Another ROSECOM publication
by Harry McGee
Interested in roses? And things related to roses? Interested in northern rose breeders? And the hardy roses they created?
The Rosebank Letter started in 1995 as an independent bimonthly rose newsletter. From its beginning as a single sheet providing news to Canadian rose societies, it was almost immediately demanded by the rose gardening public. It soon turned into the fastest growing rose journal produced for rose gardeners in Canada and other countries of the same nordicity. Outstanding, well-respected rose writers and rose breeders from across Canada contributed articles reflecting their knowledge and expertise.
Maintaining the highest publishing standards, The Rosebank Letter was professionally printed in 8 ½ x 11 inch format, book form. Beginning with the March 1997 issue, it added one or more colour features. Yet it was produced on a shoestring. The editor, Harry McGee, published the bimonthly as a break-even undertaking. Subscription rates merely covered out-of-pocket expenses for printing, postage, research toll calls and colour cartidges. All the editor's work was a gift to his country. The phenomenon grew to an incredible 16 big pages — the maximum that could be put through a mail slot. Surprisingly, the subscribers became a family with an amazing rapport among each other. They wrote of their concerns, or just to express their pleasure (or displeasure) with an item. The editor was deluged with responses when something struck them right.
What did it cover?
It did not deal with cultivation, except in generalities, because that is special to each locality and climate. What works well in one area may be harmful in another. Nor did it report on rose show results because they usually only intrigue the participants. Local rose or hort societies do the best and speediest job of providing such information. It did not carry advertising. Accordingly its reportage was completely independent.
The Rosebank Letter is covered by copyright held by the publisher, ROSECOM . But rose or hort societies have been able to arrange for blanket permission to reprint items in their own newsletters. It has been dedicated to helping them by supplementing their writing resources — not competing with them. The Rosebank Letter has never cherry-picked items from them to reprint, lest the public abandon the locals knowing they would get it in TRL. It only published original material.
By 2000, TRL had spread into the United States and Europe. It espoused federating all the independent rose societies across the whole of Canada, with a resolute insistence that each of the five main regions of Canada be represented equally with voting power and input and support. In 2002, that became a reality with the incorporation of National-Roses-Canada. A year later, the federation bought future rights to TRL for the princely sum of one dollar.
Editors don't live forever, but an idea will. The Rosebank Letter will go right on, but in March 2003 with National-Roses-Canada as the publisher, the name was changed to Roses-Canada. The editor was pleased to accept the assistance of a French language contributing editor, Roch Rollin. The promotion of the journal was assumed by the federation's website http://www.rosescanada.ca/ managed the N-R-C vice-president, André Poliquin. It is very comforting to know that no matter what happens, the rose family will go on being fed.
What happens to all the good stuff that was published from September 1995 through January 2003? You can still access it, either from the National Library in Ottawa (both in the Library's permanent collection, where it is available for consultation and research, or in Canadiana, the national bibliography) or from the original publisher, ROSECOM , where individual numbers or the entire oeuvre will continue to be for sale for an indefinite time at the following rates:
| Effective 1 September 2005 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issue Numbers | Cdn $ | US $ | Euro | GB £ | Swedish Kroner | Danish Kroner |
| Nos 1 through 10 inclusive | 1.15 | 1.00 | 0.85 | 0.60 | 7.60 | 6.20 |
| Nos 11 though 20 inclusive | 1.70 | 1.50 | 1.20 | 0.85 | 11.20 | 9.20 |
| Nos 21 through 47 inclusive | 2.85 | 2.50 | 2.00 | 1.40 | 18.80 | 15.40 |
| The entire oeuvre No1 through 47 complete | 100.00 | 90.00 | 71.00 | 48.00 | 660.00 | 540.00 |
The above rates are not equivalent based on currency exchange rates. Postal rates skew figures significantly. The rates are subject to change depending on exchange rate fluctuations.
Early articles are showcased one at a time at Internet website http://www.everyrose.com/. Select the "Articles and Essays" link. For the immediate future, this website will be maintained as the responsibility of ROSECOM , the publisher. It will continue to provide abstracts of each issue of The Rosebank Letter from its inception to January 2003. Abstracts for all issues of the successor bimonthly Roses-Canada appear from now on in the N-R-C website http://www.rosescanada.ca/- Follow the link to JOURNAL.
Two slight books grew out of two different series of articles that appeared in The Rosebank Letter. The first was You Can Have Roses, and the second was Garden Design. They are described elsewhere in this website. Both are published by ROSECOM .