Aug. 9, 2003 "Discover Shrub Roses", presented by Donna Fuss, manager of the Elizabeth Park Rose Gardens.  Samples of  shrub roses brought by membership enhanced this program.  Raffle with "extras" of plants members divided this summer.

July 12- Introducing the new Consulting Rosarians.  Short talks on various aspects of mid summer rose culture by our new Consulting Rosarians.

June 15- Rose Garden Tour for members and their guests  featured  the Chutes' and Barbara Paul's gardens.

May 17-Lorraine Shelley gave a presentation on grooming your roses for exhibition.  The show schedule was explained and passed out by Nancy Edgar.  Mini rose sale was held.

April 12 and 19 -Despite cold heavy rain on the 12th, We opened the garden with pruning, planting and fertilizing.  Planting and pruning demos. 

March 8: Annual meeting at the Casino  Installation of officers.  Presentation by Art Emmons, Yankee District Director, on "New Roses for the Exhibitor".

Feb. 8: Our meeting  featured Mike Lowe, a widely known and knowledgeable grower of old garden roses who will present a slide show and talk on Hardy Roses for New England: Species, OGRs and Modern roses.  We will also had a brief meeting with elections and raffled 2 Preview Party tickets.

Jan. 11,2003 - annual potluck luncheon held in the lovely Mediterranean Room of the greenhouse.

2002

December-Holiday party and gift exchange

Nov 9: Annual "put the garden to bed for the winter " day.  Jim Shepard had us try some beautiful compost from Smithfield Peat protect the bases of the rose bushes.  (Not enough horse manure this year due to construction at the greenhouses). We had our annual rose raffle and took a group photo. 

October 12: Fred Thurber gave a slide presentation of old garden roses with some beautiful slides of birds as well.  Linda Kammerer discussed using the internet and gave us some good websites to use. We had a raffle. 

September 14: Here are some Picnic 2002 photos.
Marie Giordano  made rose petal jelly for us and  (by proxy) told us how to make it.  It was incredibly flavorful, and unmistakably rosy (she used "Yankee Lady" rose petals.)
Barbara Semenkow instructed us in making a  corsage or bouttonniere. We had a beautiful late summer day and a fun time.

August 10: Our program featured Clarence Rhodes, a well known rose grower and exhibitor from Maine. Clarence explained to us his methods of growing full size rose bushes entirely in containers. 
We had a great raffle at the end of the meeting. Clarence donated one of his large wheeled pots and members brought other plants and gifts.

July 13: Mike Chute demonstrated bamboo tripods and his custom made portable potting bench with some surprise features. Patsy Cunningham showed how to work with copper piping to make obelisks for your climbers. Frank Ross  used bamboo stakes and boy scout knots for making latticework and Louis Horne introduced us to PVC pipework.

June 22: Trip to Elizabeth Park

June 15: Oceans of Roses rose show

June 9: Garden tour

May 11:  Presentation by Tony Silva on winning queen of the show.  Show schedules  passed out and explained.  Minis were sold.

April 13:  Victorian Rose Garden was pruned,  fertilized, raked and "preened" .  Twenty five replacement bushes were planted.  

March 16: The program was on insects and diseases presented by Dave Wallace, Director of the Plant Protection Clinic at URI.   The President's Award was given to Mike and Angie Chute. A special raffle was held which  included a large framed photo of a rose by Frank Ross.

Feb. 9: Our annual elections were held .   Our program was "Easy Care Roses" presented by Nancy Edgar.

Jan 12: Annual potluck was held in a beautiful sunroom of the Charles Smith Greenhouses

2001

December 8:
Annual holiday party at the Casino. We had our gift raffle and special door prize of tickets to the preview party of the Spring Flower Show at the convention center.  Short demo by Program Director Clarence Varin on using water soluble fertilizers in the garden.  Orders will be taken for Magnum Grow (can give order till March meeting).  There were sign-up sheets for our January Potluck, for a Feb.16 Rose Arranging class and orders were taken for embroidered clothes (clothing can be ordered at January meeting as well).

