Author: NRS Webmaster

Save Cheekwood Petition: Help protect our history and culture

For 66 years, Cheekwood Estate & Gardens has been a treasured place where art, culture, history, and nature come together for families, students, and visitors from Tennessee and around the world.

For the Nashville Rose Society, Cheekwood has been our home for as long as most of our members can remember. It is where we gather for many of our meetings, host our Nashville Rose Shows, and share our passion for roses with the public. Through its partnership with our society, Cheekwood helps educate visitors and members alike about our national flower—the rose.

Today, Cheekwood faces a significant challenge. A formal legal appeal has been filed with the Metro Board of Zoning Appeals seeking to require the city to issue a Stop Work Order that would halt further work and public use of portions of the property. The appeal stems from Cheekwood’s plans to construct a new parking garage, a project that has been opposed by a group of neighbors.

If you would like to learn more about the issue and support Cheekwood, please click hereto read about the situation and consider adding your name to the petition.

Rose Chat Podcast – Rose Study Garden Renovation, Blending History with Today

On this episode of the Rose Chat Podcast, host Teresa Byington chats with Ron Daniels, a Nashville Rose Society Master Rosarian, former president of the NRS, and longtime volunteer.

Ron oversees the society’s garden project at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, where the study garden recently underwent a major renovation.

In this conversation, Ron shares the story behind the renovation, the challenges and opportunities involved, and how the garden will be used by the Nashville Rose Society.

Click here to hear their conversation.

Sponsors of the Medley of Roses Convention

We would like to recognize the sponsors of the Medley of Roses – 2026 ARS National Convention & Rose Show.

Would you like to be a supporter of the Convention? Let us know! Click on the MedleyofRoses.org/Donate page or send an email to 2026ARSConvention@gmail.com.

Sponsors – Thank You!

At Easy Elegance, our goal is simple: to change perceptions about growing and maintaining roses by offering exceptional roses that are beautiful in their appearance and effortless in their care. Whether you are an experienced rose gardener or just someone who wants to enjoy the beauty roses add to the home garden, we are confident the varieties in the Easy Elegance® Rose Collection will inspire you to make them a part of your garden enjoyment for years to come.

 

At Heirloom™, we are passionate about propagating each rose by hand to ensure that we provide our customers with the best own-root roses available. We are committed to providing disease-free, own-root roses that deliver profuse blooms, while also being winter hardy, disease resistant, and true to variety. While own-root roses cannot be quickly produced like grafted roses, we think the difference and quality is worth it. Over the years, Heirloom™ has also grown to offer everything else your garden needs, from perennials and bulbs to soil care and fertilizers, because a beautiful garden starts long before the first bloom.

 

The Lynn Anderson Rose Garden, dedicated in June 2018, is a serene, public memorial located at Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home & Memorial Park in Nashville, Tennessee, honoring the late country music star. It features over 100 hybrid tea roses—specifically the “Lynn Anderson” rose—in a vibrant tribute to her signature 1970 hit song. The garden is situated within the “Cemetery of Country Stars” at Woodlawn, where many Nashville artists are buried. It serves as a peaceful, lasting tribute to Anderson and her legacy, designed as a place of comfort for fans and family.

 

Ball Horticulture Company Giving Committee
The mission of Ball Horticultural Company is to Color The World. This is accomplished, not only through flowers and plants, but also by ensuring the industries and communities around us are vibrant and healthy. Ball is a global leader in the horticulture industry. Our founder, George J. Ball, began the business in 1905 and was dedicated to the sharing of knowledge and expertise. He also collaborated with growers both domestically and internationally. We are proud to continue this tradition of collaborating for the greater good. In addition to promoting horticultural associations, Ball is dedicated to building the industry pipeline by supporting horticultural and local schools, initiatives, and institutions that enable individuals to discover their love of plants and grow that love into a fulfilling career anywhere in the world. By supporting research, education, scholarships and exposure to horticulture, we ensure our industry grows and thrives for generations to come.

