The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manhattan Rose Society
GROW™ Rose Garden Hall of Fame
Sponsoring Organizations
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Supporting Organizations
Important Update and Change
Great Rosarians of the World™ Ten
Just days ago we received news from David Austin that health issues have caused him to cancel his trip to the Great Rosarians West. While we are deeply disappointed that he will not be joining us, we wish him a speedy return to good health and we will continue with our plans to honor him.
Representing Mr. Austin and making the presentation in his stead will be Michael Marriott. If you have never attended one of Michael’s previous presentations you are in for a treat. Michael has been one of the chief spokespersons for Austin Roses for a number of years. He has traveled the world informing a wide audience about English Roses and designing some of the most beautiful rose gardens anywhere. One of his most recent projects was the replanting of the main rose garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in celebration of their 250th anniversary.
Clair Martin, David Austin, Michael Marriott (from left)We have expanded the GROW schedule on Sunday, January 24th, since our last update. The registration table will open outside of Friends’ Hall at 9:45 a.m. for participants to sign in and pick up their name badges. Starting at 10:30 we will have our opening comments and a short presentation on two of our Great Rosarian honorees who were lost to us this past year, Miriam Wilkins and Ralph Moore. At 11:00 we will have a presentation by Mike Shoupe from the Antique Rose Emporium, in Brenham, Texas. Mike will be speaking about ‘Lessons From A Rose Rustler and New Organic Approaches to Growing Roses.’ It has been years since Mike has spoken at The Huntington and I am pleased to be able to present him once again.
The presentation of this year’s honorees for the GROW Rose Garden Hall of Fame will be presented at 12:10 in Friends’ Hall.
Our Lunch break will be held between 12:30 to 1:45. Gold Very Important Rosarians will find their lunch in the Overseers Room just to the west of Friends’ Hall. Silver Very Important Rosarian ticket holders and everyone else who has purchased lunch will dine on the Garden Terrace.
At 2:00 we will be a featuring a video presentation “A Conversation With David Austin” which was taped in the Austin Nursery’s Renaissance Garden in June of 2009. This 25-minute conversation between David Austin and Clair Martin covers David’s work and focus on new English Roses in the future.
Michael Marriott will deliver his program, “The David Austin English Roses” at 2:30.
The day’s celebrations will end with a Reception starting at 4:00. The reception will feature our special rose punch and a selection of rose flavored desserts made by our Rose Garden Volunteers.
I look forward to seeing all of you at The Huntington on January 23-24!
Great Rosarians of the World™ Ten Honoree - David Austin
This coming January our honoree will be David Austin, the hybridizer of English Roses and founder of David Austin Roses, Albrighton, Wolverhampton, UK. Mr. Austin began hybridizing roses on his farm in the 1950’s and introduced his first rose, ‘Constance Spry’ in 1961. The commercial success of this rose convinced him to focus more of his time developing new roses and he established his nursery in 1969 on his family farm in Albrighton. The Austin Rose catalog, Handbook of Roses is now in its 37th year and is published in multiple languages and Mr. Austin has authored a number of books including The English Roses and The Rose both of which have gone through numerous editions.
Mr. Austin has spent his hybridizing carrier developing roses that combine the strength, hardiness, fragrance, and the flower shapes of the Old Garden Rose classes with the health and re-blooming characteristics of modern remontant roses. His fame as a hybridizer came in the 1980’s with the introduction of roses like ‘Graham Thomas’, ‘Mary Rose’, and ‘Abraham Darby’ all of which launched him onto the world stage. Nearly a half-century later his English Roses are popular world wide for their contribution to garden landscaping as well to the rose garden.
Over the ensuing years he has introduced nearly 200 of his English Roses and now with offices in the United States, Russia, and Japan his creations are available worldwide. The David Austin English Roses have helped gardeners develop a new appreciation for roses as landscape plants.
