Rose Festival

South Australia has often been refered to as the rose capital of Australia. This is because of the perfect conditions in this state for growing roses. Every year the Australian Rose Festival is held here and it brings together all the latest information and plants. Many growers believe that new roses only come from overseas, but the biggest rose breeder in Australia is based at Mount Barker.

George Thomson has been gardening all his life and has been breeding roses for more than 25 years. He is responsible for a number of popular plants such as Mrs Mary Thomson (named after his mother), The Pride of Mount Barker and Onkaparinga. This year he has produced another new speciman which has been named after the greatest South Australian scientist Lord Howard Florey. The Florey rose is an apricot colour and is the result of breeding the Spirit of Peace and Seduction roses.

Breeding roses is a painstaking process. It begins with two buds being pulled apart and the stamens taken from one. They are then cross-pollinated by hand until they produce seeds. These seeds are planted to create tiny seedlings and if they produce flowers then the experts check to see if any new breeds have emerged. In five years of work, George created about 4,000 seeds which resulted in two plants that are now Florey roses. Over the years George believes he has planted 75,000 rose seeds and each of them has been created by hand pollination.

The Florey Rose will be included in the Festival which is being held at the Gardens Alive in Botanic Park from Thursday Oct 29 to Sunday Nov 1. It opens 10am both days.