Hutt Valley Rose Society

05/05/2026

Cultural notes for May! Get your red hot rose growing advice at the link below! Thanks to John Ford and our member Allison for their guidance.

04/05/2026

We had our AGM this evening and it was such a lovely meeting! This is our last meeting before Spring... like our roses, we hibernate over winter. Updated with more detail on Instagram... follow us there for pretty pictures and newsy updates!

10/04/2026

It's going to blow a bit this weekend, friends. Have a think about staking and tying your autumn growth. We know we're going to lose blooms but good support could save the longer stems from windthrow. Stay safe and take care.

12/03/2026

We're doing our best to get the society Instagram going! Share it with your garden friends, please engage and share your thoughts!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DVx8qrzE1VA/?igsh=YndvZzUzbTFoem9n

06/03/2026

Another Insta post! We had some curiosity around the lovely stripey Thunderstruck, so thought it could be an opportunity to showcase other painted roses available in NZ! Link below.

AND!!! South Pacific Roses in Otaki have kicked off their end-of-season sale! $25 for a rose?! Yes please! Check out their website! https://southpacificroses.co.nz/

- Sophie

South Pacific Roses grow & sell some of the world’s finest roses right here in New Zealand and provide quality advice on how to look after your roses.

04/03/2026

Ladies and gentlemen, we have an Instagram! The first post features photos from our lovely member Danielle's garden. It's easy to see why she won the photo category at our show in November!

If you're on Insta, give us a follow! We'll be keeping it updated with event info, photos, and maybe a cheeky weekly competition - photos, favourite roses, best performers... we have lots of ideas!

If you have ideas how we can make the Insta really fun and interesting, please let us know!

0 Followers, 3 Following, 1 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Hutt Valley Rose Society ()

03/03/2026

Our February meeting was lovely, with a table show, presentations by John Ford and Peter Elliott. It was a wild, cold night, so our members deserve a lot of credit for coming out in it, but John and Peter drove down from the Manawatu, so big love and kudos to them as well!

John talked us through his annual schedule, from summer trimming to moving (or removing!) roses in winter, some really great tips on products to use, when to feed, and how to treat each rose as an individual when pruning in winter. I'll certainly be adjusting my approach!

Peter brought some stunning roses from the trial grounds, and explained how they're marked, and marketed. The top award had gone to John last time, and his Eyelight is a beauty. Peter was kind enough to let our members take the roses home, and we gratefully took that offer up!

We're so lucky to have them present to us, and we all learn so much from them! Thank you, John, and Peter!

Allison Scott ran the table show and judged them, and there were some real beauties brought along by our members. Many thanks to Allison for her enthusiasm, direction, and expertise.

Ana Clulee ran the meeting as interim president up til our AGM in May, and her joy and humour is always lovely. She acknowledged our success in the Rose Ranfurly earlier in the year, and those people who contributed their time, hard work, roses, and creativity towards our win.

She also acknowledged the loss of John Terris last month, and his wife Katie thanked the Society for donating roses for his funeral. All our love to Katie and her whanau.

Our next meeting will be on April 6th and we hope to see you all there!

- Sophie

07/02/2026

Kia ora, my lovely Hutt Valley rose friends!

Today was the annual Rose Ranfurly. The Ranfurly is an annual friendly competition between four lower North Island rose societies. The location rotates and the host society chooses the classes. Societies compete as a team.

This year the Wairarapa society hosted and chose the classes. They were tremendously welcoming, generous, and kind!

The Hutt Valley had six representatives at the Ranfurly, entering 12 classes, starting crazy early considering the drive time. Nevertheless, our ladies conquered awful traffic and an early start time for staging to do their best, with the best blooms and extras we could pull together as a society, given the weather we've had and the time of year. I mean, it's been rough!

How did we do? Well, we won! We won the Ranfurly! It's only the second time that the Hutt Valley have won the Ranfurly, over so many years, and this is the second year running!

I want to give credit and so much love to our friends and compatriots in the Wairarapa, Feilding, and Manawatu Societies. Their entries were beautiful. The work we all put in is a testament to our love of roses. We're family!

Especial love to the Wairarapa team who hosted us so graciously.

But also, let's recognise Teresa, Denise, Ana, Jan, Christine, and Michelle, who roadtripped up to Masterton and whose efforts got us the win.

For our HVRS friends, here are some photos of our gorgeous entries. And our ladies, who worked so hard to achieve a win!

Thank you so much!

Much love
Sophie

15/11/2025

The first day of the show went so well! We sold all our rose bushes, the bunches and posies completely depleted our donated flowers (more will come tomorrow!) and the raffle tickets sold like hotcakes

I was at the stadium at 8am for morning staging. I got entries that hadn't a class set up so there was some clever manoeuvring to include them. Lots of additions, scratches, and changes to record and write up.

The judging was from 10 till 12 and Peter was so thoughtful and deliberate in his choices. I recorded his decisions and the champion winners.

Came home to give my dog some love and eat something, then back for a shift in the door.

Then at 4 we closed up, I came home and started my admin work on the prizes.

I still have maths to do tomorrow, to work out who gets what in the prizes, but for now I'm going to eat my dumplings, cuddle my hound, and watch something silly.

Photos for tax. The last two were taken by the wonderful Lisa from Hutt City FM, if me and two of the most incredible ladies in the society, who make the show come to life year after year!

14/11/2025

So we've had our early entries, set the hall up, run our early staging that's especially helpful for our novices needing support and tomorrow, IT'S ON! The hall looks and smells incredible, and we can't wait to see you all there!

The weekend is chaotic and manic and wonderful and genuinely, it's the best part of the year, when all our hard work pays off, and we get to show our friends, fellow members, and the public what we love.

Rose bushes for sale cheap! Beautiful bunches for $10! A really cool raffle where you could win a vege pod! And maybe just meeting some of us, asking your questions, smelling the blooms, and appreciating the beauty and diversity of roses. Come and say hi!