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KTBS Podcasting and the Committee of 100 present Good to Know Shreveport-Bossier, a podcast series showcasing the good things happening in our area. We’ll go in-depth about economic development, community growth and other topics about initiatives that are having a positive impact in our community. We’ll have new episodes every other Wednesday. You can find the KTBS Good to Know podcast wherever you listen to podcasting. Or go to KTBS.com or KTBS Now on your streaming device to see the full interview.
Hello again, everybody.
Welcome to another edition of Good to Know
Sri for a Voter,
this is a podcast showcasing
all the good things, the positive
things happening in around our community
in the Shreveport Bougie area.
My name is Jeff Balmforth.
Over here is Paul Reiser. He's my co-host.
I'm stuck with him,
so we make the best of it.
He's a member of the Committee of 100.
In every podcast,
we focus on topics and initiatives
that do, as I said,
have a positive impact on the community.
We have new episodes available
every other Wednesday,
and you can find good to know
wherever you listen to podcast.
So with that,
I'll let Paul do the honors
as always and introduce our special guest.
Well, thank you, Jeff and honor as always.
Of course, before I do the introduction,
I got to ask you a question.
Do you know where the headquarters for
the National the American Road Society is?
I'm just going to take a shot.
Shreveport, Shreveport.
How about that? It's
not just the Shreveport Rose Center.
It's the American Rose Center
right here in Shreveport.
And they bring so much commerce and
so much interesting things to the area.
They're doing millions of dollars
worth of renovations.
I didn't know all this stuff,
but I'm excited
because today we're going to find out.
You're you probably already know Jeff.
Not so much.
Well, I know that a rose
by any other name is no suspect
at it.
But anyway, today we have the
the publications
director for the American Rose Society,
Miss Beth Smiley.
Beth, thank you for joining us here today.
Thanks for having me.
And we've been trying to get you on
the show, actually, for a very long time.
You're a you're a very busy woman.
We're pretty busy out there.
There's a lot of things going on.
Tell us what's going on.
Well, where do I start
right now?
Well,
I'll just go ahead and say, you know,
because everybody's expecting it is that
we are ramping up for Christmas and rise.
LAMB For Christmas.
And Priceline is celebrating 40 years
in the community this year.
Well, before we talk more about Christmas,
which is going to be a highlight,
obviously,
you mentioned millions in renovations.
So what what
what, what what's that all about?
What's going on?
We just finished a little over
five year renovation of the gardens.
It was $2.2 million.
We took out 150 trees
so that the roses would get the sunshine
that they love. Wow.
And then, as I said, and it's debt
free, we raised the money
as we were building it.
Nice. It is absolutely stunning.
And it is the only garden in America
that tells the history of the rose
throughout time.
So you start with modern day roses.
And as you walk through the circles,
you go back in
time, back to the species roses
that started everything.
Well, I'm just a dummy,
so the history there, I mean, to me,
you know, I guess most people like me
would think it's a flower, it grows.
So what's the history of the rose?
Well,
you can trace the rise back to China.
There were eight China studs,
as they call them.
And all the roses come from that. Hmm.
Well, the the facility itself,
it draws draw a lot of people in.
So for for our business
listeners out there, which is a lot,
what's the economic impact
of the Rose Center?
I know Christmas is coming
up. That's a big deal.
But all year round there's things going on
and internationally as well.
Come on. Yes.
So we do have visitors
that come from all over the world
actually to see our gardens, because roses
are not just loved in America.
They're loved all over the world.
They are national rose societies in almost
every country that you can think of.
So there is the World Federation of Roses
Societies, of which the American
Rose Society belongs to,
and everyone is the same.
We all they all love roses,
but they also want to preserve roses.
They want to see roses continue
and to be loved and appreciated.
I mean, roses in danger.
There are roses that are in danger of
there are roses that have gone extinct.
Really? Yes.
And part of what the American Rose
Society does is
one of our missions is to preserve roses.
So the ones that have gone extinct, you
try to bring them back somehow, If we can.
If you can find one
plant on the face of the planet,
there's still hope and there's not
something that you can do artificially.
