Celebration of roses and courage
The story of the 11th Knysna Rose Show held on 13 and 14 April at Woodmill Lane can only be summed up as “a miracle of conquering fire and drought”.
After losing her house and garden last year in the fire, Stella Sohn’s rose, Little Red Hedge, was judged the Queen of the Show.
Her assistant, Timothy Nyirenda, sadly lost his sister and his niece when the fire blazed through the property.
Blooms from ashes
With incredible sadness, plus the trauma of losing everything, Stella and
Timothy have, with hard work, money and the main ingredient, passion, brought back to life an amazing wonder of nature. Stella has received cuttings and plants from many gardeners, including a wonderful gift from Gold Reef Roses in Johannesburg of R1 000, which was awarded to five of our members to encourage and support them to carry on growing roses again. How they have succeeded and what an incredible result!
Four of the five members submitted their entries – just 10 months after the devastation. They were among over 200 entries received which, considering the continued drought, is a miracle in itself. Ludwig Taschner, who is South Africa’s Mr Rose, provided his stunning cut roses which were collected from his Outeniqua rose nursery and displayed in buckets, as well as single blooms which were labelled and placed in glasses, so people could identify each rose.
Abundance of entries
The judges, Sheenagh Harris and Stephanie Seydak, who are accredited Rosa (Federation of Rose Societies of SA) judges, commented on how surprised they were to see such an abundance of blooms on the tables. The atmosphere was delightful with live music both days on the bandstand, perfect weather and the perfume of roses filling the air.
One member, Martin Cassidy, left Port Elizabeth where he lives at 06:00 to arrive in time to register his roses, producing two huge containers of the most beautiful blooms.
He was the winner overall on 29 points and walked away with three of the trophies and some worthwhile prizes. Second, on 24 points, was Hugh Collier. He is a perfectionist with his rose growing and deserves credit for the quality of blooms he produced. Third was Stella Sohn with 12 points, fourth was George Parkes with 11 points, who produced one of the public’s most admired roses called Avant Garde. Fifth was Formosa Village with 10 points.
Breaking down barriers
The public really supported our show with young and old stopping to admire, to smell and to chat about the wonder of nature. Flowers can break down many barriers and particularly the rose, with its fragrance, bright and varied colours and size, with the miniatures always a favourite. Some people visiting the show spoke of how the roses conjured up the nostalgic association and memory of a mother or granny.
It was wonderful to see young children, teenagers on their way to and from school and the workers who don’t have access to gardens where these favourite flowers grow, pass in the early morning and stop to smell and admire the beauty.
I am passionate about roses and recall my mother when I open a near-empty bottle of her favourite rose perfume which I still have, or walk into a garden which has perfumed roses.
Our Rose Society has grown in size and strength from our humble beginnings when the late Alan Tew encouraged a few of us to gather and learn about growing roses under Knysna conditions. This was in 2005 and with 11 shows now and over 80 members, we are extremely proud as he would have been to say that this show was a success.