Director's Message - August Miss-Lou

Hope everyone is having a nice summer. It has not really been a hot one but 2017 sure has been wet. Hopefully our coming fall months will be better for rose growing. We continue to be extremely busy in the ARS Gulf District!

A new Gulf District website is on the way and will debut late August, early September. We appreciate Kris Kelley in Monroe taking this initiative for us.

The Acadiana Rose Society is hosting the Mid-Winter workshop in 2018. We will be moving our meeting to late January due to the early Mardi Gras party schedule next February. We will be at a new location - the relatively new Holiday Inn Express by the interstate in Lafayette. I stay there regularly and it is a nice hotel. Speakers have been lined up. Texas horticulturist Greg Grant will be our keynote speaker on Friday evening. The program and registration information will be out soon.

Renovations are moving forward with the gardens at the American Rose Center in Shreveport. Thanks to ARS president and Gulf District director Marilyn Wellan for chairing this important effort. We need all members of the Gulf District to be actively involved in reshaping the future of the gardens in Shreveport. Our David Austin rose garden is doing well. Over 100 pine trees have been removed. Sidewalk replacement and enhancements will begin soon with another grant from the Louisiana Recreational Trails Grant Pro- gram. Many more projects are on-going. Please mark Friday March 9 for the first American Rose Center Horticulture Symposium - speakers will be Greg Grant, Frank Hover, Allen Owings, Buddy Lee (developer of Encore azaleas), legendary landscape professor and rose, perennial expert Bill Welsh from Texas A&M University, David Creech from SFA Gardens in Nacogdoches and more....it is going to be a great time....program and registration information will be coming later this year.

Do not forget about our Gulf District Rose of the Year winners: Mrs. B. R. Cant in 2017, Cinco de Mayo in 2016, and Belinda's Dream in 2015. We will be making a 2018 selection soon.

I wanted to let everyone know that Mark Chamblee at Chamblee's Rose Nursery is retiring soon. The nursery and property are available for sale at the current time. Hopefully we will all get to go see Mark, Ron and everyone in Tyler before they close the doors. They have been tremendous friends to all of us in the Gulf District.

Best wishes for a great fall! Keep planting!

Sincerely,

Allen Owings
Gulf District Director