Yoyo is a sport, or mutation, of the well-known and loved Gizmo. Both are miniature roses, singles (4-8 petals). Gizmo is orange, while Yoyo ranges from a deep velvet red with a white eye in cooler weather, to a deep velvet red with a brilliant white eye but orange stripes in warmer weather. The stripes are individual for each rose, and give each bloom a “hand painted” effect.
DIVISION II – ARRANGEMENTS
A RIOT OF ROSES
SWEEPSTAKES
For the largest number of purple ribbons in Division II ARS Sweepstakes Certificate
Debbie Butcher
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SECTION A – ROYALTY
  QUEEN ELIZABETH – a traditional mass design.
Laurie Price
Roses: Black Magic, Veterans Honor
ARS Royalty Award Rosette
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SECTION B – ARTIST
CHIHULY – any type of Modern design other than Underwater or Parallel
Nancy Core
Roses: Fourth of July
ARS Artist Award Rosette
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SECTION C – ORIENTAL MANNER
Standard arrangements in the Oriental manner
ORIENT SPICE – utilizing a tall container
Lois Brandt
Roses: Trumpeter
ARS Oriental Award Rosette, ARS Gold Medal Certificate
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SECTION D – PRINCESS
Standard arrangement with fresh roses with fresh rose foliage only. Hips, canes (with or without foliage) and roots may be used.Â
PRINCESS OF INDIA
Lois Brandt
Roses: Flower Girl, Marriotta
ARS Princess Award Rosette
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SECTION E – DUCHESS
Standard arrangement with fresh roses with dried and/or treated dried plant material only. No fresh plant material other than roses.Â
MORNING LIGHT
Debbie Butcher
Roses: Love and Peace
ARS Duchess Award Rosette
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SECTION F – DUKE *NEW*
A small arrangement limited to no less than 10 inches and no greater than 20 inches in height, width, and depth. Any type of rose(s) may be used in the arrangement.Â
THE SQUIRE – using all fresh plant material; no accessories.
Nancy Core
Roses: Kings Mountain
ARS Duke Rosette, ARS Silver Certificate
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FAIRHOPE – fresh roses with dried and/or treated dried plant material only. No fresh plant material other than roses.
Lois Brandt
Roses: Yoyo
ARS Bronze Certificate
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SECTION G – COURT OF ETIQUETTE
COGNAC – Functional beverage tray for two.Â
Debbie Butcher
Roses: Daydream, Sweet Chariot
ARS Court of Etiquette Certificate
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SECTION H – KEEPSAKE
Not awarded
SECTION I – ROSECRAFT
Not awarded
SECTION J – MINI-ROYALTY
GOLDEN JEWEL – Line or line-mass design not to exceed 10 inches in height, width, or depth
Royce Weil
Roses: Best Friends, Palmetto Sunrise
ARS Mini-Royalty Award Rosette
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SECTION K – MINI-ARTIST
Miniature modern arrangements, using miniature or mini-flora roses only.
 ALBUQUERQUE ENCHANTMENT – Not to exceed 5 inches in height, width, or depth
Susan Graham
Roses: Best Friends
ARS Mini-Bronze Certificate
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YOYO – Not to exceed 10 inches in height, width, or depth
Tim Price
Roses: Pride and Joy, Earthquake
ARS Mini-Artist Award Rosette
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SECTION L – MINI-ORIENTAL MANNER
Miniature arrangements in the Oriental manner, using miniature or mini-flora roses only.
CHINESE PUZZLE – Freestyle, and not to exceed 10 inches in height, width, or depth
Lois Brandt
Roses: Ruby Baby
ARS Mini-Oriental Award Rosette, ARS Mini-Gold Certificate
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SECTION M – MINI-PRINCESS *NEW*
Miniature arrangement with fresh miniature and/or mini-flora roses with fresh rose foliage only. Hips, canes (with or without foliage) and roots may be used.Â
CHARISMATIC
Debbie Butcher
Roses: Golden Sunblaze
ARS Miniature Princess Rosette
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SECTION N – MINI-DUCHESS *NEW*
Miniature arrangement with fresh miniature and/or mini-floraroses with dried and/or treated dried plant material only.Â
CITY LIGHTS
Susan Graham
Roses: Yoyo
ARS Miniature Duchess Rosette, ARS Mini-Silver Certificate
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SECTION O – MINI-KEEPSAKE
Not awarded
SECTION P – MINI-COURT OF ETIQUETTE
 CREPE SUZETTE – a miniature exhibition breakfast exhibit, with a rose arrangement (“decorative unitâ€), the whole not to exceed 16 inches in width or depth, with no height restrictions other than height should be proportional to the remainder of the exhibit.
Debbie Butcher
Roses: Cupcake
ARS Mini-Court of Etiquette Certificate
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SECTION Q – JUNIOR ARRANGEMENT AWARD
Not awarded
SECTION R – NOVICE AWARD
For those who have won no more than three purple (blue) ribbons in arrangements in ARS-sponsored rose shows.Â
BEDAZZLED – Miniature design, not exceeding 10 inches in height, width, or depth
Royce Weil
Roses: Fresh Pink
Award:Â Permanent trophy
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SECTION S -PERSONAL ADORNMENTS *NEW*
Rose exhibits that contain fresh roses and are worn, carried, or used by a person: contrived for personal adornment
Not awarded
SECTION T – JUDGES
TRULY FAIR
MaryLou Coffman
Roses: Peace
ARS Visiting Judge’s Certificate
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Congratulations to everyone for bringing such beautiful arrangements!
Thanks to the owner of this garden for allowing me to photograph it and use the photos here. All photographs were taken May 4, 2007. Click on the thumbnails for a larger view.
