My local ARS Society went bust over a decade ago. It was a wonderful group of people and I made friends in that group, some of whom I am still in contact with to this day.

However, it suffered from many of the same problems that it appears most ARS Societies had, and these issues eventually drained the life out of the group until there was no way to proceed.

The ARS Societies I have had dealings with tend to be exactly what the ARS designed them to be: vehicles for Rose Shows and prize winning. Narrowing the focus even more, its about winning prizes within a very narrow scope: Hybrid Tea types (Includes Floribundas and Grandifloras). It is often said that competition brings out the worst in some people, and I have witnessed incidents at Rose Shows that absolutely confirm this. After a couple of particularly ugly scenarios, I opted not to be involved in future events our group put on.

Rose Societies in general have a well-deserved reputation for being Prize-seeking cliques, and this is a deterrent to many outsiders who these groups need to appeal to in order to get new members. Our own group had a terrible time getting new members from the community. Sometimes it was simply the age discrepancy thing that turned people off: I witnessed on several occasions new people in their 20's or 30's come to a meeting, and you could see their discomfort when they realized they were in the company of 70 and 80 year olds. I think its fair to say that when these people left after one meeting and never returned, it was because they were being judgemental of the group because of age. That's not the group's fault, but its also easy to understand why this presented a problem for our Society to get new members under 60 involved. Our group found this an insurmountable problem, and in spite of being aware of it, none of the ideas about welcoming younger participants produced results. So, the group got older and members gradually quit (or passed away), and a critical point was reached: the group dissolved.

In 2023, I suspect the biggest obstacle ARS Societies face is the public perception that Rose Societies are an anachronism - a group whose primary goal is growing roses for competition and prizes. The ARS has done very little to dispel this perception, so its not hard to see why the various ARS groups struggle to remain viable.

The best groups I ever came in contact with were the OGR Societies, like the ones in California. It seems to me that once you remove the prize-seeking agenda, its attracts a more relaxed and welcoming spectrum of people, and the public sees this as an attractive thing and wants to get involved. So you gotta wonder, why does the ARS flail and falter in their effort to grow their ranks?

Our local ARS Society seems to be largely inactive. I think it went downhill when our dear Jim Delahanty died. WE left because without JD, all forms of rose promotion ceased, and the Board wouldn't consider any activities. They must not be having meetings, because there are no notices.

Most recently, the advent of COVID put paid to a lot of rose activity . . . even for us in the Heritage Roses Group. I'm HOPING that we can take part in an Heirloom Exposition here, come next Fall. That would really allow us to do a lot to spread the word.

@User You hit what I experienced in a couple of the rose societies square on the head.

I wonder if rose societies just put on shows with no awards that would bring more people in?

"I wonder if rose societies just put on shows with no awards that would bring more people in?"

HA HA HA HA!!! I was president of our local group for a brief stint many years ago, and a few of us on the board proposed exactly that: shows, but no prizes. That went down like the proverbial lead balloon. Many people were deeply offended by the idea, so we dropped it.

"Most recently, the advent of COVID put paid to a lot of rose activity"

I hadn't taken that into account, since my involvement with ARS groups ended long before COVID. I'm sure that many special interest "clubs" went defunct since 2020. Nobody I know still attends any of their club meetups, and the groups that still function seem to do so only via Zoom meetings (which I dislike immensely).

I hope the HRG continues to do its work, Jeri, but its only gotten more difficult for groups like that in the past few years.

I joined my local Central FL Rose Society a couple of years ago . My intention was to learn about local rose growing . I never entered in any rose show nor attended any meetings , I am not a public person . only read the monthly newsletter which had useful information . Sadly the members were getting older and no new members joined so they had to shut down the society . I really miss the monthly articles .

