Join us as together we learn to grow beautiful, healthy roses!

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“To learn about the growing, exhibition, and enjoyment of roses”
Our membership is friendly and excited to meet our neighbors in the Orange County area who love to grow roses. We enjoy sharing our ideas and experience with one another. We welcome everyone interested in learning more about growing beautiful, healthy roses. Our Society is affiliated with the American Rose Society (ARS, https://www.rose.org/).
Our Society hosts monthly meetings (at the Norman P. Murray Center in Mission Viejo) that are entertaining and informative on roses and other garden related topics. Doors open at 6:30 pm. We also host socials throughout the year. Monthly meetings are held the second Monday of the month, September thru May (no meetings June, July, August, December).
Date: Monday, March 10, 2025
Time: 7 p.m. - 9 p.m., doors open at 6:30
Location:Norman P. Murray Center, 24932 Veterans Way, Mission Viejo
Our presenter this month will be Consulting Rosarian Dorothy Birsic, member of the Orange County Rose Society. Dorothy is a frequent rose exhibitor both at American Rose Society Rose Shows and the Orange County Fair.
The title of Dorothy's presentation is: "Your Next Blue
Ribbon Awaits: Tips for Exhibiting Roses and Photographing
Roses for Rose Shows." The presentation will cover what
judges are looking for when they look at a rose, particularly
from an ARS perspective, some practical advice for the
novice exhibitor, and some basic tips for photographing
roses, Refreshments will be served and guests are always welcome!
Rose Society of Saddleback Mountain Annual Rose Pruning Clinic
Date: Saturday, January 18, 2025
Time: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Location: Mission Viejo Library Rose Garden
100 Civic Center Drive (off Marguerite and La Paz) Mission Viejo
Come and learn the art and techniques of pruning roses from the helpful experts in our group. Bring a heavy pair of gloves, bypass pruning shears and sun protection. Hope to see you there!
Please join us for another informative presentation by Kris Bonner, "The Traveling Gardener". Kris will be taking us on a virtual tour of the gardens of Australia and New Zealand.
Doors open at 6:30 and refreshments are served. Visitors are always welcome!
Location: Norman P. Murray Center, 24932 Veterans Way, Mission Viejo
A popular local speaker, Kris Bonner a.k.a. "The Traveling Gardener" will present the gardens of Lake Como, Italy. The presentation will feature a slideshow of some of the most beautiful, intriguing, and inspirational gardens in the world. You will hear travel tips, along with stories of how these gardens have changed the world for the better.
Doors open at 6:30 and refreshments will be served. Visitors are always welcome!
This month current RSSM member, George Zilligen presents a program on rambling roses. He retired as a Minnesota Certified Pharmacy Technician in 2016 then moved to California. During his 36 years in years in Minnesota he was a member of The Twin Cities Rose Club, The Minnesota Rose Society, and The North Star Rose Club. He was one of the youngest members of the American Rose Society joining at age 11 in 1965. Four roses he has grown in California now are part of the Huntington Library and Botanical Rose Garden in San Marino, California. His rambling rose presentation has been given at Northern Iowa State University and published in the Minnesota Horticulture Magazine. Some of the pictures included in this presentation are from Steve Jones, former president of the American Rose Society and an avid rambling rose fan. We will be having our amateur "Rose Show" this month, so bring your favorite blooms to enter. See our April Newsletter for further details. You need to arrive early and have all of your entries staged and ready before 7pm.
Doors open at 6:30 and refreshments will be served. Visitors are always welcome!
Join us as we gather for our annual pruning workshop at the Mission Viejo Library Rose Garden! We need all hands on deck as we complete pruning our approximately 100 rose bushes and get them ready for the next season! Please bring your own pruning shears/loppers, gloves, and sun protection. Visitors are welcome and can learn the best pruning techniques from one of our many Consulting Rosarians. Coffee and donuts will be provided!
Caring for Your Gardening Tools
We will be treated to an informative talk regarding keeping our gardening tools in good working order. Bring your favorite pruners and/or loppers and we will be participating in a hands-on demonstration during which you can clean and sharpen your own! You might want to bring a pair of gloves and perhaps an apron to avoid getting too messy!
One of the Orange County Master Gardeners will be leading this workshop.
No Rose Show this month.
Doors open at 6:30 and refreshments will be served. Visitors are always welcome!
John Craig
Founder & Executive Director, weCompost2
At the age of two, John started eating dirt and soon developed a fondness for it. By the age of 10, he had developed the skills to discern the difference between simple dirt and truly living soils, preferring fungally-dominated over bacterial-dominated soil.
While pursuing his Bachelor of Science degree in Geology, he was pleasantly surprised to learn that he was not alone and was actively encouraged by his professors to taste the soil and rock samples, soon learning to identify minerals by taste alone. Years later, John happened to stumble on a Master Composting class and promptly signed up.
With the assistance of a small group of highly qualified advisers, he founded the nonprofit weCompost2 to “Promote on-site composting and create living, vibrant communities in and above the soil” and started Hart’s Worm Farm, where an army of dedicated and passionate volunteers strive to produce nothing less than the world’s best compost and vermicompost. Please visit the https://wecompost2.org website for more information and volunteer opportunities.
John will talk about compost tea and compost extract for growing roses and other plants.
No Rose Show this month.
Doors open at 6:30 and refreshments will be served. Visitors are always welcome!
Kris Bonner, "The Traveling Gardener'
Kris is a certified UCCE Master Gardener, helping to inform and educate the Orange County gardening public with science-based advice to help create and maintain healthier, more productive, and beautiful gardens.
In his new speaking series on garden tourism, The Traveling Gardener, Kris inspires and informs audiences on the transformative power of travel and nature.
Kris will share his visit to Cordoba, Spain where for two weeks every year, garden tourists flock for the “Festival of Patios”, a community-wide celebration that opens up private courtyard gardens to the public.
There will be an amateur "Rose Show" at our meeting. All entries must be completed by 6:55 pm. Please see your Newsletter for further details.
Doors open at 6:30 and refreshments will be served. Visitors are always welcome!