Summer 2024: If You Can Grow Weeds - You Can Grow Roses!

Roses have lived in the United States for more than 34 millions years, making it one of the oldest ornamental plants in this country! This legacy speaks volumes for how tough this family of flowers has proven to be. In South Texas, roses have the longest blooming period of any other flowering plant and some varieties bloom continuously every month, even when the temperature gets down to 20 degrees. This is one reason that gardeners turn to rose plants when designing a landscape. The key to success with roses is simple - the right variety, good food, adequate water and a nice place to live. And, like everything else, it is important to know what to watch for and do if the train starts coming off the track. Join us on August 3rd and hear Gaye's entertaining presentation on "rose growing for beginners".

Gaye Hammond is the Past President of the Houston Rose Society. She is a life member and patron of American Rose Society and has served the national organization in many capacities over the years. In addition, Gaye was awarded the Glenda Whitaker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Membership Development. Some say that she is a member-generating machine!

In June 2022, the Center for Invasive Species & Ecosystem Health at the University of Georgia appointed Gaye as an evaluator of roses suspected for rose rosette disease.

Since 2002, Gaye has been the well-known study liaison between the Houston Rose Society and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in connection with the Earth-Kind Rose Research Program, a scientific study originally designed to identify the most carefree disease resistant roses for Southern gardens. She is also a founder and director of the American Rose Trials for Sustainability, a regional rose trialing program to determine hardy roses for all regions of the United States.

Gaye is an international lecturer, photographer and an avid writer of more than 400 articles that have been published in the popular press as well as numerous peer-reviewed scientific papers published in HortTechnology, HortScience, American Nurseryman, Nursery Management and others. She has co-authored a peer-reviewed book chapter on Earth-Kind Rose published in 2009 in Floriculture & Ornamental Biotechnology, a chapter in The Sustainable Rose Garden and authored a chapter in the book, A Garden Book for Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast. Most recently, Gaye has served as a peer reviewer for Yale University Press for publication of the book, Rosa: The Story of the Rose.

Her photography has appeared on the cover of HortScience.