THE NATIONAL CLEAN PLANT NETWORK: Dr. David Zlesak joins us today to talk about this network comprised of clean plant centers, scientists, educators, state and federal regulators, large and small nurseries, and growers of specialty crops that all work together to ensure that plant propagation material is clean and available. He'll also be talking about some of his own rose introductions many of which are grown in gardens around the nation.  Dr. David Zlesak currently serves as a director of the American Rose Trials for Sustainability program and is a member of the Advisory board of the National Clean Plant Network for Roses.  

 

MORE INFO ABOUT THE CLEAN PLANT NETWORK:

 

http://nationalcleanplantnetwork.org

 

http://www.fao.org/plant-health-2020/about/en/

 

 

MORE ABOUT DR. ZLESAK:

 

Dr. David Zlesak is a Professor of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. As a kid growing up in Milwaukee, David loved being outside and gardening in their typical sized city lot. Gardening helped him feel close to his grandparents who lived a few hours away and still had a small farm. David enjoyed growing various plants his grandparents sent him home with, which included one rose. In 1984 a Sunday paper gardening section article about Will Radler's rose breeding hobby inspired him, and as a 13 year old he wrote to Will for more information.  David loved art, science, and roses, and breeding roses seemed to be the perfect thing to combine all these loves. Will got him connected to the Rose Hybridizers Association. Their newsletters and a local rose breeding mentor who became like an additional grandfather to him, Elton Strack, helped to solidify his love of roses and rose breeding.  

 

David earned his degrees in horticulture & plant breeding and genetics. For the past 11 years David has been teaching undergraduate horticulture students.  He loves to mentor the next generation of horticultural professionals and along the way use his experiences with roses whenever possible.. David is a long time member of the American Rose Society ant Twin Cities Rose Club.  He is a Master Consulting Rosarian and loves speaking to groups on roses and the research him and colleagues are working on. Besides rose genetics, David loves to work with landscape rose trialing efforts and studies disease resistance in roses. Over the past decade he has helped characterize new rose viruses and black spot resistance genes.

 

 

 

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Creator of the Rose Chat Podcast. Mr. VanCleave is a nationally known rosarian, speaker and advocate for the rose.

Teresa Byington - www.TheGardenDiary.com

Co-Host Teresa Byington is a Rosarian, Master Gardener, writer and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Rose Society.

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