November 10: Annual winterizing of the Roger Williams Park Victorian Rose Garden

October 13: Dorrie Nichols gave a special powerpoint presentation on the history of Brownell roses.

September 9: Victorian Tea in the Roger Williams Victorian Rose Garden.  Many members wore beautiful and imaginative costumes and the Victorian finger food was great.

August 11:  A very informative presentation and demonstration by John Shelly on growing and wintering tree roses.

July 14: There were  6 presentations of 15 minutes each on various rose growing topics.  

July 1: Our first RIRS garden tour took place on July 1 for members and their guests.  Thank you to Linda Kammerer and Susan Hill for planning this event and to the members who opened their gardens to us.

June 17: Rhode Island Rose Society presented: 2001 A Rose Odyssey, our third annual rose show.

May 12: Meeting focused on June 17 rose show with tips for exhibitors. Mini sale held.

April 21: Annual opening of the garden. Pruning, fertilizing and raking done. 

April 14: Replacement bushes planted in RW Rose Garden.

March 31: Rose arranging class by Donna Fuss, line-mass arrangements

March 10: We kicked off our 4th year with the Annual Meeting including brief President's and Treasurer's annual reports and the introduction of the new slate of officers. Incoming President Bob Sieczkiewicz spoke of the society's goals. Our guest speaker was Nancy Derrig, Superintendent of Parks for the City of Providence, summarizing the current plans for the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center with drawings and an update on the status of the project. The Botanical Center, when complete, will be our new home. 

Feb. 14-18: The society participated in the RI Spring Flower Show at the convention center. Rose planting demos were done and president Mike Chute  gave a lecture on growing roses in RI

Feb. 10: Program chairman Clarence Varin demonstrated an
irrigation system in the greenhouse based on one that he installed in his garden last summer.

January 13, 2001:  Potluck Luncheon at the Greenhouse. Plans for our 2001 Rose Show - "2001, A Rose Odyssey," were announced and committees were formed.

2000

December 9: Special guest speaker Nancy Derrig, Providence Superintendent of Parksl provided an update on plans for the new Botanical Center in the Park as well as all the great new changes in this year's RI Spring Flower and Garden Show. Wrapped gift "raffle" was held.

November 11: Annual winterizing of Roger Williams Park Rose Garden with horse manure. Rose raffle held.

October 14: Our new program director, Clarence Varin, led  a program on winterizing your roses, aimed at the beginner. Special visitors Toni and Mike Kemple of the Oregon Rose Society.  ARS  calendars still for sale.

September 9: Special program on miniature roses with Carol Ann Rogers 

August 6: We had a picnic at the gazebo with lovely weather and surprise entertainment with an eight member Barbershop Quartet. A contest for best decorated hat was also held.

Jul 8, 2000: Annual mulching of the Roger Williams Park Victorian Rose Garden. Sprayer demonstration held. Photos here.

June 23-25, 2000: Bus trip to Montreal for the Canadian National and Yankee District Rose Show and Montreal Botanical Gardens. 

June 17, 2000:  RI Rose Show 2000 at the Roger Williams Park Mounted Command Stables.  Photos online, and the results are here.

May 13, 2000
The Show schedules were distributed and explained and a workshop will follow with experienced exhibitors demonstrating the art of showing roses. Our annual miniature rose sale was held. The new RIRS badges were passed out

April 1 and 15 at 10AM: Flower arranging seminar at greenhouse

April  8, The April meeting began the spring season with the opening of the Victorian Rose Garden in the park.  We uncovered, pruned and fed all the roses. 

March 11,  2000: Installation of officers at Roger Williams Casino

February 12, 2000: An excellent lecture on rose photography was given by professional photographer Christine Struminsky. Annual election of officers held. Orders taken for  fertilizer.

January 8, 2000 
Annual potluck dinner and meeting at the greenhouse. 

1999

December 11, 1999
Christmas meeting at the historic Roger Williams Park Casino. Awards for work in the park rose garden were announced. Special wrapped raffle held. 

