Imagine a World without Roses!
Rose Rosette Disease (RRD) poses an existential threat to the Rose, the Rose Industry and the Rose Hobby organizations, such as the American Rose Society, Heritage Rose Foundation, World Federation of Rose Societies. It is a virus that attacks the rose and currently there is no treatment or cure.
The good news is that research is underway at Texas A&M University and the University of Tennessee, mainly funded through a federal program called Specialty Crops Research Initiative (SCRI). The bad news is that the recent SCRI grant proposal wasn’t funded and unless we can raise enough money to continue the research through September 2021, when hopefully it will be funded, much of the progress made toward a cure (resistant rose cultivars) will be lost.
Noted Rosarian and Author Paul Zimmerman has made a video on RRD with Dr. David Byrne and Dr. Kevin Ong from Texas A&M University and Dr. Mark Windham from the University of Tennessee. He has donated this video to be used in conjunction with a GoFundMe page to raise funds to support Rose Rosette Disease research. This is a joint effort between AGRS™, Paul who is a member of the AGRS™ Advisory Board, the University of Tennessee, and Texas A&M University. The video is in a conversational format and was done via Zoom with many wonderful and informative visuals. The experts cover RRD history, how it spreads, how to recognize it, possible ways to prevent it and what to do about it. A Q&A segment answers questions submitted by folks on Paul’s Facebook Group Page, Paul Zimmerman Roses Gardening. This video was done independently under Paul Zimmerman Roses. There are no sponsors.
Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MW85zuaZ0GI
American Garden Rose Selections™ (AGRS™) has organized a GoFundMe Page to help raise the needed funding. The entire program needs $563,000 in overall funding. Our goal is $200,00O to keep the two research gardens going - one at Texas A&M and one at University of Tennessee. The loss of these gardens would set the research back 5-10 years and place the future of the Rose in jeopardy.