@jerijen The Ventura County Rose Society has indeed gone downhill since Jim Delahanty died... gradually, then precipitously. I was a member for many years, but never attended meetings, etc., because they were far from me. The reason I was a member was Jim and his brilliant writing and efforts. We were email friends, and despite trying, never got to meet. Last year, the person in charge of VCRS quit due to lack of interest and support, and they were considering disbanding, but suddenly a bunch of folks stepped up. I haven't paid dues for several years, but I'm still on their email. It's the perfect example of one brilliant hard-working person sustaining a rose society.

I left mine a couple years ago when I moved to a farther suburb, left the crowded college town, it’s too far for me to go to their evening meetings, 45 mins away. The club used to have more members, but there were two groups of people fighting over the leadership, then one group left and started their own club. That one is also far from me, an hour away. You’d think gardeners are more peaceful. Wrong ! Gardeners got more hot air from the sun.LoL

Haha, summersrhythm. I think any organization eventually comes to that--fighting over leadership, or other stuff. Humans are indeed full of hot air.

If you want a funny take on the whole rose show competition thing, I recommend the book, "Otherwise Normal People" which is a behind the scenes look at rose shows and the nuttiness of the people who compete in them, and are otherwise normal. It was written about 2006, so surely ARS was on the downswing by then. Diane

Summersrhythm, it is funny, isn't it? The HOA that runs the neighborhood I live in formed a volunteer gardener's club type of thing so that they could plan and plant the areas by the signs at the entrances to our neighborhood. It started with just 3 members, and one of them kept trying to get me to join, but in the same conversations would complain about how they couldn't agree on what should be planted. They all wanted only their own favorite plants, and none of them would budge on it. Even when the plant selection was completely inappropriate for our conditions... So I declined. No way was I getting in the middle of that!

@Mischievous Magpie (CO 5b) Ha! That's pretty funny.

I'm torn between wanting to participate in a garden club regularly, and historically having chosen not to participate in what garden clubs already exist around town. I'm an introvert and there's just something intimidating about stepping into an established group activity. I also work full-time and treasure my off-hours for gardening and hanging out with friends; I can't imagine how folks with kids get anything done at all. (Maybe they don't?) Finally, it seems that the timing of events is always while I'm working (the Native Plant Society is especially guilty of this) or while I'm in bed (I'm a baker).

I always tell myself I'll make more of an effort in the future but I rarely do. Maybe this year!

I actually have wondered whether or not the Ventura Co. RS current "leaders" are aware that, should they disband, the money in their treasury must go to the Santa Barbara RS. I've wondered about that . . .

For a while, BTW, when Jim Delahanty was there, VCRS really did put on events . . . Rose shows with some sales . . . that had no prizes. I liked it a lot.

But it stopped when Jim was not there, so . . .

I would enjoy being part of a local group that shared knowledge and ideas, visited gardens, and even had competetions/shows. I’ve found most groups have been closed since covid or only meet at times convenient to retired folks.

Updating to add, I was now able to watch your video, Brandon. I agree with a lot of what you said. A good way to diversify membership is to diversify leadership. If the group is aging, bring in young leaders. And yes, there is a wealth of roses beyond the 3 focused-on.

I am a life member of the ARS. Mostly because decades ago, other members in one now defunct rose society talked about joining when they were 40 and how it paid for itself in fifteen years. I figured when I joined it would be eighteen to break even, but it was a lot less as the membership price skyrocketed.

Let's mention national meetings. My first was in Charlotte and I was surprised how few vendors were there. And how few members given the membership at that time of over 20,000.

Compare that with the Heritage Meeting in California in 2005. It was probably the best attended rose meeting as percentage of membership ever, anywhere. Why? A great three day program that brought people from all over the country, that was California centric, and California had a lot to say that was worth hearing.

Too many meetings have had the same talks by many of the same people. Younger folks have limited vacations and it's not worth traveling for three hours of information you can read elsewhere.

A lot of folks I've known through roses are dead. I still have three good rose friends who I talk to . We remain members of Asheville Blue Ridge and they are holding their own in part because they have a rose garden they tend, they have an unjudged show every spring at the local arboreteum and they participate in a major ag fair in the fall. They also work with other garden clubs with plant sales, fertilizer buys, etc. But what has kept them going is the garden, even though it's changed its focus, it still is a reason to meet and tend.

