Mt Nasura Garden
Travelling on the Trail of Old Roses

Three Decades of Collecting and Growing Old Roses

"I first became a member of HRiA in 1991 when I became friendly with another rose lover who was interested in old roses. After attending the Orange National Conference, I was asked to join the committee. A conference was then planned for Perth and I became part of the National Executive for this Western Australian Heritage Rose Conference, and another that followed. Six of these ladies from the committee then went on to co-author our award winning book, ‘Tea Roses: Old Roses for Warm Gardens’ . It took years to complete because the research was extensive, and intense.

Before this, when our family was living in the Netherlands at Den Haag in the mid 1980’s, I bought a book at the British Bookshop in the Haag called ‘Elizabeth and her German Garden’, attracted by the author being an Australian, ( Elizabeth von Arnim). The book was written in 1898. 

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Elizabeth writes about turning a wilderness into a garden that was ninety miles north of Berlin in Germany. She developed a great fascination for Tea Roses and ordered many from catalogues - ‘Safrano’, ‘Dr Grill’, ‘Laurette Messimy’, ‘Viscountess Folkestones’, ‘Bouquet d’Or, ‘Rubens’, ‘Madame Joseph Schwartz’, ‘Hon. Edith Gifford’, ‘Devoniensis’, ‘Adam’, ‘Marie van Houtte’, ‘Jules Finger’, ‘The Bride’, ‘Madame de Watteville’, ‘Comtesse Riza du Parc’, and also one ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’.

Our family returned to Perth and I began the search for Tea Roses. Nurseries were beginning to stock these roses from the eighteen hundreds and owners travelled to the Eastern States of Australia to collect valuable budwood and new varieties.

Fast forward to now, over thirty years later and I think I have created a wild wilderness with many roses peeping from all corners of my garden. Elizabeth wanted a wild garden, and I think I have achieved my own wild garden as well, I thank her for creating my love for Tea Roses.