You have to have the real deal on.
Yes, you have to have Jurassic Park
for roses right there.
And now you cut down
how many hundreds or hundreds of trees?
You said, why did you have to cut down
all those trees?
Well,
the gardens have been there for 50 years.
And when they first built the gardens,
they were very small.
It was very little pockets of gardens.
Over the years, as you can imagine,
the pine trees have gotten enormous.
Well,
the roses were suffering from the pine
trees,
gathering all the water and and the shade.
So it was just a decision.
We're there to promote the rose
and to show the rose in its glory.
So that meant the trees had to go away.
I remember it seemed like there was
what's wrong with the roses?
And then it's like, Oh, there's too much
shade. Roses love the sun.
So that was part of the that was part of
the two and a half million dollars.
Well, that was actually the first step.
And it was lovely that
at the time we had a membership director
working for us
who actually had a timber management
degree or something, and
the very next
parcel of land next to the rice center,
they were clearing their land.
So he just walked out there and stopped
them on their machines and said, Hey,
let's talk about what you can do for us
and what we can do for you.
And they were very amenable.
They came out.
They actually came
and cut down a lot of trees for us.
And they just took the lumber as payment,
which was really great for everyone.
Really. All right.
So I'm ashamed to admit it, but I've never
been to the American Rose Center.
So as a newbie, if I'm coming there for
the first time, describe the experience.
What's it like?
What do I see?
Well,
I want you to come during peak bloom,
which is mid April to mid-May or this
year, is probably going to be pretty light
and it's going to be kind of sparse
because of the drought.
But you
when you come in, you are going to see
every type of rose.
When you come in the gate, there's big,
tall, red and blue roses on big towers.
So and then when you come in,
you come through the building,
you get a map, you come out.
When you start the circles,
you start with the modern roses.
These are brand new rises to the market.
Okay, Then as you go through,
you're going to go to 20th century,
19th century roses, and then you're
going to go down into shrubs.
And then when you get to
the fourth circle, which is enormous,
you're going to go back to those species
roses.
You're going to see, like I said,
there are 18 classes of roses.
Normally, people just don't understand
that.
I don't understand whatever the forest is,
what you get from the flowers,
that's a rose.
But those are Harvard teas
and they're lovely.
They're a little more finicky to grow,
and shrubs are much easier to grow.
Species.
Roses are the kind you can throw out
on a fence line and they'll take over.
And they're beautiful,
but they tend to bloom one time.
So when we walk into, we just see a sea
of colors all over the place, you know?
And how does it smell? It's amazing.
I used to tell people in
the springtime is my favorite, right?
Because those species roses
that I was saying
that they're a lot of them are one time
bloomers.
The spring is their show. Right.
But they are just
you can just walk through the garden.
You don't have to get near a rose.
Just walk through and you're almost.
Yes, it's heady. Yes. Is just amazing.
And is this spring
the best time to experience that?
It really is. The colors
with the aroma. Yes.
How big is the garden?
How long does it take to walk through?
You could do it pretty quickly,
but it will take time to stop and smell.
Yes, of course.
Oh, I wish I were the first to say that
because,
I mean, you could do it in 30 minutes.
I'd give yourself an hour to walk around.
Well, that's a genius idea,
because I've always heard the Rose Center.
We're going to go at Christmas.
I might
when there's no roses at Christmas y y.
But you guys got really creative.
So the spring is
when people come to see the flowers.
But what do we come and see at Christmas
time? Right?
So a Christmas Some rose lamb was created
by the executive director
at the time, basically
before they had Christmas arrives.
Lane They had to let the garden staff go
because there was no way to pay them.
So they created Christmas and grassland
land to keep them employed and keep them.
I mean, you hate to have all that
knowledge
walk out the door every year
and try and hire again.
So they switch.
In September, we start putting up lights.
They still take care of the grounds,
don't get me wrong, right?
They're still waiting and mowing
and everything else pruning to be done.
But they put up the lights.
They start in September and they don't
really stop through Christmas, seriously.
And they're still,
you know, always fiddling with lights
until the very end of Christmas
and really left.
