Chapter 30

Rose Societies

The main purpose of any Rose Society is to help people to grow better roses. It is seldom realized that this assistance is available to all members of the community, irrespective of whether they are members of the Rose Society or not. Members will learn more of rose-growing, new varieties, and all the other aspects of rose culture than other people, and this is by virtue of their constant contact with the many activities of their Society. Any Rose Society that does not attempt to help non-members is failing in its duty as a civic body, and any non-member who is interested in roses is missing invaluable assistance and associations. The annual subscription is always only a few shillings, and the return by way of privileges and literature is out of all proportion to this cost.

The greater the membership of any Society, the greater is the number of people who receive direct help, the greater is the power of the Society to extend services in ever-increasing forms to those members, and the greater is the ability of the Society to give indirect civic help. Since no Rose Society is a profit-making organization, it commits itself to the limit of its expected income and cannot afford to retain unfinancial members. In an efficiently conducted Rose Society each member's cost is at least as great as his subscription, and a large proportion of the maintenance expenses must be derived from admission charges to shows. It has often been suggested that these charges should be abolished and that free admission would help in education of the public. This suggestion is actuated by a very admirable motive, but it would mean a great increase in the annual membership subscription. Many municipal councils are coming to realize the value of horticultural societies in the community, and are allowing, free of charge, the use of town halls for shows, and smaller halls for monthly meetings.

Founded in England on 7th December 1876, the National Rose Society remains, despite two devastating wars, the world's greatest and largest horticultural organization devoted to any one flower.

There is no continent-wide Australian Rose Society, each State, except Tasmania, having its own National Rose Society. The Victorian body was formed in 1900, the first of its kind in Australia. It is, today, bigger than all other Australian Rose Societies combined. The National Rose Society of New South Wales is next in seniority, but that of Western Australia, the youngest of all, ranks easily second in membership.

The National Rose Society of New Zealand was founded as recently as 1932, with its headquarters at Auckland. The Dominion is about a thousand miles from north to south, and covers a large climatic range. As membership grew and spread to widely differing parts, separate subordinate Societies were formed in appropriate centres. Each is affiliated with the parent body and sends delegates to an executive council.

Although there is, as yet, no National Rose Society of Tasmania, rose shows are held regularly at several centres, notably Hobart and Bagdad. They attract large attendances.

The National Rose Societies of the Australian States and New Zealand issue, under the sponsorship of the Victorian Society, the Australian and New Zealand Rose Annual. A copy is given to each member of each Society. Other services rendered vary considerably with each State.

The National Rose Society of Victoria issues to each member, on joining, a copy of a small booklet entitled Introduction to Rose Growing; every three months, a pamphlet dealing with cultural hints; and for each spring and autumn show one member's and two ladies' tickets. Members are entitled to exhibit at the main shows and at the lesser displays staged at each of the monthly meetings, to which the public is invited and at which lectures and demonstrations are given on subjects pertaining to rose-growing. The Western Australian Society issues a pamphlet each month. As the other Societies increase in numerical strength, they will be able to render more services than they can at present.

The activities of Rose Societies best known by the general public are the main shows, and, to a lesser extent, public demonstrations of pruning. Until people become members of a National Rose Society they miss many advantages that may, at first, appear to be of minor significance, but are later found to be invaluable, such as the use of the Society's library, the supplying of lists of roses recommended for various purposes, and, above all, the meeting of hundreds of other ardent rose-growers, all wanting to exchange ideas and gain knowledge. If only for his own sake, every rose-grower should be a member of a Rose Society.

Never allow your Rose Society to become complacent with age, for that will be its first step towards self-destruction. Keep it vigorous by bringing in new members, especially younger men on to the executive committee, and by giving each one some responsibility. They will devise new and better ways of doing things.

Rose Conventions have become regular functions in the United States of America and can serve a very useful purpose in large countries where members of Rose Societies live far apart and grow their roses under widely differing conditions. These meetings are arranged in centres where there is an active interest in rose-growing and ample hotel accommodation for visitors. They often coincide with the holding of a rose show; lectures, demonstrations, and visits to gardens are always included in the programme. The first gathering of this kind in the Southern Hemisphere was held by the National Rose Society of New Zealand from 16 to 20th November 1947 at Palmerston North.