Rose expert still bloomin' good

NATASHA MARTIN/Timaru Herald

LIFE-LONG LOVE: Rose expert David Rushton will present his talk, Roses Through The Ages, at Sopheze on the Bay on Friday evening as part of the Festival of Roses.

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HE HAS been interested in roses since he was eight years old. Now in his eighties, David Rushton's love affair with the fair flower has not diminished.

The renowned rosarian and flower arranger is in Timaru for the Festival of Roses where he will give a talk, Roses Through The Ages, on Friday.

The South Australian has developed a garden with more than 40,000 roses, including 4000 different varieties.

He began gardening aged just eighton his family's mixed grape and stone fruit orchard beside the Murray River.

He often planted his roses at night while holding a lantern after spending all day pruning vines.

" I think a well balanced garden always has roses," he said. `In South Australia, roses flower all year round with four or five flushes a year.

"I enjoy arranging flowers like the paintings of the 16th, 17th and 18th century. However, it's hard to find them all blooming in the same season. They cheated and painted daffodils with grapes which just doesn't happen."

A former president of the World Federation of Rose Societies, he was the first president of Heritage Roses in Australia and has attended most World Heritage Rose Conventions. He has been presented with England's highest rose award and given presentations throughout Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, England, Belgium and Israel. His speciality is flower arrangements by the old Flemish, Dutch and French painters.

He has also conducted many tours overseas. Last year he took 94 people to see Tasmanian gardens; this year it will be New Zealand's South Island, coinciding with the Festival of Roses, and visiting Christchurch, Timaru, Tekapo and Dunedin.

Roses Through The Ages will be held at Sopheze on the Bay from 6.30pm.