I think that membership in societies and clubs of all kinds has been on a multi-decade decline. Bowling league, golf club, gardening club, Rotary, Masons, motorcycle clubs, car clubs, Elks, Knights, even temples and churches - all generally have fewer members than they used to, even as population has increased. There are probably a few isolated cases where membership has increased (pickleball club?), but they are against a much larger trend.

The average person might be relatively poorer and busier than our counterparts of the 1950s (though certainly we still have it good as compared to people from past centuries). Also, people are moving around the country far less than they did before. So there's less of a need to connect with people in an unfamiliar place.

I also think that technology helps people find social communities with less effort than before. Imagine if there was no Houzz or Gardenweb at all, who would you all talk plants with? Even if your local ARS drove you crazy, many of us would probably show up at least to have some social outlet.

I am grateful for online forums like this to share information, but I also would like to make some local connections. I'm not in any local plant societies or clubs, mostly due to my lack of free time, but I would try to attend selected events.

I think the idea of social events open to non-members is a good one. I can't imagine too many non-members would show up for intense prize judging. But make it an outdoor event with food, music (and maybe some wine), and I think people would come out for it. An event like that is certainly not a magic bullet to fix the problems of every club, but it could be an asset.

On a tangent from this topic - I don't know if you all like British TV, but if you do, I give a strong recommendation to the show "Detectorists". It focuses on two friends who belong to a niche interest club, and how much their hobby and their shared friendship means to them. That show has a special place in my heart. :)

I just went to my first-in-a-long-time local rose society meeting last night. About 30 people. Young and old. Mix of ethnicities. One hour long meeting. The bulk of it was a program presented by 2 ladies from a Botanical Garden north of us (one lady was the whole garden director, the other lady the person in charge of the Rose garden/room at the botanical garden). After the program some simple announcements, Q&A time, refreshments. They mentioned that they usually 'have a raffle' but there wasn't one that night. They are putting together a 'field trip with lunch' to visit this botanical garden during May when roses are blooming. Next month's program has a presenter joining us via zoom to present (cool, I like it).

People seemed nice, friendly. Several self described 'rose newbies' came up to us to talk. Several potential old timers? did not. I had not been to a meeting since 2014.

thanks for the video Brandon. Interesting reading through all the comments.

I joined a somewhat local rose society early last year because I liked their focus--on preserving rare, older garden roses. California Coastal Rose Society. It takes a bit of a drive to get there but the group is very welcoming.

I have attended every month, and volunteered to help out with their events. My son has joined me a few times to help as well. He's 10 so he is honored to be part of the team, and he has been very welcomed by the group! ;)

I don't want to appear spammy but I'll post a link this week to the upcoming auction site and list of roses for sale. All proceeds go to preserve more roses!

@kathyc_z10_socal Oh yeah, the California Coastal Rose Society is great! Don't hesitate to post info on them here :-D

great!

Here is the info on the upcoming CCRS auction. I'll also start a thread so others are notified. Check out the list of roses offered in the auction!

California Coastal Rose Society Rare and Unusual Roses Auction

April 16, 2023

10 am - 3 pm

El Corazon Senior Center

California Coastal Rose Society auction website: https://www.ccrsauction.com/index.php

67 roses are currently listed for the silent auction. You can download a bid form sand email it in to indicate your highest bid. The list of live auction plants has not been uploaded yet.

Ways to bid:

==> Bid silently April 1 - April 14 (fill out the bidding sheet and send it via email)

==> Attend in person for both the silent and live auction at the El Corazon Senior Center ( 3302 Senior Center Drive, Oceanside, CA 92054)

Silent and live auction plants will be on view from 10:00 am. Live auction will begin at 1:30 pm.

We do offer ways to bid in real time through a proxy.

Kathy, I've looked at the website, etc..... don't see anything about shipping?