National Rose Trial Garden People's Choice Weekend

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Posted 2018-03-24 by Jo Harris ⇒ follow

Sat 07 Apr 2018 - Sun 08 Apr 2018

How would you like to have some input into the roses that will be on sale in nurseries and garden centres in the next couple of years?

Adelaide Botanic Gardens is home to the National Rose Trial Garden of Australia and it's located within the beautiful International Rose Garden in the north-eastern corner of the gardens.

The garden was started in 1996 as a joint venture of the Botanic Gardens and the National Rose Society of Australia. It was established to trial roses not yet commercially available in Australia, whether they were bred in Australia or overseas. Such gardens exist throughout the world and help the rose industry establish which roses are best suited to a particular area.

Here in Australia, many of the roses we see are bred in the northern hemisphere where the climate is very different, so it's likely many will not perform well in Australian conditions. It makes sense then, to have only the most suited to our conditions commercially available.

A growing trial takes place over two years, where all plants are grown under the same conditions and judged periodically. Criteria include health and vigour of the rose, hardiness and disease tolerance, beauty and impact, abundance and beauty of the flowers.

Each year, there is an award ceremony where those roses that reach certain standards are awarded medals or certificates of merit, and the winner becomes the Australian Rose of the Year.

In the People's Choice Award , the public gets to choose the winner.

If you choose the most popular rose, you too could be a winner! There are great prizes to be won, including Neutrog products, a voucher, roses, garden advice and a year's membership of the Rose Society.

On Saturday 7 or Sunday 8 April, between 10am and 4pm, take a stroll through the beautiful garden and choose your favourite rose. All the while, you'll be able to enjoy roses from all over the world: France, Germany, The Netherlands, UK and USA, plus roses bred locally and interstate.

It's easy! Check out the forty cultivars on display, then list your top five in order of preference.

What could beat the heady experience of a meander through a fabulous rose garden?

In addition to being a great day out, your participation provides excellent insight for rose breeders, growers and retailers, regarding those roses that appeal to the public.

And, while you're visiting the Gardens, you can take a look at any manner of activities. Among them, you can enjoy Heirloom Weekend in the Garden (10am – 3pm both days), or visit the 2018 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Divided Worlds in the fabulous Museum of Economic Botany and in the Gardens.