I came across the quote above today and thought how wonderful all those things are. Especially when travelling, the well-made bed, the opportunity to view sunrises in varied places, and fresh flowers are appreciated on a trip away. Not least, if the flowers are roses in full bloom in new locations when you know they may have finished in your own garden.
Gustave Flaubert
“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world”
In my quest to see roses in New Zealand on a recent visit, I’ve found several gardens that are not Botanical Gardens but smaller local rose gardens. The first is an unusual Garden in Napier called the Kennedy Park Rose Garden at Hawkes Bay. I say unusual because it is in a suburban area adjacent to a large Holiday Park. The garden was established in 1951. It has no fences or gates and is free to enter at anytime. It boasts 5000 roses including 500 different species including bush roses, standards and numerous climbing roses in a long, well-set-out, 90-metre display.
“Real beauty is in the fragility of your petals. A rose that never wilts isn’t a rose at all.”
Crystal Woods
After a short drive from Hawkes Bay with a friendly local taxi driver, we found the garden and managed a few photos before it rained. Nonetheless, the roses were spectacular. As is often the case in New Zealand, our taxi driver was helpful and eager to please. He also insisted on driving us into the Botanical Gardens to inspire us to visit there when we return next week. He drove us to our destination via the gardens and then took us on a scenic tour of the surrounding streets lined with older-style weatherboard houses, and the highlights of the beautiful art-deco city of Napier.
“Art deco is a style that is characterised by its sense of glamour and opulence.”
The impressive roses in Napier were growing in weed-free, mulched beds with concrete borders and well-manicured lawns. A circular pond and a small fountain sit in the centre, with white climbing rose frames and plenty of benches to relax and smell the gorgeous climbers. Considering the high rainfall in Napier, the roses had fantastic, healthy foliage, always an indication of the health of rose plants.
“Take time to smell the roses. Appreciating the little things in life really can make all the difference.”
Andy Puddicombe
An enviable large compost heap bordered one side of the Park, and several gardeners were in view tending the roses that we were told would flower in this region until June. I wouldn’t say the garden has an overly picturesque setting, and it is not grand like the Botanical Gardens of major cities in New Zealand. The garden had a wide variety of very well-kept roses bushes, some of which were magnificent for the time of year.
“A rose does not lose its beautiful scent because it grew in dirt.”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“The world is a rose, smell it, and pass it to your friends.”
Persian Proverb
The second garden was Robins Park in Tauranga on the North Island. The Garden was established with funds donated by the Bay Of Plenty Floral Festival Society in 1960. It is a smaller garden by the Bay with a statue of Ceres in the centre of a pond and beds highlighting ten or more rose bushes of one variety surrounding the area.
The Robbins Park Garden had a few different varieties of roses growing, but the really outstanding one was a bed of Scentimental roses. I have this rose at home in a large pot, and it is truly stunning; it repeat blooms often through each season, the roses stay on the bush a long time and it has a wonderful scent. The New Zealand examples did not disappoint.
Scentimental Rose is a unique burgundy-red rose with splashes of swirled creamy white on the petals. It was bred by Tom Carruth in the USA in 1996. It is a medium-sized, compact shrub with fully double blooms that, once ready, will open quickly. It is disease-resistant and has ruffled dark green semi-glossy foliage, creating a beautiful old-fashioned rose with a stunning scent. Scentimental was the first striped rose to win an All-American Rose Award.
“It’s ok to feel delicate sometimes. Real beauty is in the fragility of your petals. A rose that never wilts isn’t a rose at all.”
Crystal Woods
It was well worth the effort of research and a few short taxi rides to see these roses after a season of diminished floral beauty at home. I wonder what other gardens I can uncover in New Zealand. Please send a comment if you know of any other places.
“A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or its lovely promise won’t come true.”
Ray Evans
Absolutely Fabulous is the name of this bright yellow rose in New Zealand and the United Kingdom; in the USA, it is known as The Julia Child Rose and in Australia, we call it Soul Mate. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful Floribunda rose with exceptional qualities: abundant blooms, prolific flowering, sweet licorice fragrance, glossy foliage, and old-fashioned form in a rounded shrub. Soul Mate was bred by Tom Carruth in the USA in 2003.
“Teaching you how to grow a garden is better than giving you a thousand roses.”
Matshona Dhliwayo
After a warm and sunny day in Mount Maunganui, it was overcast and wet today in Auckland until this afternoon when the sun came out for a short spell. I made a hasty trip to the Dove-Myer Robinson Park, or what is known locally as the Rose Garden or the Parnell Rose Garden. Either way, it is a park in Parnell with thousands of roses and beautiful trees in a garden that slopes down to the water. The park is well known by locals and today, many people were out enjoying the break in the weather. It was named after Dove-Myer Robinson, a long-serving mayor of Auckland. The garden had thousands of roses out in colourful bloom.
Michaelangelo or MEItelov is the name of these vibrant roses that grow in a bed of at least six of the same variety. It was bred by Alain Meilland International, Le Luc en Provence, France, in 1997 as part of the Romantica ™ series. It will grow upright with semi-glossy, mid-green foliage in old-fashioned bloom form to 1.5 metres and has a mild lemon fragrance. The brilliant colour stands out against the green foliage, especially in cloudy conditions, and the unique colouring is distinctive, with every petal appearing hand-painted.
“Flowers are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out values all the utilities in the world.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
One of my favourite roses in the Parnell Garden is Guy Savoy, a brilliant Magenta Delbards Rose. I was glad to see it because mine has struggled this year in a very large pot and not flowered as much as it usually does. It is a happy rose brimming with colourful blooms and a fascinating striped effect.
“The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem / For that sweet odour which doth in it live.”
William Shakespeare Sonnet 54
Guy Savoy is a hardy, fairly vigorous semi-climbing rose bred by George Delbard in France in 2002 as a tribute to the famous French Chef Guy Savoy. It is an outstanding rose with magnificent, free-flowering, and exuberant blooms —a real show-off. And so are the remaining roses I captured in this lovely garden in Auckland that unfortunately did not have labels.
Henry Miller
‘One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.’
Weather permitting, more rose gardens will be uncovered over the next few weeks, including Beverly Park in Christchurch, Mona Vale Garden in Christchurch, Central Rose Garden Hagley Park in Christchurch, Lady Norwood Rose Garden in Wellington, and the Botanical Gardens of Dunedin, Hobart and Melbourne.
Content Di Baker 2024 revised June 2025
Photography Di Baker March 2024 New Zealand Gardens
Title Quote by Denise Milani