And then it still takes some two months
to take it down.
Yeah, it's it's a huge show.
I mean, people just line up how
how long is the line, you know, for people
to come and drive through?
We're addressing that this year.
We're actually letting people come in
pretty far into the gardens
before you actually pay
so we can get people off the road.
It's just a dangerous situation.
There are a lot of salt water trucks
going up and down.
Jefferson Page now,
and so we want to get people off the road.
How much does it cost
to go through at Christmas?
It's $10 a person
or we have a $30 family pack car.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's a good idea.
I think I'm going to do that
this Christmas.
You should.
And come on a Saturday night in December.
Every Saturday in December.
We're having fireworks.
Really? Yes.
Oh, you guys are going all out.
Well, it's our 40th anniversary,
so for Saturday's a fireworks show? Yes.
For the Christmas. Yes.
Is there is there wassail and an eggnog?
That's for hot
chocolate for sale. There you go.
And we can raise marshmallows on our
We have a raw marshmallow roasting
pit built just for Christmas and land.
And you can nice marshmallows.
So, I mean, do you still see roses
while all this other stuff is going on?
Yeah, there are still roses there because.
Because we have such a moderate
climate, roses will bloom through December
and they'll actually bloom if we don't
have a hard furrows like we did last year.
The wolf will cut roses off in February
when we prune.
Well, that's fantastic.
Yeah, that seems like a great way
to spend a night at Christmas time.
And to me, it's a it's very lovely.
I tell people all the time
I've worked there
for a very long time
and working at Christmas and Roseland.
I normally take pictures of kids with
Santa and it just puts me in the spirit.
Sure, it just gets me in the spirit.
I mean, you're always looking
for something
to get out of the house,
you know, and especially lights, right?
If you can combine
all those things together,
you get a great time and walking around
and we have people come all the time.
They say, My parents brought me here
when I was a child
and now I'm bringing my children here.
It's a family tradition.
And if you can get Paul
Ricci to come on night,
he could be like your special
guest and attract nobody.
If you ever want the crowds to be extra
small
amounts, I'll be there so you can actually
get out and park and come in.
I never had thought to park at Christmas.
We just kind of wind our way through it,
you know?
Yeah, that's what we tell people.
We're not really a a drive through.
We're really a park and walk through
and experience and many of our new lights,
anything we put in the last three
or four years all dance to music.
So there's always music for me.
I like that.
Does it go on your radio?
Do you know? It's just loud out there.
It's just it's just too loud.
Like you. Yeah,
but we also have choirs come and perform
and dance, group perform and stuff.
So, yeah, it's fun.
It's we really try to have something
for everyone out there.
Definitely going to go this time.
You've talked me in.
Please come, I'll do it.
But you're going to have to be there
to give me a special tour.
Just come in where Santa is in the harbor.
They're taking pictures. Okay,
that sounds right.
I haven't gone in.
My children took pictures on Sandy's lap.
There you go.
I may or may not have as well.
I was here last year.
I'm a very festive guy
and I'm getting the message.
Oh. Oh.
So the
rose preservation is a big aspect of it.
I want to talk about
kind of like the scientific benefits that
you contribute to the international Rose
Society as a whole.
So what are the
some of the things that people don't know
about the Rose Senator,
you do out there to actually help out
roses around the world?
Right.
So one thing
the American society does is through
research is one of the ways
we help preserve roses.
So we fund research.
We have a trust that is just used to
give funds to different universities
that are having research projects.
Go on. Texas
A&M has an endowed Rose chair.
They're doing a lot on Roger.
I said disease, which is a it's
a big problem around the country.
So this is a mite that gets on roses
and absolutely destroys them.
And once you have it in your garden,
you really have to dig up your roses.
But we've learned a lot in the last
five years on it.
And it used to be you have to dig them up.
You have to put them in a plastic bag,
you have to take them, you have to burn it
and you can't.
At first it was you couldn't plant rises
in that hole again for three years.
Wow. Well, you can imagine
gardens were like, Wait, wait a minute.
Now we know you can
just go ahead and plant your rose back,
because chances are when you dug your rose
up, the mite went with it.
