CHEMICAL FREE ROSES? and GRANTS FOR SCHOOL GARDENS

by BRENDA BEUST SMITH   

 

At left, above, Houston's now-gone Rose Garden in Hermann Park. At right, the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden where many of the 600+ different varieties reflect former curator Peter E. Kukielski's emphasis on moving away from chemical-dependent varieties.

CHEMICAL-FREE (GRAFTED) ROSE GROWING?

There was a time, here in Houston, when it was just a given fact: if you're going to grow prize grafted roses, expect to use a lot of chemicals. That is changing, albeit slowly, and in town to discuss the latest news on Jan. 11 will be Peter E. Kukielski, former curator of the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden.

Gorgeous classic roses have been automatically associated with high chemical use everywhere, but even more so here with our high humidity, floods, droughts, high temperatures and plethora of insects and disease. The tide is turning here thanks to the popularity of super-tough "antique" roses, 100+-year-old varieties found growing totally on their own, blooming like crazy, in graveyards and abandoned farmyards and the yards of older homes.

What's the difference? Antiques grow on their own roots, which makes them hardier than "grafted" roses. One variety bred for spectacular bloom color/size/shape is grafted onto a stronger rose rootstock. This "marriage" does work. But, in reality, grafted roses often require heavy chemical treatments to remain as hardy and bloom-producing in the garden as they are in the carefully-tended grower's environment. Catalogs don't usually warn customers that this may be the case.

Did you know Houston's Rose Society is the largest rose society in the nation?

HRS members do an incredible job of informing gardeners of the hardiest own-root and grafted roses to grow here, along with promoting culture practices to eliminate the use chemical treatments - if local gardeners would just take the time to attend HRS events or log onto its website: www.houstonrose.org.

On Jan. 16, Peter E. Kukielski, former curator of the Peggy Rockefeller Garden will detail the remarkable advances being made in chemical-free rose growing at the 2014 Sadie Gwin Blackburn Environmental Seminar in the Museum of Fine Arts' Brown Auditorium, 1001 Bissonnet.  Coffee-9:30am, lecture-10am. Free, but limited space; reservation required. Tickets: http://www.mfah.org/; phone: 713-639-7771; in person: MFAH Admissions desk. The event is sponsored by the River Oaks Garden Club. 

If you love growing roses, this is a not-to-miss opportunity.

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SPEAKING OF ROSES . . .

The beautiful, historic Houston All-American Rose Garden in Hermann Park, long treasured by the Houston Rose Society, is no more. Closed for the creation of the proposed new 8-acre "McGovern Centennial Gardens," which will include a Rose Garden. 

At this point, it doesn't appear that the nation's largest rose society, our Houston Rose Society, will play any part in planning Houston's new Rose Garden.

Seems strange to me.

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Crespo Elementary students in this East End school garden.

Dora B. Lantrip Elementary Environmental Magnet School gardeners and fruit tree growers!

THEY'RE EVERYWHERE - GRANTS FOR SCHOOL GARDENS

Aren't those the greatest pictures? Be proud!

On hundreds of elementary, middle and high school campuses across the Greater Houston area, school gardens are now growing strong - even through winter - with natives as well as vegetables.

Most are the result of a single teacher's, or energetic parent's dream, an idea that found support among the school's faculty and administrators. Those gardens that continue to flourish even if the teacher/parent leaves usually have strong support from volunteering parents.

But even those gardens that last only as long as that single teacher is present are usually utilized by a wide variety of creative classrooms for a wide variety of subjects from math and English to science and history.

At the recent Houston Botanic Garden fundraising luncheon, I had the privilege of sitting next to Sylvia Gonzales who works at Crespo Elementary, located close to the proposed East End site of the Houston Botanic Garden. Sylvia was overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the benefit to children from having a botanic garden so close by and not just for those at her school. One estimate identifies over 12,000 students in East End public schools alone who will be significantly impacted by the botanic garden's outreach programs.

Crespo has a school garden, above, funded by the American Heart Association's Teaching Gardens program. With the approval of her principal, Sylvia successfully applied for the grant and now curriculums for all grade levels utilize the garden, which has the support of many parent volunteers. They have to report back to the AHA. One big challenge was making sure the courtyard soil was free from dangerous components, which they did through the HISD Risk Management office. The grant covered setting up the project. But on their Wish List for 2014 are funds to purchase more soil, seedlings and organic fertilizers.

At nearby Dora B. Lantrip Elementary Environmental Magnet School (above), a partnership between the school and Lantrip Blooms, a parent group, obtained a $20,000 Lowe's Keep America Beautiful Community Improvement Grant for its school garden. This extensive project calls for raised beds, butterfly gardens, fruit orchards and interactive learning stations for various curriculums, with implementation all done by volunteers.

An additional grant from the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation enabled Lantrip students and volunteers to plant 30 fruit trees in their orchard.  In December, the foundation made special presentations at Lantrip and Stephen F. Austin High School Magnet School for Teaching Professions.

Principal Magdalena Strictland points out that the plantings and Lantrip's entire garden program (above) fits right in with its "Brighter Bites" curriculum that teaches children to eat more fruits and vegetables. 

Both Sylvia and Lantrip's Judith Cruz were happy to share their grant sources:

* Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (http://ftpf.org/)

* Lowe's Toolbox for Education (www.lowes.com/socialresponsibility)

I did a quick Google search of "school garden grants" and was overwhelmed by the number of available resources.

If you have any school garden grant resources to recommend, please share.

Let's start 2014 off on a positive note.  The domino effect of these school gardens can be almost too overwhelming to contemplate.

If you know of other garden funding resources schools can contact, please email me at lazygardener@sbcglobal.net. I'll be glad to share through this column.       

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Check our Calendar of Garden Events below.  Don't see your group's activity listed?  That's because no one sent it to us!  Make sure your events are listed by emailing them to lazygardener@sbcglobal.net.  Events will not be picked up from other publications.