Rose Resources 2024

These are some of the resources that many TRS Members return to each year. Many are inside ARS, some are local to the Tacoma area, and others are helpful online resources.

American Rose Society

The ARS is the largest plant society in the U.S. and acts as the national spokesman for the rose community. All its functions are managed from the historic headquarters at Shreveport LA, soon to be celebrating its 50th anniversary on the site.

Their ARS.org website is a major online help to all of us at the local level. Education, ideas, printed literature, colorful bi-monthly printed magazines, running America’s Rose Center Gardens, special programs, & maintaining the infrastructure to run all their societies are just some of their duties.

They also curate the American Garden Rose Selections list of roses. The AGRS™ symbol lets you know that this rose has withstood multiple years of scrutiny and evaluation in regional test gardens to deem it appropriate for your garden.

Their annual National Convention will be in Warwick, Rhode Island Sept 9-13, 2024. The theme this year will be “A Sea of Roses”. More detail about hotels, tours, and lectures is here if you’d like to mix roses with some travel.

PNW District

TRS is a part of the Pacific Northwest District of the American Rose Society, which consists of 22 cooperating rose societies with individual rose shows in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, western Montana and British Columbia, Canada. The wide scope includes over 100 experienced Consulting Rosarians to help local folks get “Crazy About Roses”.

• A quarterly online newsletter ‘Northwest Rosarian‘ with articles and updates from a regional perspective. The Winter 2024 edition is here.
• Their expansive list of NW rose care articles is here.
• A speakers bureau of rose experts is here.

The PNWD also put on the District Fall Conference held south of Tacoma, often at the Heathman Lodge in Vancouver WA in October. The typical agenda revolves around continuing ARS education workshops in areas of arranging, judging, & CR curriculum. Later we celebrate with the District awards and then break into planning groups to discuss the ARS agenda for the upcoming year.

World Federation of Rose Societies

Every three years the WFRS holds a major international convention, bringing together rose enthusiasts and experts from around the world. They combine hands-on workshops with garden visits and international expert lectures. The next one, in 2025 will be held in Fukuyama Japan & hosted by the Japan Rose Society.

During the Convention, you will be able to see how roses are an integral part of the city today by visiting the most attractive rose gardens among their 400+ in the city. The Convention will be held mainly at hotels within walking distance of the Fukuyama Train Station.

Local Nurseries

Here in Tacoma & Pierce county we are lucky to have many good nurseries with experienced staff members who know a great deal about roses & perennials. Here are 2 that have stood the test of time with us . . .

Raft Island Roses, Gig Harbor. Owner Mike Gatto is a TRS member & all-round great resource for roses that do well in PNW. His rose list is on this FB site each January.

Portland Avenue Nursery, East Tacoma. This nursery has been a great help to many gardeners, as well as us rosarians. Especially our community’s teachers.

Rosarium West Nursery, University Place. This is a new nursery branch of Spokane’s Rosarium Garden Center. They’re a dealer for mature own-root David Austin roses in 3 gal pots. Currently it is only open on Saturdays, so check the website.

Heirloom Roses, St Paul OR. This family nursery continues to value premier, quality own-root roses and the preservation of unique and rare roses, their tradition since 1973. The office is still housed in the farmhouse where the founders lived in St. Paul, in the Willamette Valley.

Rogue Valley Roses, Medford OR. RVR is another nursery, but located in beautiful Southern Oregon, specializing in rare, historic, and exceptional modern roses grown from cuttings on their own roots.  They maintain a garden inventory of 1,500+ roses of all classes including species and antiques such as Teas, Noisettes, Chinas, Bourbons and many others. Worth a visit . . .

TRS Member Businesses

This is not an exhaustive list, but supporting our friends is always a good idea. If you, as a TRS Member, have a local business then get in touch using the question form here.

Raft Island Roses, 7201 Rosedale St NW Gig Harbor WA 98335

DND Soul Cuisine, 308 E. 26th St. Tacoma WA 98421

Rosarium West Nursery, Sunset Drive West University Place 98466.

Other Inspiring Local Gardens

Helpful Gardening Resources

This, again, is not an exhaustive list, but supporting businesses that have helped us get this far is always a good idea.

HelpMeFind. This an excellent 1st stop for finding a specific rose. Their website is devoted to roses, and all that is gardening related. They have a catalog of over 44,000 roses with more than 160,000 photos plus listings of thousands of Rose nurseries, public and private gardens.

Call 811 Before You Dig. If you’re going to dig below 12 inches, or you don’t know where your utilities are, call these guys before starting to dig. Cutting into a power or gas line is plain dangerous and expensive, and can ruin your whole week.

Northwest Flower & Garden Festival, Seattle. It’s the 2nd largest flower show in America, and held in the downtown Convention Center in mid February. The show is spectacular – with amazing attractions for rose lovers: show gardens (constructed in under 72 hours on the show floor), a vendors marketplace with 350 booths, onstage seminars, live demonstrations, quality event food, and more. There are competitive exhibits in every room like container gardens, arrangements, & artworks. Some vendors like Ironwood will sharpen 2-3 of your hand tools!

Paul Zimmerman. Paul started a rose design firm around one simple message: Roses are nothing more than flowering shrubs and that’s how you should use, and treat them. His site is full of solid hands-on advice based on years of experience. He even helped design the new ARS Gardens in Shreveport LA.

Felco pruners. Felco is a Swiss brand that has been making pruning tools for over 75 years. They are known for their quality, comfort, ease-of-use, and durability. Most Home Depot, Wilco, Ace Hardware, Lowes, & McLendon’s stores in our area will carry them. They’re expensive, but road-worthy.

Ironwood Tools. In contrast, Ironwood tool brand is a U.S. company that has been making ratchet pruners & loppers for over 30 years. They are known for their comfort for those of us with arthritis, ease-of-cut style, and quality steel blades. If the limb fits in it, these compounding pruners will cut it.

Tagro Fertilizer. TAGRO^® has been providing high-quality soil amendment products to Tacoma customers since 1991. All-natural TAGRO products are made from a blend of pasteurized wastewater byproducts called biosolids and other weed-free gardening components.

Sound-Gro Fertilizer. SoundGRO^® is a slow-release fertilizer that contains nutrients and micronutrients that are vital for the healthy growth of your plants. It is made at a Pierce County Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant from solids that are removed from the wastewater treatment process known as biosolids.

Forums

GardenWeb. This is a long-standing forum is meant for the discussion of roses–how to care for them, recommendations for selections, sources for plants. They have over 38,000 posts!

HelpfulGardener. An old-style forum for discussions about the care of roses, including pruning, weather protection, watering, fertilizing and also organic roses, planting instructions, disease prevention.

Helpful Home Improvement Big Boxes

Home Depot, Tacoma 98409

Lowes Home Improvement, Tacoma 98466

McLendon’s Hardware, North Tacoma 98406

Ace Hardware, Westgate Tacoma 98407