So we
we talk about
and we help fund research on roses.
The other thing
we are doing at the Rose Center
is there's a very fascinating lady
who lived in
Washington who went around the world
collecting rambler roses.
What kind Rambler, Rambler, Rambler is
what is that truck pulled that up
by? Can you see it?
Yeah.
So what does that mean? Rambler Roses.
So these are roses that ramble.
They're very long. They're not.
They're not.
Oh, they're not a
they're not a hybrid tea, Right.
They're not this one long
stand with one Rose.
I thought it might have meant
like they would get up and go
up, but you know, like,
maybe propagate all around the world.
Well, I mean, you probably could do that
more easily with some of these,
but this is more to their physical being.
They ramble.
Okay. Got you.
You can plant it spread, take space.
They they need space.
So she collected roses
all around the world
and she had them all on her property
in Washington Oak
And many of these ramblers
might not exist on the planet
any longer had she not collected them.
That's impressive. So
years ago,
some people found out about her collection
and started talking about it
and some people in Texas
kind of took charge and they recreated her
collection and
the city chambers Bill,
I believe Texas, well,
it was on a tree farm
and the tree farm was sold last year.
So now they needed a home
for the Ramblers.
So we have them. Oh, nice.
So we are propagating them and we are
then going to get them
to nurseries around the country
so that people around
the country can start to plant these right
and flowers
so they won't disappear any longer.
It won't be up to us just to have them
here at the American Red Center.
We're going to try to get them out
into the country and let everybody else
grow and appreciate them. Yeah,
that's impressive.
So you don't just run your center,
you help them, spread them all
around the country?
Yes. Well,
then there's some kind of competition.
People, when they're creating
new varieties of roses.
How does that work? Yeah. So we are now a
designated international rose trial.
So this started about three
or four years ago.
And what it is, is hybridized
people who create new roses
send us their roses to be tested
for a two year span.
And during that time,
local people as well as
sometimes national people
will come in and judge the roses.
And then at two years later,
they determine who the winners are.
And next April, we're going to announce
the next set of winners.
So that makes news across the world.
These roses will make news across
the world.
That is fast.
There's a lot of rose enthusiasts,
I'm assuming, around the world. Yes.
Besides Jeff. Yes. I love roses.
So there's my wife and they cost a lot.
But what, by the way,
why do roses cost so much?
Well, florist roses,
that's a whole it's a different world.
Yeah.
So florist roses are over here
and garden roses are over here.
Okay, well, sorry,
but I know this is good.
So florist roses, for the most part,
come from perfect
growing conditions in South America.
Okay?
And they're grown in houses, and they're
also imported into the United States.
And that's why they cost so much Gotcha.
So if you plant arrives next February,
you can have roses all your life,
your wife roses all year.
Yeah. And it would cost me way less. Yes.
So is it a challenge
to grow roses in Louisiana?
We have a very
we have a pretty challenging climate.
Just our humidity is a factor.
Our writing isn't normally a factor
this year.
The lack of rain, the humidity
and our rain causes black spot,
which will make all the leaves
fall off your rose
if you don't do something about it.
But if a rose can stay on it
here in a cooler climate, it's
going to do very well.
What's the most popular kind of rose?
Is there one you can say?
Is it used to be the hybrid tea?
Actually,
because people wanted the roses that look
like what you get from a florist.
But these days, people
tend to go towards a shrub.
It gives you more blooms and they're
a little easier to take care of a shrub.
Rose Shrub, rose.
There's lots of we never heard of that.
There are different kinds of shrub rises,
but there's one that stands out,
and it's an English breeder.
His name is David Austin Rises.
Five generations of this family have been
breeding roses, and his roses are all
there.
The old fashioned looking roses.
They have tons and tons of petals.
But he he really focuses on scent.
So a lot of his roses are very,
very aromatic and just lovely.
Sounds great. Yeah. Yeah.
So with roses being all over America and
and like I say,
it's a little bit of a challenge here.
How in the world
did we end up becoming the
the headquarters
for the National Rose Society?
It's a good story, actually.