The Great Rosarians of the World annual lecture will be held at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California on Saturday and Sunday, January 23-24, 2010. The expanded program will kick off on Saturday and include a hands on workshop on rose propagation, an exhibit of fine art rose photography, and exhibit on rose fragrance including rare rose waters and oils, and an exhibit of some of the rare rose books from the Huntington collection. On that Saturday evening there will be a buffet dinner in honor of Mr. Austin.
Our program on Sunday, January 24 will include two panel discussions featuring local rosarians on topics such as ‘The Best Roses For Southern California Gardens’ and ‘Developing a Home Rose Library’. There will be a lunch and Mr. Austin’s program will be presented at 2:00 PM and followed by a reception featuring a selection of rose themed desserts.
The basic ticket for the Saturday and Sunday program is $40.00 and can be ordered by contacting Clair Martin at 626.405.3507 or by mail from The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, CA 91108, Attn. Clair Martin. Checks should be made payable to The Huntington. We are offering two package deals that include either the program and lunch or the buffet dinner, program, and lunch. Please check our Great Rosarians website at www.greatrosarians.com for more information on the program and ticket ordering.
The Manhattan Rose Society at The New York Botanic Garden will present the Great Rosarians of the World Ten program in New York on June 11-12, 2010. Information about this event will be posted on the MRS website at http://www.manhattanrosesociety.org/
Seating is limited for this special event so please order your tickets early.
You can follow the GROW program: on the website at www.greatrosarians.com or on our weblog at http://www.greatrosarians.com/weblog/ and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/great.rosarian?ref=name
Please help us get the word out!
We need your help in spreading the word about this fantastic program. Please forward this web site and blog to your gardening friends and let them know what an opportunity it is to meet and hear our GROW™ IX honorees in person. Pass along this information to you local rose society newsletter editor, they are always looking for upcoming rose events. And think about getting a group of your rosarian friends to attend one of the GROW™ programs. You could even car pool and save on gas!
Great Rosarians of the World™ Summer of British Rose Gardens Tour 2010
Please join us for a fabulous 10-day motorcoach tour of England's great gardens and nurseries, personally guided by Clair Martin, author, speaker, and rosarian.
Just a sample of the wonderful places we will visit:
David Austin’s Nursery and Rose Gardens
Mottisfont Abbey
Peter Beales’ Nursery and Rose Gardens
Kew Gardens
Hidcote and Kiftsgate
London’s Museum of Garden History
Royal National Rose Society’s Gardens of the Rose
Eccleston Square, a private garden in the heart of London
…and much, much more!
Welcome to the Great Rosarians of the World™
This site is dedicated to the Great Rosarians of the World™ Annual Lecture Series. This lecture series was founded with the purpose of honoring the men and women who have shaped our love and appreciation of the rose. Starting in 2001, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, initiated this series for local rose growers and gardeners to have the opportunity to hear and meet the authors, nurserymen, and educators who have through their dedication and efforts shaped the rose into our national flower and promoted it to become one of the world's favorite flowers.
In 2007 The Huntington and the New York Metropolitan Rose Council agreed to jointly host the lecture first on the West Coast at The Huntington and then move to the East Coast where the program was repeated this year at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This bicoastal arrangement will be continued in 2008 with the East Coast venue, The New York Botanical Garden.
Great Rosarians™ WeblogClick here to access our new Great Rosarians™ Weblog
This new addition to our site is designed to provide our site readers with more up to date information and hopefully create an online community of rosarians. The exchange of information is what the Internet is all about and a blog provides readers with a convenient place to check back on a regular schedule. If you like the blog and want to receive email informing you of updates, then click on the icon on the upper right corner of the blog page and you can select the way the software will notify you when new blogs are posted.
The Great Rosarians of the World™ Award was designed by fellow rosarian, author, and artist Helene Pizzi. Helene has lived in Rome since she moved there to study art. She is a native of Milwaukee, where she still maintains the family home.
Click here to go to the New York Times article from March 29. 2007 by Ann Raver on the East Coast GROW™ program.
Click here to go to Pat Shanley's article in the American Rose Magazine on the 2007 GROW™ program the March 2007 issue.
©Copyright 2007 Great Rosarians of the World™. All Rights Reserved.