November 13,1999
Winterized the Roger Williams Rose Garden , also rose raffle.

October 9,1999 -"The Clarence Rhodes Downeast Rose and Pony show". Clarence Rhodes  presented  a fun program on useful garden equipment he has developed. Clarence is a consulting rosarian, horticultural judge and mechanics wizard.

 Sept. 11, 1999   "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", members  discussed growing experiences and also bring in samples of diseased or insect eaten plant material.  Soil pH testing. Raffle. Business meeting.

August 14, 1999-Lecture and demo by David Berg on hybridizing new roses, with an emphasis on minis.  Discussed  June 2000 trip to Montreal. 

Jul 10, 1999 - Meeting at 9AM at the greenhouse. Toured the new Roger Williams Rose Garden. Fertilized, dead-headed and weeded as a group. Raffle. Orders taken for RIRS embroidered clothing.

Jun 12, 1999 - First Annual RIRS Rose Show, "Rodeo Roses" took place at the Stables at Roger Williams Park, Providence, RI. It was a remarkable success, with far more entries in both quantity and quality than expected for our first rose show. Results in the major categories are up.

Jun 5, 1999 - We had a wonderful day for the bus trip to Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Photos will be up soon. Check out the links to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Cranford Rose Garden.

May 8, 1999 - Exhibiting seminar, preparation for first annual rose show. Sale of donated roses from Royal River Roses.

Apr 10, 1999 - Held at the Roger Williams Park Casino at 9AM. Jackie Bruskin from Eastchester, NY presented a slideshow and lecture on floribundas. Distribution of ordered roses. Minis were available for sale.

March 13, 1999 - Elections held. New officers and directors listed on RIRS organization page. Society by-laws ratified by membership. Birthday party to celebrate RIRS' first year.

Feb 18-21, 1999 - RI Spring Flower Show, Convention Center, Prov, RI. RIRS provided daily rose demos and manned a booth.

Feb 13, 1999 - Demo on pruner maintenance, order roses for spring rose and fertilizer sale. Pick up orders for sweatshirts, etc. embroidered with RIRS logo.

Jan 9, 1999 - We had a great covered dish luncheon, nice variety of homemade dishes, fun for all. Orders taken for clothing embroidered with RIRS logo.

1998

Dec 12, 1998 - David King, of Royall River Roses, spoke on hardy Canadian rose. Super Holiday Mystery Raffle held as a fundraiser for the Rose Show.

November 14,1998 - Demo of winterizing roses. Meeting held to organize groups for the spring rose show. Special raffle including 2 beautiful pumpkin and flower arrangements by Nancy Archimbault. Chart presented to membership with plans for Roger Williams Rose Garden.

October 10,1998: Lecture by Mike Lowe on own root vs. budded roses

Sept. 12,1998: Informal rose show for society members held. Open judging was used so members could learn what guidelines judges use.

August 8,1998: Special guest Cathy Beyer provided a great demonstration of rose propagation techniques. Meeting was followed by a picnic.

July 11,1998: Super Round Table- Consulting rosarians each took a group to answer questions and offer advice. Monthly raffle held.

June 13,1998: Mulching the Park rose garden delayed to Weds. due to heavy rain. Members brought in some of their blooms for comments by judges and rosarians. Another great raffle.

May 9,1998: "Captains" picked to organize rose garden work for this year. Now 125+ members. Question and answer time held. Announced tentative plans for a number of events and outings. These included: day trip to Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, "high tea" at the Roger Williams Rose Garden in August, an informal rose show in the fall for members to learn about exhibiting, dinner and installation of officers in January, workshop on propagation in August, weekend trip to Montreal in 2000, and our first official rose show next June. Picked up prepaid Roseland orders. Batch of 100 minis sold at the meeting. Extensive raffle with great prizes, including a mini hybridized by a club member, and a rose as yet unintroduced by Jackson Perkins.

April 18,1998: Orders taken for discounted Roseland roses. Planting/pruning/fertilizing demos done. Roger Williams rose garden pruned. Several items raffled.