So we started in D.C.
we moved to Pennsylvania for a while
where the father of the American society
kind of started.
He had a home there called Breeze Hill J.
Horace McFarland,
if you ever have a minute,
woke him up, he's
probably the most famous man
you've never heard of.
Jay McFarland, Jay Horace,
Horace McFarland.
Hey, come on, Get with it, Horace.
Oh, for us.
All right.
He is never with it.
He's the father
of the American Rose Society.
And he also worked for the national parks.
Like establishing the national park system
and things.
He's a brilliant man.
Anyway, then we moved to Columbus, Ohio
for 20 years at the park.
Apprentices,
and then they wanted their building back.
So the American society said, Well,
we need a new home.
And there happened to be a lady that lived
in Shreveport who made it her mission.
Adebayo Hayden
She made it her mission
and she started talking to people
like Virginia Sheehy
and the two of them got together.
She gets things done,
they get things done.
So Virginia, she sent her mother's plane
to Ohio, picked up
some people, brought them down here
and looked at the land
that was proposed to be given to us.
MM And they Pinheiro
families gave us the land
when our board said yes, we want to here
RICE So here we've been for 50 years
and haven't been there for 30,
and I've been there for 30. Wow.
You see most of it?
I've seen a lot of it, yes.
So for people that haven't been there,
where, when or where do you go?
How do you get there from here?
I 20 exit five trike right there sides
take a left on Jefferson Page road go
a mile and a half and we're on the right.
You can't miss such a gigantic
stone out front.
Now Channel three was very nice to us
a number of years ago.
The bridge next on 80 was closed.
It was being rebuilt
and truckers would turn on Jefferson
Page Road, thinking that
that was a way back to the interstate.
And evidently
all we can assume is that a truck
tried to turn around in our entry
and it knocked our wooden sign over.
So we said,
you know what, we're going to fix that.
And we put a six or seven foot
tall rock out front
and put our sign on it.
So nobody said, I'm going to say that
that's you.
That sounds like a safe.
Yeah, no one's going to knock that over,
I would imagine at Christmas time.
It's families.
Lots of families coming out. Yes.
And then during the rest of the year,
in the spring,
who's your who's
your customer who normally is?
We have a lot of families.
They come out.
I mean, we encourage people every week
or do they just come once
a year for their pilgrimage
or mostly on the weekends?
I would think once or twice.
We do have some school groups
that come out and do field trips.
We have a lovely scavenger hunt for them.
They can look for certain things,
you know, certain kinds of bugs.
And we have a dog print in the segment
that they have to find.
And um, so you've been there.
I'm glad.
My mom gave me a lot of encouragement
when I was young because Jeff is
Jeff's.
Hey, my inability
to test my self confidence. Yeah.
So it's mostly families,
but we like to tell them,
bring a picnic, you know,
and so they can stay for a while.
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Style does it cost?
Is there an admission fee during the year?
There is $5 a person or $10 a family.
Okay.
So yeah, that's a bargain.
It's a very affordable, very affordable.
So we could pretend like we're brothers
and we could get in for five bucks apiece.
Yeah.
Listen to him
trying this is a idea by yourself.
That's.
Tell me a little bit more about China
and the roses coming from China.
I'm a little fascinated by that because,
you know, things are not great between
America and China, right now.
So there is actually
we have numerous people that go to China
just to see their roses
because of the history of that.
And China actually has a very big
rose participation.
There are lots of people there that do it.
I mean, I guess you just have
to want to go there and figure it in.
Yeah, well, there's lots of you're well,
there are periods, right.
And actually the the Japan rose society
is large
and has a lot of people involved in it.
They have hybridized ours there as well.
Who is there.
A lot of back and forth talking
between American rose
enthusiasts and the people in China
and Japan about what's the next step?
How do we make better roses? Right.
I'm sure that the hybridize
there's talk to one another.
I'm sure they have their own association,
the hybridization association, and
they talk to one another.
I'm sure there is a lot of talk
within the World
Federation of Pro Societies.
The World Federation meets, of course,
all over the world.
They just met.
They've met in France and South
Africa and Japan and Australia.