 

Rooted in experience, grown with integrity, Lakeview Roses grew out of the next generation of a wholesale family nursery with decades of expertise. Today, our team continues that tradition with deep knowledge, steady hands, and a shared love for what we grow.

Every rose we offer is grafted onto our own hardy selection of Rosa multiflora — resilient, reliable, and right at home in northern soils. It’s the foundation that gives our plants their strength, longevity, and unmistakable vitality.

Monday, August 10, 6:30-8:30PM – Dr. Nar Ranabhat, “The Latest Research on RRD”

NOTE: Date has changed from Monday, August 3, to Monday, August 10.

Dr. Nar Ranabhat
Come learn about the latest research on Rose Rosette Disease at our August 3 meeting at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. Our speaker will be Dr. Nar Ranabhat, Assistant Professor and Extension Plant Pathologist in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at the University of Tennessee.

Dr. Ranabhat received his Ph.D. from Kansas State University and his M.S. from Montana State University. His research and Extension program focuses on the diagnosis, biology, and management of diseases affecting ornamental nursery crops, landscape plants, and turfgrass.

With more than a decade of experience studying mite-transmitted viruses, Dr. Ranabhat is actively involved in a multi-state collaborative project focused on developing sustainable rose cultivars with resistance to Rose Rosette Disease.

His lab is currently investigating the mechanisms behind virus-rose and mite interactions, while also developing Extension and Outreach programs to increase public awareness of early symptoms of Rose Rosette Disease and strategies for prevention.

Please join us for our August 2026 meeting of the Nashville Rose Society in the Massey Auditorium of Botanic Hall / Visitor Services Building at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens. The evening will begin with time to mix and mingle at 6:30 PM, followed by the program at 7:00 PM. Enter Cheekwood through the front gate and park in Parking Lot A.

This will be an informative and timely program for anyone growing roses in the Mid-South. Guests are welcome! Simply tell the gate attendant that you are there for the Nashville Rose Society meeting.

Sunday, July 12, 2-4 pm – Howard Carman, “The journey that turned a hobby into a lifelong passion for roses.”

Howard Carman, ARS Tenarky District Director,
Join us Sunday, July 12, from 2:00–4:00 PM in the Bradford Room at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens for an afternoon with fellow rose lovers and special guest speaker Howard Carman.

Click here to see Howard’s presentation.

Howard has lived in Big Spring, Kentucky his entire life and began growing roses in 1997 after being inspired by the Kentucky State Fair. What started with a few roses quickly turned into a lifelong passion that led him to join both the Louisville Rose Society and the American Rose Society. Over the years, he expanded his garden to more than 200 roses, built a homemade greenhouse, became a horticulture judge in 2004, and today still grows around 125 roses including hybrid teas, floribundas, shrubs, miniatures, and minifloras.

One of Howard’s Seedlings
Howard is a past president and current treasurer of the Louisville Rose Society and currently serves as the Tenarky District Director, beginning his term in 2024. His love of roses has also led him into propagation and hybridizing, with two roses now registered with the ARS — the miniature “Miss Paula,” a sport of Miss Flippins, and the miniflora “Anna Mae,” named in honor of his mother.

Howard will be sharing his experiences with propagating roses from cuttings, hybridizing, and the journey that turned a hobby into a lifelong passion for roses.

As always, we’ll have time to visit with fellow members and guests before the program begins. Guests are always welcome! Please bring roses from your garden to share!

LOCATION NOTE: This meeting will be held in the Bradford Room at the Cheekwood Estate & Gardens Frist Center, a new meeting location on the Cheekwood campus (not the Massey Center used in previous years).

* Address to enter: Back Gate, 111 Cheek Road, Park in Lot C or D
* Enter 1st Floor of Frist Center from Lot C – Turn left and you will find the elevator.
* Take the elevator to 3rd floor and enter Bradford Room on the Right.

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.