Awards

The Bronze Medal is the highest award that the American Rose Society authorizes for Outstanding Service to a Local Rose Society. The Award may only be granted once to an individual or team. The award may not be given for one particular activity, but rather for a span of service over a number of years. The Award may be given to a husband and wife team if the circumstances warrant.

2001 - Jeri Jennings

2002 - Jim Delahanty

2003 - Sue Diller

2004 - Sue Munday

2005 - Dawn-Marie Johnson

2006 - Paddy Ruzella

2007 - Pat Moomey

2008 - Ingrid Wapelhorst

2009 - Connie Estes

2010 - Earl Holst

2011 - Janet Sklar

2012 - No Award

2013 - Kathy Ayers and Sue Rosecrans

2014 - No Award

2015 - Jane Delahanty

2016 - Roz Thebaud

2017 - Karen Fitzpatrick

2018 - Barbara Morse

The second trial in the Biltmore International Rose Trials competition ended Saturday, May 24. The announcement was made on May 27 . . .

With awards given in 11 categories, and entries from around the world, an international jury gave one of these most prestigious awards to our own Jim Delahanty.

The winner (and deservedly so!) was Jim’s lovely pink-and-white Polyantha, ‘Pookah.’ This lovely single rose, named for a mischievous creature from Celtic legend, was awarded the The Honorable John Cecil Award for Open Group.

Nor was this the only award given to a California rosarian.

‘Miracle On The Hudson,’ bred by Neal Rippetoe of Palm Springs, California, was the winner of the George & Edith Vanderbilt Award for Most Outstanding Rose Of The Trials (Best in Show); Chauncey Beadle Award for Best Shrub Rose; William Cecil Award for Best Growth Habit; and Lord Burleigh Award for Most Disease Resistant.

‘Miracle On The Hudson’ is available through Roses Unlimited.

At the Pacific Southwest District Rose Convention banquet on Saturday night, May 4, 2013, Bud Jones received the Silver District Honor Medal, thus joining previous VCRS recipients—Dan Bifano, Sue Diller, and former VCRS president Barbara Schneider, as the recipients of this high honor.

Jim Delahanty was awarded Outstanding District Consulting Rosarian, thus joining VCRS colleagues Clay and Jeri Jennings as recipients of that honor.

At the District Convention Banquet on Saturday night, April 15, 2006, Bob Martin, Jr. District Director, announced that the Stagecoach Inn Rose Garden, managed by Sue Rosecrans and Kathy Ayers, had been awarded the Pacific Southwest District Director Award for Excellence in Public Rose Gardens for 2006. Previous winners include the A.C Postal Garden in Santa Barbara, and the Mesa Community College Rose Garden in Arizona.

The Stagecoach Inn Rose Garden was designed by Jeri Jennings in 1994 and has been maintained by the Ventura County Rose Society and the Conejo Valley Historical Society over the past decade. The garden contains over 50 rose bushes of types in existence prior to 1910; all of the roses are representative of roses available in the Ventura County area in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century. As the garden has matured, it is breath-takingly beautiful in the Spring and tends to bloom almost twelve months of the year. It is the one of the prime educational and community outreach functions of the Ventura County Rose Society. 

This award also honors the dedicated volunteers who show up for maintenance and garden tasks on the last Saturday of every month but December.