The 2016 North Central District convention, “Holidays In Roses” will be held September 16 - 18. The convention committee has been working hard to assure all attendees have a great convention experience. The Holiday Inn Hotel Pewaukee-Milwaukee West is conveniently located at I-94 and Highway 164. The facilities here are wonderful, just minutes away from Milwaukee attractions. Here is the fun that awaits you.

There will be a hospitality gathering Friday evening that, for the first time, will include a pre-show challenge class called Pick-A-Pair. This class will “pair” an experienced exhibitor with a relative newbie. They will each contribute and groom a rose from each of their gardens to be shown as a pair. Any combination is allowed: same variety; same color; complementary colors; one large and one small – you get the idea. Grooming and judging will be done Friday evening on a rather informal basis but the learning, camaraderie and excitement will be the same as you’ll find in Saturday’s show. This is a great way for our experienced exhibitors to mentor a new rose grower or perhaps to mentor an experienced grower who has never exhibited before. So set up your pairs and plan to join in the fun.

We will of course have a rose show Saturday. The show schedule will soon be posted at www.ncdrose.org. Be sure to checkout the NCD challenge classes as well as the ARS Pavey National Arrangement class, which we host once every 18 years. Let’s have great participation in all of these classes this year.

Following a deluxe sandwich buffet lunch you will have time to visit the showroom prior to our afternoon speaker. Baldo Villegas, the 2015 recipient of the ARS Klima Medal. Baldo, or the Bug Man as he is affectionately known, has been an entomologist for more than 30 years, and is a sought-after speaker around the country. Baldo has been an American Rose Society Horticulture Judge and Consulting Rosarian since 1987. Come and find out what’s “bugging your roses.”

Our banquet speaker is Robert Martin, vice president of the American Rose Society and another recipient of the ARS Klima Medal. He is also an ARS Master Rosarian, an ARS Horticultural Judge and an ARS Arrangement Judge. Bob is a passionate rose evangelist and a prolific writer. He is the editor of the American Rose Society quarterly publication, Rose Exhibitors’ Forum and national editor of Horizon Roses. He will be speaking the future of roses and the future of the ARS. Please come to find out what is in our future!

On Sunday we have a great bus tour to the fabulous private garden of Doug Amon. Over 400 roses will greet you with a riot of color and fragrance. For the next hour or so you will be immersed in the garden, seeing and smelling blooms that are as big as salad plates, discovering roses that aren’t even in production anymore and wondering what the trick is to growing rose bushes this big and healthy in Wisconsin. Beverages and snacks will be supplied and you will be back to the hotel before 1 PM. Be sure to catch the article on Doug’s garden in the May/June issue of The. American Rose. It will whet your appetite to see more of this labor of love.

Please spread the word and put September 16 - 18 on your society’s calendar so all your members can plan now to attend this wonderful “Holiday” weekend. Inquiries can be made to Convention Chair, Diane Sommers at dmsommers21@gmail.com. Full registration materials will soon be found at www.ncdrose.org. Hotel reservations can be made at 262-506-6300 with the code NCD or ARS.