And next year they meet in
Denmark believe.
So they move around
and they always have interesting talks.
They always have people come in and talk
about what they're doing in their country
that's different
and how the rest of us can follow.
You bring speakers from around the world
to the Rose Center here
and have them make presentations.
We we just had a convention here in May
and we did have a lot of speakers come in.
I don't know that we had anybody here
internationally.
I'm just curious.
But a few years ago we had the post office
introduced a new stamp.
I remember that. Yeah,
you remember that? I do, Yes.
A peace rose stamp and the hybridize
sort of the peace rose.
It was Francis Meehan,
and he's from France.
And his
granddaughter.
Granddaughter, I believe, came over
for the peace rise ceremony.
And we have a picture of Francis
Meehan on the wall
because he was such so important
to Rose Hybridizing
and I have a picture of her father
looking at that picture.
And then I got a picture of her looking
at her father's picture looking at.
And it never stops.
It never stops infinite.
So but it was just
a very interesting family portrait.
Yeah, I remember the stamp.
Yeah. Yeah. It's a big deal. That's cool.
Yeah. Yeah. To be on
the stamp is a big deal.
Yeah. I don't know
if it even just been on the stamp.
No, not yet. But I've had requests that
they're going to stamp me out
is what they're going to do.
Well are there
a lot of members of the society
or there people that, that
come out to the meetings and so forth
and local people that are interested
just in roses think, Oh man,
I should get into this society
business, right?
Well,
there is a Shreveport biker ride society
and it meets once a month out
at the Rose Center.
You can look on our website, Rose dot org,
and they'll tell you all about it.
But yes, there
the American Rose Society has members
and over 200 came
last May to the Rose Center.
A lot of them had never been here,
but they wanted to come and
see the renovations.
So they said, okay, this is it, let's go.
We've also had because our presidents
have all started to get really involved
with Christmas and Graceland.
And we've had our president
that lived in New York
come our president now lives in Wisconsin,
and she's been here a number of times.
She's coming this year.
She and she's bringing her husband
and they're staying for a weekend
and working at Christmas and working. Yes.
So we've had people
come from Seattle, Washington,
just to come and see Christmas and land.
They've been to see the roses
in the spring, but they came back to see
Christmas and Roslyn.
That's great.
Well, I mean,
you got to get more people out there.
And yes,
this is just kind of like a hidden gem.
It's not hidden, but it's.
Yeah, you got a lot of interest
generated, right?
Yeah. Tell me how to do that.
Well, I would say
get on the advertiser, pass in the area
and I'll get to the number of those people
because it's not us.
This is our marketing plan.
Yeah, No, I just.
I'm. I feel, I guess, a little ashamed
that I've never been out there.
Certainly heard of it.
But yeah, for the 30 years
I've worked there, people say, oh,
I come out there every year at Christmas.
And Roslyn, what do you do
during the rest of the year?
Well, so I read comic books,
but that's in a whole lot of them.
I tell people, bring your mom,
bring your mom for Mother's Day
or bring your daughter
or bring your wife Perfect
for a walk around for Mother's Day.
Perfect for Mother's Day.
Yes, it's perfect.
Come out
and just walk and enjoy the garden.
Do you do specials
like luncheons or something like that?
We have in the past next year's
our 50th anniversary.
So who knows what we're going to dream up?
We're going to have a lot of different
special things going on next year.
I think that's great.
Sounds like you're being innovative,
but we're just about out of time.
You mentioned your website Rose
dot org pretty hard.
This dot org, this the simplest website
we've ever had on the show, right?
Yeah.
Or Christmas time.
Rose Landlord
and either one will get you to us.
Excellent.
Well, we appreciate you
being with us here today.
Thanks for.
Thanks for having me.
We learned all kinds of stuff.
I certainly did.
And one of the
I guess the great attractions in the area
that is I'm going to go
take advantage of now.
Please do.
All right. Thanks very much.
That's going to do it for this edition of.
Good to know Sri for Asia. Hope
you learned a lot.
I know.
I certainly did.
Check us out
wherever you get your podcasts.
So see you again next time.