President’s Message

Happy New Year !  Here’s hoping that everyone had a wonderful holiday
season and that your garden produced a  bounty of beautiful blooms
during December.  If only we had scheduled our rose show for a little
later in the month I feel sure that I would have a some  HT blooms that
would have been contenders for the royal court.  The blooms were huge
and the colors vibrant and intense.  Ah well......there’s always next
year.
As we look back on this past year we have many things as a society for
which to be thankful.  We have a dedicated core group of our membership
who have worked diligently to promote our society goals and to build
our membership.  We set up booths at numerous events, talked about rose
gardening with the public, and sold fresh cut blooms and bushes.  We
were privileged to have some excellent speakers who presented some very
informative and entertaining programs at our meetings. These  programs
involved some expense as well as a significant amount of work and
preparation. I only wish that more of our members could have found time
to attend these meetings.
The major project of the year was of course was our 41st annual rose
show at Sunken Gardens.  In spite of the fact that our gardens were
battered by two successive cold fronts just prior to the show,
exhibitors arrived on show day with a bounty of spectacular blooms. (
Some of the foliage though showed evidence of Mother Nature’s lack of
concern for our up coming show.)  While most of the exhibitors from
neighboring societies, we were glad to welcome John Tucker and Dan
Mills who brought a nice collection of old garden roses from their home
near Gainesville.  The exhibitor with the longest distance traveled was
Jane Hines who came all the way from Birmingham, AL.
Congratulations to our good friend Fermin Rodriguez who won HT Queen
of Show  with a beautiful Louise Estes.  Congratulations also to 
George and Judy Lawler who won HT King with a  wonderful Raphaela
bloom.  While visitors from the public was lighter than expected, we
received many compliments and positive comments from the exhibitors and
judges.  The judges were no doubt influenced  to some degree by the
sumptuous luncheon prepared and served by Mary Hutchcraft, Carol
Chesler, and Donna Dublo.  Thanks to all the committee chairs and
others who worked to make our show a success.
As we enter a new year our society is faced with a problem that many
similar organizations are dealing with.  Namely....how to build our
membership and encourage participation of members in society
activities.  While I realize that there seems to be ever increasing
demands and competition for  our time, I hope that in the coming year
you will consider supporting the Pinellas Rose Society.   Attend our
monthly meetings and participate in  at least some of our other
activities.  One of the best ways to attract new members is through
your help.  When you’re sharing bouquets of roses with friends and
neighbors, tell them about our organization and invite them to come
along with you to one of our meetings.  If you have a friend or family
member who enjoys growing roses, consider giving them a gift
membership.
While we realize that every member may not be interested in every
program topic or activity, keep in mind that we have new members and
guests that may need to learn some of the basics.  Questions and
exchange of information is a valuable part of our meetings.  I almost
always learn something new or am reminded of something forgotten. 
Attendance at meetings or other activities is a great way to get
acquainted with fellow rose growers and have fun learning.  Hope to see
you at the January meeting.