8    January 2005      The CRS CommPoster
 

 

 

 

 


Yes. We do Have a Choice:                      

                            Continued from Page 7

 

flora’.  Soil and foliar applications of Rosa Flora seem to control black spot. Treating rose beds during dormant and growing seasons offer excellent protection against black spot in a number of rose cultivars.  Foliar application of Rose Flora along with Wilt Pruf appears to be more effective.

 

Investing time, energy, and money on chemical or biological control agents take the joy out of growing roses. Gardeners and breeders should focus their attention on long-lasting solutions than on temporary solutions. Rosarians should demand disease resistant roses from the breeders. We have hundreds of roses with a wide range of color spectrum.  There is a real need for roses with disease resistance genes.  Would it not be nice to have ‘Touch of Class’ that is completely resistant to fungal diseases?  Researcher should focus their attention in introducing rose genes into the existing roses to produce new improved cultivars.

 

Editor’s note: This article is a reprint taken, with approval, from Dr. Sridharan’s website, www.lakshmi-sridharan.com.  You may not be familiar with some of the chemical names and they may not be available in you area.  We will seek further information from Canadian sources

 

 

 

OBITUARY

 

Muriel (Gidley) Stafford

 

We are sad to report that Muriel Stafford passed away at age 98 in Toronto in January 2005.

 

Born in Leamington, Ontario in 1906, Muriel Gidley studied piano and organ as a girl.  She came to Toronto in 1925 and soon thereafter became the youngest organist ever at Jarvis Street Baptist Church.  She also led their well-known choir.  As a professional organist, she later became the first woman President of the Canadian College of Organists.

 

In 1957 she married Merrill Stafford and they moved to a large home with a large garden.  Upon her retirement, Muriel became known for her garden as much as for her organ playing.  Near the house it was a gardener’s garden with many roses and botanical rarities.  As you went down the slope into a steep ravine, it gradually became more and more of a woodland garden, but always carefully planned under Muriel’s meticulous eye.  It was the scene of many happy rose events.

 

Muriel was a long time member of the Canadian Rose Society, the Greater Toronto Rose & Garden Society and many other horticultural societies.  She will be missed.

 

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