Summertime and the livin’ is easy…but not so much in the rose garden. The summer rose pests love our roses almost as much as we do, and this is extremely challenging for rosarians. We need a plan for pest management. What is your plan?

In June we have one presentation and two speakers, Beth Van Boxtel and Rita Perwich. Both Beth and Rita are Master Gardeners and Consulting Rosarians. Both speakers are American Rose Society Consulting Rosarians and UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners in San Diego. Rita Perwich writes the monthly column entitled “The Sustainable Rose Garden” for the San Diego Union Tribune. She teaches presentations and writes about growing roses sustainably without pesticides and stresses the importance of healthy soil and protecting the beneficials in the garden. She has served as editor of Roses & You, the monthly e-newsletter of the American Rose Society. In 2022 she was awarded Outstanding Consulting Rosarian for the Pacific Southwest District by the American Rose Society. A retired attorney, Rita teaches the annual pruning workshop in Coronado and has been chairing the Rose Section of the Coronado Flower Show for over 20 years. The Perwich garden has been judged the Best Coronado Garden and Best Runner Up garden several times. Rita has a Certified Earth Friendly Garden, and she does not use pesticides or fungicides. Her garden is beautiful and fragrant and includes 100 roses and a diverse palette of many other plants. For Rita, the pleasures of growing roses are to be outside in nature, to share roses and her passion for roses with others, and to meet and teach the wonderful group of people who grow or want to grow roses. Beth will outline the summer pests we are likely to encounter. Rita will present her non-pesticide approach to managing pests which includes the cultural, mechanical and biological controls of Integrated Pest Management. Integrated Pest Management has an extra control and that is the judicious use of chemical and organic pesticides. Beth will outline the use of pesticides and their efficacy, cautions and dangers.

Are you ready to learn different methods in your management of pests that could make you a better and more successful rose gardener? Don’t miss this presentation that will teach you important and differing approaches to safeguard and keep plants at their optimal health in the summer.

We will have a Little Rose Show this month. There will be a Consulting Rosarian corner this month. There will be a rose auction at this meeting.

Directions to Casa del Prado, Room 101: The Casa del Prado building is immediately west of the Natural History Museum. Entrances to the Casa del Prado lead to an inner court. The rooms are accessible from the court. Room 101 is downstairs on the east end of the court.