Denison Genealogical Society

The Denison Genealogical Society will meet at 1:30 p.m. this Wednesday in the meeting room of the Denison Public Library. The session is open to members and anyone interested in learning more about genealogy research.

Helen Eller will lead a brief business session, followed by a video presentation about German immigration. After the presentation, there will be discussion and help for members and visitors with research questions and information.

Leading the group this year are: Eller, president; Jerry Wilson, vice president; Shirley Hooker, treasurer; and Cheryl McKee, publicity and calling chairwoman.

The Denison Genealogical Society meets the last Wednesday of each month at 1:30 p.m. in the Denison Public Library, 300 West Gandy. Guests are welcome.

Sherman Quilt Makers Guild

This Thursday, the Sherman Quilt Makers Guild will gather for its regular meeting, as well as a garage sale to raise money for the group. The meeting and sale, held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Sherman, will begin with a social at 6:30 p.m., and the meeting at 7 p.m.

Items in the sale will include fabric, patterns, rulers, books, kits, gadgets and scraps, along with some vintage things, including a Singer feather weight sewing machine.

The deadline to sign up for the Dallas Quilt Show is March 12. A $33 fee covers the bus trip and admission. For more information, contact Helen Nehbrass at 903-546-6787.

The group is making heart-shaped pillows for mastectomy patients which are distributed by the American Cancer Society's Reach-To-Recovery program. As a second project, members are making bags for storing beads that seriously ill children receive in the Beads-of-Courage project at Dallas Children's Hospital.

Members gather the third Thursday of the month for a traditional quilting bee. They bring their current projects to work on.

Meetings are held the fourth Thursday each month. For more information, contact Juanita Johnson at 903-821-0247.

Red River Rose Society

The February meeting of the Red River Rose Society was led by President Sue Abernathy.

It was announced that the club's newsletter, Roses on the Red, has been awarded the American Rose Society's Gold Certificate as one of the top rose newsletters in the country. Carole Mainwaring edits the newsletter. Another RRRS member, Jerry Haynes, received an award for his article entitled "Spider Mite Primer," detailing the diagnosis and treatment of the rose pest.

The society's second rose seminar was held Saturday at Eisenhower's Birthplace in Denison. The seminar dealt with pruning, planting, and defending roses against pests and diseases.

A field trip to Tyler, known as the "Rose Capital of the World," is planned for May 5. After visiting Tyler's rose gardens, members will have a chance to buy rose bushes at one of the Tyler rose nurseries.

Returning guest speaker was Mark Stelljes, owner of Roses, Inc. in Broken Bow, Okla. He discussed the pruning of climbing rose bushes, advising to wait until the forsythia blooms in the spring before pruning, but completing the task by mid-April. Diseased, dead or tiny branches/canes should be cut first, then all over canes should be cut by about one-third -- about three-feet lower than the ultimate height of the rose bush. However, any pruning is better than none at all, adds Stelljes. The year's first fertilization of rose bushes also needs to be in April. Nitrogen must be replaced annually, and any fertilizer should not be buried too deeply in the soil.