“What’s New in Roses!” with Huntington Rose Curator & Rose Hybridizer Tom Carruth

This month’s speaker is Tom Carruth, legendary rose hybridizer (‘Julia Child,’ ‘Cinco de Mayo,’ ‘Strike it Rich,’ ‘Hot Cocoa,’ ‘Marilyn Monroe,’ ‘Scentimental’ and many more) and rose curator at the Huntington Gardens in San Marino, CA. A very entertaining speaker, Tom will talk and show slides about “What’s New in Roses!”

In 2012 Tom retired from his hybridizing work at Weeks Roses to become the E.L. & Ruth B. Shannon Curator of the Rose Collection at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens.  He is responsible for The Huntington’s three-acre Rose Garden which showcases more than 1280 cultivars and some 2500 individual shrubs. Established in 1908, the historic landscape is among the most beautiful areas of the grounds, frequently cited by visitors as a favorite Huntington attraction. Tom is overseeing the renovation of the Rose Garden with an eye on refocusing the rose collection to equal the beauty of the other spectacular gardens at the Huntington.

Santa Barbara Rose Society meetings are FREE. We invite everyone to come at 7 pm to socialize and sample our refreshments before the 7:15 Little Rose Show and 7:30 pm speaker presentation. Our motto is “Come for the Roses; Stay for the Friends.”

Guests are welcome! If you grow roses, please bring your cut roses to show off and any rose plants you would like to share. We also welcome goodies for our refreshments table and items for our fun raffle.

Photo credit: Karen Zimmerman