В Марине пройдет лекция всемирно известного селекционера Томаса Каррута о его жизни и розах

It will be all things Tom Carruth when the Marin and San Francisco rose societies welcome this world-renowned rose industry professional to the Marin Art and Garden Center on Tuesday to present his illustrated lecture “A Life With Roses.” Not familiar with Carruth? He’s sort of a big deal in the rose world. You might recognize some of the many rose plants he’s created over his 50-year career in roses, such as the ‘Julia Child’; ‘Marilyn Monroe’; ‘Hot Cocoa’; ‘Betty Boop’; ‘Fourth of July’; ‘Stainless Steel’; ‘Neil Diamond’; ‘Barbra Streisand’; ‘Scentimental’; ‘Chris Evert’; ‘Rockin’ Robin’; ‘Flutterbye’; ‘Dick Clark’; ‘Wild Blue Yonder’; ‘George Burns’; and ‘Della Reese’ roses. The evening will begin with complimentary refreshments and feature a rose show composed of only Carruth rose varieties grown in Bay Area gardens and a raffle of potted Carruth roses. Anyone can enter their Carruth garden rose, but points are only given to members. Membership is $25 annually. Some of the raffle’s roses, donated by Sloat Garden Center, will be 3- or 5-gallon pots of Carruth-created roses like ‘Julia Child’; ‘Dick Clark’; ‘Cinco de Mayo’; ‘Neil Diamond’; ‘Barbra Streisand’; ‘Uptown Girl’; ‘Rock and Roll’; and ‘Easy Spirit.’ Each rose is valued between $40 and $60. The price of raffle tickets has not been disclosed yet, but Rudi Dundas, co-vice president of the Marin Rose Society, says they will be very affordable. “Each year we choose a special speaker as our ‘main event’ of the year,” said Dundas, who is also in charge of the Marin Rose Society’s programs. “Tom Carruth was the unanimous first choice as the person we feel who has most contributed to the roses we all grow and love here in the Bay Area. He’s responsible for over 150 cultivars of the roses we grow today. “There’s probably not a rose garden in the Bay Area without at least some of Tom’s roses featured in it. Tom’s innovations in bringing back fragrance while increasing disease resistance and exploring exciting new color variations in roses like ‘Rock and Roll’ and ‘Neil Diamond’ have changed rose gardens worldwide.” Dundas herself includes many Carruth-bred roses among the many old garden roses she grows in her Point Reyes garden. “I was first attracted to their color, and there’s such variety,” she said. “I do love the mauves like his ‘Blueberry Hill’ and his purple ‘Ebb Tide’ and I also really love the way ‘Hot Cocoa’ has those slightly darker tips so that it is not just a solid red rose.” Beyond the colors, though, she’s come to appreciate the value Carruth roses add to her garden of 120 roses and to their disease resistance and fragrance. “For example, I hardly ever fertilize my ‘Huntington’s 100th,’ and have never found any of the rust and powdery mildew that’s such a problem for roses in my Point Reyes foggy climate,” she said. “It’s my first rose to bloom, and it just keeps on blooming deep into winter. I finally have to cut off big sprays of blossoms in late January in order to do my winter pruning. Now that is a rose!” Carruth first started hybridizing roses in 1975 at Jackson & Perkins and then spent 26 years as chief hybridizer at Weeks Roses. He focused on creating roses that were more garden-friendly than fussy divas, keeping his eye on attributes such as fragrance, disease resistance, attractive habit, abundant blooms and novelty. Along the way, he accumulated 11 All-America Rose Selections and received the Luther Burbank Award for extraordinary achievement in the field of plant breeding from the American Horticultural Society. “I personally admire Tom for his daring and persistence in breeding very difficult strains of roses like the Hulthemia roses (roses with a striking dark-colored blotch at the center of their blossoms), such as ‘Easy on the Eyes’ and ‘In Your Eyes’ from the wild Rosa persica,” Dundas said. “’Ebb Tide’ was a real breakthrough in terms of its deep velvet purple color.” Currently, Carruth curates the rose collection at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. He’s responsible for Huntington’s 3-acre rose garden, home to more than 1,300 rose cultivars and 2,500 shrubs. Carruth is overseeing the renovation of the rose garden and will also speak on its progress during his presentation. Dundas encourages garden lovers to bring their questions. “Tom’s love for roses is infectious and inspiring, and anyone who hears him talk will want to grow more roses,” Dundas said. “You will not be disappointed.” For more information, go to marinrose.org. Show off If you have a beautiful or interesting Marin garden or a newly designed Marin home, I’d love to know about it. Please send an email describing either one (or both), what you love most about it, and a photograph or two. I will post the very best ones in upcoming columns. Your name will be published, and you must be over 18 years old and a Marin resident. PJ Bremier writes on home, garden, design and entertaining topics every Saturday. She may be contacted at P.O. Box 412, Kentfield 94914, or at [email protected].