ARS ALL-MINIATURE ROSE SHOW & CONFERENCE  
                      Milwaukee, August 20-22, 2010                           

The “Mini-National” was hosted by the Greater Milwaukee Rose Society, Gateway Rose Society, and the Madison Rose Society.

We had a pleasant, stress-free flight and shuttle to the conference site, where each registrant was presented with a miniature “Magic Show”-(BENjets), hybridized by Frank Bernadella, courtesy of Greenheart/Nor’East Roses.

The theme of the show was “We’re Wright With Roses”, a tribute to the late architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, whose famous home, Taliesin (Welsh word meaning “shining brow”), was located in the Milwaukee area.  Our speaker was Frances Nemtin, who was one of 5 young apprentices hired by Mr. Wright in the 1940’s to oversee and work his farm.  The farm provided them with their own butter, eggs, poultry, soybeans, pork, and beef, often in temperatures of 52 degrees below zero.  Mr. McCormick, of International Harvester, was a good friend to Mr. Wright, and gave him three new tractors to help maintain and work the land.

Frances Nemtin is a beautiful, Bryn Mawr-educated, seasoned lady who spoke about the Taliesin gardens, which she now designs and oversees.  She has also written books about Frank Lloyd Wright and Taliesin.

In her slide presentation, she lovingly illustrated the integration Mr. Wright achieved between his architecture, natural features, plantings, and art objects he placed in the landscape.  We were held spellbound by her stories of the early days and difficult winters they experienced.  As a young on-site apprentice, she once went to her room and was surprised to find 5 baby piglets in a box that had been brought inside for protection from the frigid temperatures.  On another occasion, she found the young son of a fellow worker outside his room, crying, and she asked why he was upset.  The young child told her that he was afraid to go into his room because there was a large peacock strutting beside his bed.  (Never a dull moment at the Wright estate.)  

Our next program was a floral arrangement class.  Kreg Hill was our illustrious instructor.  He is active in all levels of the rose society, serving as an accredited ARS Horticultural Judge, Arrangement Judge, and Consulting Rosarian.  He began growing roses in high school, and currently has large gardens in his two California homes.

 During our class, Kreg distributed small miniature pottery vases, and we did a line arrangement with miniature roses.  As a bonus gift, we were allowed to keep the vase, a floral knife, and a special pair of miniature arrangement tweezers.  We learned that the miniature exhibits should not exceed 10  inches in height, and that arrangements should be approximately 1 ½ times the height of the container. 

We were also told that a container for a miniature arrangement should be traditionally simple so as not to detract from the preferred traditional arrangement. 

Kreg was an absolute delight, and ever so patient and supportive as we attempted to place the wet oasis into the tiny little opening of the vase.  Even our own Jeff Ware, from ARS, made his first miniature arrangement in the class.  (Jeff was s-o-o-o proud of himself!)

We attended two programs by Dr. Tommy Cairns.  He is recognized internationally as one of the most authoritative sources on the fundamentals of rose culture, pesticides, fertilizers, new products, bugs and “beasties”, soil chemistry, rose registrations, and rose genealogy.  He has won awards in International exhibits, and did a wonderful slide presentation regarding cutting, refrigerating, packing and shipping his fresh cartons of roses to international shows.  (He uses ONLY Fed-Ex Air, and steers completely away from Delta.)  He emphasized that refrigeration of exhibition roses should be kept between 38 and 42 degrees.

Tommy has the privilege of having been appointed the Senior Judge for the upcoming 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade in California, and will supervise and train the other Tournament judges in a two-day seminar prior to the event.

We enjoyed a video of Tommy, actually making a beautiful bowl arc-arrangement, emphasizing the importance of proportion and balance among the blooms and foliage.

The next program we attended was presented by Kim Loomis, a full-time college chemistry professor, and Elena Williams, a full-time teacher-librarian.

Their main focus was on roses grown in containers and buried for winter protection.  We had a renewed respect for the rosarians in Wisconsin who find it necessary to go to such great lengths to protect their roses from the harsh winter climate.

Saturday night’s Awards Banquet featured 3 Hall of Fame Awards of Excellence Winners.  This year they are:

 “Be My Baby”, by Christian Bedard
  Color name is Deep Pink, but looks red, 20-25 petals
  (To be introduced by Weeks)

 “Mary Pickersgill”, by Betty and Michael Williams
Yellow-Blend miniflora
(To be introduced by Rosemania)

 BEN-omen (Code Name), by (late) Frank Bernadella
Pink Blend miniature
(To be introduced by Bill DeVor- Greenheart/Nor’East)

The Banquet Speaker was Bill DeVor, (Greenheart/ Nor’East).

He is an impressive young man who seems to have a wealth of information about the wholesale rose industry.  His company is located on 67 acres on the Pacific Ocean in California, with one million square feet of space.

He has a new miniature rose collection with more than 80 varieties, and will soon be introducing new Micro-Miniatures under the name of “Garden Treasures.”  During the past year, he has sold 2.4 million “TABLE TO GARDEN” plants that are winter-hardy and disease-resistant, including ½ million of the velvety, hardy plants to specific Lowe’s stores, and hopes eventually to expand to the other Lowe’s locations.  Some of his selections are under the name “My Bouquet.”  He has also contracted with Lowe’s to provide staff to do the required care of the plants at the stores, an unprecedented arrangement by a supplier.

One of the highlights of our entire trip was the 5-hour Garden Tour on Sunday morning.  Three buses carried 138 visitors to the selected sites.

The highlight was our tour of the home of Bill Radler, creator of the celebrated “Knock-Out” rose.  I expected a nursery tour, but was delighted instead to arrive at his home garden.  He has a beautiful corner lot, across the street from a park.  He has an 8-ft. high deer fence surrounding the grounds, and multiple water features through-out the terrace and gardens.  

There is also a huge outdoor kitchen/fireplace, pergola, gazebo, sculpture-embellished paths, and many plant varieties.  He has multiple numbered rows of experimental roses and plants, each with a documented, coded tag.

Bill was a wonderful, friendly host.  He is a small, friendly, 67-year-old bundle of energy and enthusiasm, who admittedly feels blessed by his success with the “Knock-Out” rose.  He has constructed an underground Root Cellar, where he stores some of his roses during the winter months.  He has a staff of 7 assistants who help maintain the grounds and on-site experiments, and supervise the basement office, computers, and orders for him.  He has provided many amenities for them, including a shower, adjacent to the basement office area.  Everyone seemed very congenial and happy with the home/office arrangement.

The remaining three tours included 2 smaller subdivision gardens and one large home garden.  Rain Barrels were popular (for nitrogen value) on all sites, and most of the pots had been buried in the beds for winter protection.  Hostas, dahlias, and other plants were often incorporated into the rose mix...just delightful.

It was a beautiful show and busy conference, well-planned and informative, and the people were friendly and eager to share their ideas with us.  We are pleased that we had an opportunity to attend a great conference and visit the Wisconsin area.

Submitted by Carol Sharpe