New Ideas on How to Prune Roses in Santa Barbara!

The next meeting of Santa Barbara Rose Society is on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020 from 7 – 9 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall, 909 N La Cumbre Road at Foothill in Santa Barbara. The topic will be “New Ideas on How to Prune Roses in Santa Barbara!”  with live pruning demonstrations and tips from Santa Barbara Rose Society rose experts, including Master Rosarian Dan Bifano, Consulting Rosarian Deb Habr, Mission Roses’ Personal Rose Gardener Denise Speer and SBRS Board Member Linda Buzzell.

Gone are the days when Santa Barbara gardeners were advised to winter-prune their roses almost to the ground as if they lived in coldest New Hampshire! New thinking and research tell us that different types of roses in varying climate conditions will need distinct pruning practices. Whether your roses are Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, David Austins, climbers or Old Garden Roses, there is a pruning method that will work best for them here on the Central Coast.

Come and learn more about how best to care for your beauties, whether with year-round “deep deadheading,” summer pruning for size, no-fuss hedge trimming or traditional but lighter winter pruning to stimulate growth. Master Rosarian Dan Bifano will also provide special tips on caring for roses in public gardens, preparing us for the Saturday, January 11th annual pruning event from 9 am – noon at the A.C. Postel Rose Garden across from Santa Barbara Mission.

Santa Barbara Rose Society meetings are FREE. We invite everyone to come at 7 pm to socialize and sample our refreshments before the 7:15 Little Rose Show and 7:30 pm speaker presentation. Our motto is “Come for the Roses; Stay for the Friends.”

Guests are welcome! If you grow roses, please bring your cut roses to show off and any rose plants you would like to share. We also welcome goodies for our refreshments table and items for our fun raffle.