This is a very small city garden, but is artfully arranged to utilize a variety of plants. Roses are the featured plant throughout the garden, but are just beginning to bloom in early May. At the time of our visit, the brightest spots in the garden came from clematis. The clematis was truly spectacular.
‘The President’
‘The President’ with rose ‘Gold Medal’
‘Ernest Markham’
‘Ernest Markham”
As soon as walked into the garden, I was hit by the sweet scent of an Oriental lily. The flower was as lovely as the scent:
Oriental Lily
Here is a sampling of roses in this garden. There will be many more in bloom later this month. Continue reading
Royal Sunset is an oldie but goodie for the desert Southwest. It has dark green, leathery, disease-resistant leaves, large flowers that can have great form (especially for a climber!), a nice scent, and color to knock your socks off. To top it all off, it has long, shapely buds.
It takes about three years for this climber to get fully established. It is well worth the wait. This is a great choice for the Desert Southwest if you are looking for a large-flowered climber.
The first hybrid tea bloom of the year is always exciting in the high desert. One never knows exactly when to expect it, nor what it will look like. What have the late cold spells and especially the prolonged high winds done to the buds? Have thrips already damaged the bloom (for those of us who don’t like to spray, or spray very little)?
My first hybrid tea bloom this year was Gemini, one of my very favorite hybrid teas that thrives in the Desert Southwest. Someone once asked me how I could love a rose that did not have much of a scent. Take a look:
(Gemini, Keith Zary hybridizer, AARS 2000)
What is not to love? This rose blooms prolifically from first bloom to frost, has essentially disease-free foliage, and perfectly formed blooms.
According to Bob Martin, well-known rosarian, it was the top exhibition hybrid tea in 2005 (the 2006 data has not yet been provided). Also check here.
The fact that it is a top exhibition hybrid tea should not frighten away desert gardeners who just want a nice rose for the garden. This is a rose that thrives in the Southwest, is relatively disease-free, has many beautiful blooms that hold their size even in the heat, and can provide a lot of pleasure with routine care.
It is a hybrid tea that I can recommend for anyone in the Southwest who wants to grow a great rose!
Yesterday I had the privilege to judge at the Tucson Rose Show. Judging roses is always fun, but the Tucson show was especially enjoyable this year.
One of the things that made it so enjoyable was meeting new clerks, Cathy and Lena Rose, a mother-daughter team. Lena is eight years old, and not only clerked, but also did the art work for the cover of the printed schedule! As if that were not enough, she also entered an arrangement, and won the Novice Arranger Award! Way to go, Lena!
Mom didn’t do too badly either. Cathy won the Mini Royalty and Mini Silver Certificate in arrangements.
It was really wonderful to see this mother-daughter team involved in such a wonderful hobby together!
Lena and Cathy Rose, clerking team at the Tucson Rose Show
Lena’s winning arrangement in the Novice category
Mom Cathy’s Mini Royalty and Mini Silver winning arrangement
(More arrangements from the Tucson Rose Show here.)
The desert and the native plants growing there never cease to amaze me.
Prickly pear cactus is a native plant used in a lot of landscaping in Tucson and the Sonoran Desert in general.
Yesterday I saw this large piece of prickly pear that had been broken off its main stem and roots by a late freeze followed by high winds (click to enlarge the picture):
“Oh, well, that’s the way it goes,” I thought. But closer inspection showed something rather amazing: the dying plant was giving birth to new prickly pear cacti:
This is just another example of why hope springs eternal among gardeners (and plant lovers) in the Southwest Desert.
This weekend I am in Tucson, located in the Sonoran Desert of the southwest, rather than the high Chihuahuan Desert in which Albuquerque is located. Many years ago I lived here for seven years, and although many things about the city have changed, the plants have remained pretty much the same. Palm trees, which do not grow in the Albuquerque area, are pretty much a staple of cities in the Sonoran Desert.
The first thing I noticed when I arrived yesterday was that the palm trees looked very strange: the centers were green, but the outer fronds were brown and looked dead. I did not recall ever seeing all of them look like that before (click to enlarge image).
“What happened to the palm trees?” I asked.
“All the palms had been trimmed up this spring, but after that there was a late freeze that lasted several days.”
In all the years I lived in Tucson that had never happened. Fortunately, the palms seem to be recovering well.
I have certainly seen that happen to roses in Albuquerque, and I hope I have no pictures of that to show you later this season.
(There are some photos of roses with this type of damage, however, and an excellent discussion here.)
New Mexico is the only place I have ever lived where Spring is not my favorite season. And that is because of the high winds that are a staple of Spring in the high desert.
Gardeners here learn very quickly to keep their plants well-hydrated, at this time of the year as much for the winds as for the temperatures. Nothing can dry a plant out as quickly as the wind!
For the last several days we have had very windy weather. On April 10, we had gusts up to 40 mph, but steady winds around 25 mph. Not good for plants, especially tender young shoots on roses. A lot of new leaves on my roses are looking a little ragged now, but the worst damage was to a new cane, which was snapped completely off:
(Click on thumbnails for larger view)
The rose looked pretty bedraggled with the shoot just hanging there:
Fortunately, this is not the kind of damage that kills a rose. It can be frustrating to see promising shoots damaged so that they have to be removed, but the rest of the plant is fine.
Wind – just another challenge in the desert Southwest.
[ETA 4/14/07: Apparently wind was widespread across the entire Southwest, including California, at about this same time. For photos and discussion of damage in the high desert of California, there is an excellent link here.]
Less than 48 hours after posting “Attention, Hummingbird Lovers” and getting my hummingbird feeders up (three weeks late!), I saw my first hummingbird of the year feeding at one of the feeders. This is the earliest I have seen a hummer in my garden any year. It was a Black Chin male, and I hope he likes the looks of the place for a home for the season!
