Think Spring: Roses Program At Booth Library

Members of The Garden Club of Newtown will begin to think about spring with a program on roses this month. Guest speaker Ann Hooper will be presenting a program she calls “The New Era of American Roses” on

The public is invited to attend Ms Hooper’s program, free of charge.

In her talk Ms Hooper will discuss new American roses and explain how and why roses are easier to grow now than ever before. She will talk about the new disease-resistant roses that require less care than the roses gardeners have grown in the past, as well as the new own-root roses that can eliminate the need for providing labor-intensive winter protection for rose gardens.

Ms Hooper is an American Rose Society-certified Consulting Rosarian who grows more than 350 rose plants at her home in Reading, Mass. She is the sole proprietor of Hooper, Cuisbane & Krellman, a marketing communications firm specializing in the promotion of roses and rose culture.

She is also the owner and chief executive officer of Primary Products, a mail order company that sells gardening supplies to people who grow roses.

A graduate of Boston University, Ms Hooper’s interest in horticulture began in the early 1970s. She has concentrated her gardening efforts in a variety of areas over the years and is extremely knowledgeable in regard to roses, orchids, perennials, annuals, ornamental shrubs, bulbs, African violets and turf.

Ms Hooper has written many articles about roses and rose culture that have been published in American Rose, National Gardening, Woman’s Day, Ladies Home Journal and Flower & Garden magazines. For two years she wrote a monthly column on rose culture for Flower & Garden.

Additionally, she is the editor of the very successful Roses for Dummies, she has been a special contributor on roses for The Boston Globe, and she is WCVB-TV’s Garden Editor.

She has served in a variety of national and regional positions for the American Rose Society.

The program will begin at 1 pm and will be in the Olga Knoepke Memorial Room of Cyrenius H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street. There is no charge and registration is not required.  For more information call 270-1108.