Category: Growing Roses

Dr. Mark Windham – “Holistic Rose Care”

The Medley of Roses – 2026 ARS Convention & Rose Show was honored to have as one of our speakers Dr. Mark Windham. Dr. Windham was a Distinguished Professor of Ornamental Plant Pathology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. For the last 14 years of his career, Mark worked toward developing management plans for Rose Rosette Disease (RRD), studying the virus’s mite vector, and searching for disease resistance. He was part of a multistate team that discovered genes for resistance to RRD in roses.

Most recently, on October 4, 2026, at the Medley Convention he received the 2026 American Rose Society Gold Medal of Honor. His presentation is entitled “Holistic Rose Care”. He graciously shared his presentation with us to post on the website.

A rosarian must be a nutritionist, soil scientist, pathologist, entomologist, and expert of many other professions to successfully grow healthy, vibrant roses. Often actions we take to solve one problem leads to other challenges. In this presentation, he explores a holistic approach to rose care to maximize rose health and vigor without breaking the bank or robbing us of our most valued commodity: time.

Click here for the presentation.

The following are the handouts for Dr. Windham’s presentation:

Rose Diseases

Rethinking Blackspot Management

Rose Garden Oddities

Rose Insect Pests

Rose Rosette Disease

Early Detection of Rose Rosette Disease

Foliar Diseases

Downy Mildew

Rose Diseases: Identification and Management

Diagnosis of Ornamental Plant Diseases

Jeff and Cindy Garrett – Disease Resistant Rose Study

The Nashville Rose Society was honored, once again, to have Jeff and Cindy Garrett as our guest speakers at the August 11, 2024, monthly meeting. In addition to focusing on how to participate in the annual ARS Roses In Review program, Jeff discussed the work that he and Cindy are doing to test and evaluate disease resistant, specifically blackspot, roses in their garden.

Jeff and Cindy moved to their current home on Lake Chickamauga in 1989. Over the years they have continued to develop their landscape to its current capacity of just over 350 roses. Jeff and Cindy have allocated some of that space in their garden to test select varieties of roses in large pots. They change some of the varieties each year. They do fertilize and water, but do not spray for disease. Each year they evaluate which roses are most disease resistant.

Jeff and Cindy have both served their local society, the Tri-State Rose Society of Chattanooga, as President on numerous occasions. Currently they are editors of their local society newsletter, “Basal Breaks”. The Garretts have been honored with the Bronze Medal from their local society.

Click here for Jeff and Cindy’s presentation on Disease Resistant Roses – Fact or Fiction!

Here you will find a list (pdf) of roses in Jeff and Cindy’s test garden.

Learn How to Maintain your Pruners

A virtual presentation by FELCO General Manager, Ryan Amberg

Baby, it is cold outside! It is a good time to get ready for the spring weather that will come to Middle Tennessee soon. One item that you may have on your TODO list is to sharpen your pruners. Ryan Amerg, General Manager of FELCO North America, joined Diane Summer, President of the American Rose Society, to teach us the basics for maintaining our pruners.

Ryan Amberg began his career at his family’s nursery, where he first got his hands on FELCO red-handled tools. After attending Cornell University to study business management, marketing, and agricultural science, he was recruited by the FELCO team in Switzerland to further develop the business in North America.

Ryan worked his way up through various facets of the company, from product management to marketing and business development. He has traveled around the world working for FELCO, developing different markets from Australia to South Africa. Today as the company’s General Manager, he continues to work on and develop the FELCO business in the USA, striving to introduce more consumers to the iconic Swiss brand.

Click here to watch Ryan’s virtual presentation on the American Rose Society YouTube channel.

2023 Tenarky District ‘Roses in Review’ Report

Some call it shovel pruning, meaning dig it up, throw it away, and replace it with a new rose that has been proven to thrive well in your area. There are many reasons a rose may need to be shovel pruned. After the December 2022 freeze, there may be roses that just did not perform this past summer. Rose Rosette is another reason, or a rose that has out grown its assigned space in your garden.

Continue reading “2023 Tenarky District ‘Roses in Review’ Report”

Arranging with Roses – Lanni Webb, NRS Member

Lonnie Webb, NRS Member, and Floral Arranger

While the judges were judging the 2023 Fall Grand Prix entries, Lanni Webb shared information on how to make award winning floral arrangements.

Lanni demonstrated and explained the guidelines of three types of arrangement designs – traditional, modern, and Oriental (East Asian).

Traditional Designs
Modern Design
Oriental (East Asian) Design

Lanni also reviewed the ARS Score Card for Judging, explaining how the 100 possible points that the arrangement is judged by, are allocated.

To see Lanni’s PowerPoint presentation, click here. Her main message – “Have Fun with It!”

Lanni has been a member of NRS for 13 years and has won awards at rose shows, including the Nashville Rose Shows and the Wilson County Fair Rose Shows. She has many roses in her garden and spends much time doing flowers for weddings, showers and other events for family and friends.