June
P r e s e n t a t i o n
CCRS is pleased to announce that Jeri and Clay Jennings will be the Guest Lecturers at 7:00pm on Tuesday June 16th, 2009. The talk is entitled: "So, you think that you want to be a Rose Rustler?" It is educational, extremely entertaining and beautifully illustrated with photographs. This is an hour that you will most definitely enjoy. To learn more about Jeri and Clay read on:
The names of Jeri and Clay Jennings have been synonymous with roses, particularly Old Roses, for decades. Increasingly this association has referred to their pursuit and preservation of "found" roses.
Jeri and Clay met at a dog show, another one of their passions, which they still pursue. At the time they met, neither of them gardened. A chance request Jeri received many years ago changed her life. A woman in Hancock Park asked Jeri to find the "most highly rated roses" for her 1920 home. In the process of this search, Jeri "became intrigued with Old Roses, as graceful Shrubs, which bloom"--the apparent spark which ignited the interest in and pursuit of Old Garden Roses she has enjoyed ever since.
In late 2001/early 2002, she and Clay followed their dream of pursuing their interest in Old Roses and formed the Gold Coast Heritage Rose Group, an affiliate of the Heritage Rose Groups. Jeri and Clay have traveled across the United States in their motor home in pursuit of forgotten roses. They have discovered many beautiful roses in old cemeteries, long deserted and neglected gardens, open fields and along old roads. Their pursuit of identification and preservation of unknown roses also extends to many roses discovered by others.
At home in their private garden in Camarillo they enjoy approximately 300 roses-mostly Teas, Chinas, and Noisettes. They also grow a few modern and semi- modern Hybrid Teas and shrub roses which they treat like shrubs and only lightly prune. They stopped spraying their garden years ago and now concentrate on roses which thrive without chemical assistance.
Jeri has been awarded the ARS Bronze Medal and is a prolific and accomplished writer, a much- sought-after speaker, an active Consulting Rosarian, and an excellent teacher. Jeri and Clay are active members of the Heritage Rose Groups, Heritage Rose Foundation, American Rose Society, and the Santa Barbara Rose Society. Together she and Clay have won too many exhibiting awards and trophies to mention (most of them involving Old Garden Roses). Jeri also is very active in various online rose sites and "Cyber-CRs." In 2007, rose breeder Paul Barden introduced the 'Jeri Jennings' rose in her honor, a lovely golden yellow Hybrid Musk rose with strong musk fragrance with clusters of old-fashioned bloom form. Jeri and Clay were jointly awarded the Pacific Southwest District Outstanding CR Award for 2002.
