New Zealand Rose Society (NZRS) – Founded 1931, the Oldest National Rose Society in Oceania

The New Zealand Rose Society (NZRS), founded in 1931, is one of the most influential national rose organizations in Oceania and a founding member of the World Federation of Rose Societies (WFRS). Operating as a non-profit, NZRS unites more than twenty district rose societies across the North and South Islands and individual members under the motto “Implanting Roses in the Hearts and Gardens of the People.” Since 1969 it has partnered with the Palmerston North City Council to run the New Zealand International Rose Trial Grounds in the Victoria Esplanade Gardens — the first such trial grounds established in the Southern Hemisphere — and the society has twice hosted the WFRS World Rose Convention (Hamilton 1971, Christchurch 1994), with regional conventions in Auckland (2004) and Palmerston North (2013).

Trial Grounds, Awards, and International Network

Each year from November the trial grounds host 30 to 50 unreleased cultivars from New Zealand and overseas breeders. Hybrid Teas and Floribundas enter in groups of six, miniatures and patios in fours, shrubs and groundcovers in threes, and climbers in pairs, and each cultivar is judged anonymously by a panel drawn from local Palmerston North societies on a 1–10 scale across plant quality, freedom of flowering, health, flower quality, flower form, and fragrance. Entries must reach 70 percent of points to win a Certificate of Merit; the highest award is the Gold Star of the South Pacific, whose past recipients include Friesia, Margaret Merrill, Sexy Rexy, Pacific Glory, Absolutely Fabulous and Red Flame. In 2007 two local rosarians were honoured by renaming the fragrance and novelty awards to the June Hocking Fragrance Award and the Nola Simpson Novelty Award, and the Silver Star of the City of Palmerston North recognises the highest-pointed NZ-bred amateur rose. Through the friendship agreement initiated by Dr Sam McGredy, NZRS also connects the Hamilton trial grounds with Australian, Japanese and Californian counterparts.

Publications, Membership, and the Pacific Rose Bowl Festival

NZRS produces three flagship publications for its members at no extra charge: the New Zealand Rose Annual (June/July), the New Zealand Rose Review, and the Rose Experts Guide with its month-by-month cultivation calendar, diagrams and photographs; it also co-publishes the 2019-revised Guidelines for Judges and Exhibitors. Members additionally receive the Kiwi Gardener magazine rose column. The Pacific Rose Bowl Festival, held every November in the Rogers Rose Garden at Hamilton Gardens, is one of only two rose trials in the Southern Hemisphere judged by public votes and includes a Children's Choice Award, alongside an interschool exhibition, daily musical performances, and an espresso café among the blooms. The annual National Spring Rose Show & Convention rotates among district societies; in November 2025 the Waikato Rose Society hosted the 80th-anniversary edition at the Hamilton Gardens Pavilion.

District Societies, Education, and the Rose Finder Database

Twenty-plus district rose societies across Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Manawatu, Canterbury, South Canterbury, Otago, North Otago, West Otago, Hutt Valley, Wairarapa and the West Coast hold monthly meetings with guest speakers, table shows, pruning demonstrations and garden visits. The Consulting Rosarians programme offers free, locally tailored advice, while the Rose of the Month blog introduces new releases — many bred in New Zealand by Rob Somerfield, Mike Athy, Bob Matthews and other local breeders. The Rose Finder database, hosted on the society website, indexes every rose currently sold in New Zealand with its varietal denomination, type, breeder, date and the nurseries that propagate it, making it a unique national reference for hobbyists and commercial growers alike. The 2025–2026 office bearers are led by President Adrian Bullen and Immediate Past President Hayden Foulds, who also serves as Editor and Webmaster.

Official website: https://nzroses.org.nz/