumped his success rate even higher. Come to the July meeting to find out what the trick is and to see demonstrations and the tools you need to be successful at rooting roses.

Before Gene’s workshop, Lisa Schaaf will share her experience with the drip irrigation system she uses in her rose garden.

Save the date! The 2025 Nashville Rose Show will be held on Saturday, September 13 at Cheekwood.

The Cheekwood Estate and Gardens is located at 1200 Forrest Park Dr, Nashville, Tennessee 37205. The meetings are free to guests, as is admission to Cheekwood for meetings. Simply tell the gate attendant that you are there for the Nashville Rose Society meeting.

We look forward to seeing you!