Rosetown earns its name
When we moved to Rosetown, Sask., 13 years ago, I asked where the rose gardens were. In fact, when the village was incorporated in 1909, it was named after James Rose, the earliest settler in the area. There were a few wild roses along the train tracks and in the pastures out of town. Otherwise, when we moved here most of the roses were in private yards.
During the past few years the Rosetown Tourism Committee, along with the Rosetown Horticulture Society, have developed a community rose garden, planting roses at the tourism centre and encouraging their proliferation by selling rose bushes. This year 180 bushes were sold by the tourism committee.
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It seemed appropriate, with this increased interest in roses, that on July 5 and 6 Rosetown hosted the first Saskatchewan Rose Society Annual Rose Show. There were 12 exhibitors and 153 exhibits. All of the roses exhibited were grown in Saskatchewan with the majority being hardy shrub roses. It was a wonderful opportunity to view a variety of colors, sizes and varieties of roses, as well as a great place to stop and smell the various fragrances.
The Saskatchewan Rose Society, Inc. was formed in 1998, and is affiliated with the Canadian Rose Society. Memberships are $15 and are available from Doug Bradford, 60 Mathieu Crescent, Regina, Sask., S4R 3J2.
Saskatchewan and Quebec are the only provinces with a provincial rose society. Other societies are city or district groups. For information on a group near you, contact the Canadian Rose Society secretary, Anne Graber, at 10 Fairfax Crescent, Scarborough, Ont., M1L 1Z8.
I have always loved roses but my two bushes never seem to bloom well. This year I decided to take an evening class at our local regional college on growing roses. I learned about the different types of roses and how to prune and care for them. I planted two Adelaide Hoodless roses, a Hope for Humanity rose and four yellow miniatures this spring.
One hint I picked up at the rose class was to bury banana skins or entire black, mushy bananas at the base of each plant to encourage blooming.
Rose trivia
Flower fragrance changes with the weather. Scent is strongest on sunny days when the air is calm and moist, just after a summer rain shower and often following a light frost. Roses reputedly have the most heavenly scent just before sunrise. That’s when flowers are picked for the perfume industry.
Attar-of-roses is the essence of roses and the rarest, most costly fragrance in the world. It takes 82 kilograms of roses – about 60,000 flowers – to make a single fluid ounce (28 mL) of rose oil.
Frozen roses
In her Rose Favorites book, Lois Hole describes how to make a frozen rose bowl.
Hole uses the bowls for dinner parties and special occasions. She says the frozen bowls are easy to make and last quite a while before melting.
Use two mixing bowls, one a couple of inches smaller than the other. Line the bottom of the larger bowl with fresh rose flowers. Add about an inch of water and freeze.
Once frozen, remove from the freezer. Place the smaller bowl over the frozen base of roses. Put a weight inside the smaller bowl to keep it centred. Arrange additional roses between the two bowls, with some flowers facing in and some facing out. Fill the space between the two bowls with water, and freeze.
When you are ready to use your iced rose bowl, remove the two bowls. Set the iced rose bowl on top of a glass platter to catch any water, and fill with punch, fruit salad, shrimp salad or any other dish that you wish to keep cold.
Thanks to readers
Thanks to the many readers who responded with information and patterns for S.B., Thorsby, Alta., who requested a pineapple crochet pin cushion pattern. We have forwarded the information to S.B.
Book wanted
Dear TEAM: I would like to encourage you and thank you for continuing this column. I was a faithful reader of Emmie’s column and now my daughter, daughters-in-law and myself follow your column. We enjoy the helpful hints, recipes and personal stories. We are interested in gardening and would like to know how to contact Lois Hole who has a series of garden books. – B.E., Kelvington, Sask.
Dear B.E.: Thank you. We all enjoy doing this column and response from our readers with questions, answers and support is what makes it so much fun.
Hole is a greenhouse operator and author from St. Albert, Alta. She has several books on prairie gardening including perennials, tomatoes, bedding plants, vegetables and roses. Her books are sold in many stores, or can be ordered from Lone Pine Publishing, 206 – 10426 – 81 Ave., Edmonton, Alta., T6E 1X5.
Share brunch ideas
A reader who will be hosting a brunch at a family reunion in August would like some ideas for dishes that can be made ahead of time. Please send them to us so we can share them.
