Saturday, April 28, 2012

Rose Show Today and Tomorrow Here at the L.A. Arboretum and Botanic Garden

Pacific Rose Society judges (l. to r.) Dwyn Robbie, Ron Feurer and Diana Kilmer discuss entrants at the April 28th, 2012 Rose Show here at the L.A. County Arboretum & Botanic Garden

Fresh-cut roses awaiting judging. 


Rose shows are fiercely competitive. Amateur rose growers take special care and patience to ensure that their entries will outshine others. However, even if you are inexperienced in the world of roses, you still have a chance to win. There is usually a novice category that is a little forgiven if you don’t yet know all the tricks and ropes. Here is a very good article that summarizes what the judges are looking for, and some pointers for winning by Robert B. Martin, Jr. from the Santa Clarita Valley Rose Society: How Roses Are Judged. The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanical Garden is hosting the annual Rose Show this weekend, Saturday April 28 through Sunday April 29. Stop by, enjoy and smell the roses. May be you will find some inspiration and enter in next year’s rose show!

Arboretum Rose Show and Sale Page: http://www.arboretum.org/index.php/events-and-classes/details/rose_show_and_sale/?start_time=1335643200&end_time=

Pacific Rose Society Annual Show Page: http://www.pacificrosesociety.org/roseshow.html

Rose Competition Links:


How Rose Shows are Judged
http://scvrs.homestead.com/HowRosesJudged.html
This is a very good article that summarizes how rose shows are judged,
and what things rose growers who enter the competition should watch
out for.

Putting Your Best Petal Forward (pt 2): Grooming Roses for Rose Shows
http://mymontys.com/wordpress/?tag=rose-competition

Rose show is fragrant with fierce competition
http://www2.journalnow.com/lifestyles/hg-garden/2008/jun/07/rose-show-fragrant-fierce-competition-ar-107359/

Things You Need In The Garden……. To Win
By: Richard Anthony & Kristine Vance
http://www.westernreserverosesociety.org/Informational%20articles/Are%20You%20Ready%20To%20Exhibit%20-%20Things%20You%20Need%20In%20The%20Garden.pdf

TAKE YOUR BEST ROSES TO THE ROSE SHOW
AND DO YOUR BEST
http://www.pacificrosesociety.org/TakeBestRoses.ht



Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Vanilla Orchids in Tropical Greenhouse Pollinated.

Tongan vanilla rancher Hema Alatini demonstrates how to pollinate orchids. He came in this morning during the 1 hour window of time in which the orchid blooms can be pollinated.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

An Underground Cistern for Water Harvesting at the Arboretum


When you come to GROW! a Garden Festival here the first weekend of May you will be there for the grand opening of the re-designed Garden for All Seasons. Needless to say the contractors who are installing the garden are really putting the jets on in order to get ready for the only three and some fraction weeks away grand opening. Below are pictures I took the installation of the underground reservoir for the water harvesting system. Hopefully they'll be some rain for it harvest (but really hopefully not during the weekend of 'GROW!'). This is some really cool tech here, let me explain.

This is the hole that was dug for the cistern. It's about 6 feet deep.

Here you can see the crew from Exquisite Ponds & Gardens lining the hole with PVC to waterproof the sides and bottom of the cistern.

Here you see they have placed a bunch of plastic milk-carton like structural elements. These cage-like boxes make the cistern incredibly strong and resistant to collapse. I'll show you some more progress soon! Stay tuned.
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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Plant Information Class: Field Trip to California Cactus Center


Several of the Arboretum's plant information volunteers and myself went to California Cactus Center in Pasadena for a tour. For those of you who missed it enjoy these videos I shot of the tour.

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