A rosy future for Knysna society

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KNYSNA NEWS - The Knysna Rose Society hosted the Knysna Roses 2020 Convention, which also doubled as the Knysna Spring Rose Show, at Amble Ridge Retirement Village over three days last week.

The honour of hosting the national Rose Convention only comes by Knysna once every 10 years or so, and therefore the fact that the event was postponed from 2020 until 2021 has caused anticipation to skyrocket.

Members of the Federation of Rose Societies of South Africa (Rosa) from around the country flocked to Knysna for the special occasion. The event started on Thursday 28 October, but only for exhibitors and participants in the competition, as they set out to present their roses to the judges.

Photo gallery: Knysna Roses 2020 Convention / Knysna Spring Rose Show

After evaluating the roses, the judges filled out the scorecards, and picked their Queen of the Show, Harmony, grown by Lindsay Durham. All the competition roses were put on public display for the final two days of the convention, Friday and Saturday, 29 and 30 October.

Friday started off with some very interesting presentations and lectures from some of the most important names in the world of roses, including dignitaries from the UK and Denmark.

VIPs at the Spring Rose Show. Joanne Johnstone (chairman Knysna Rose Society), Countess Ghislain de Briey de Gerlach from Belgium (President of the World Federation of Rose Societies), Sheenagh Harris (Convenor and Past President of the WFRS), Inger Schierning (President of the Danish Rose Society and WFRS Vice President for Northern Europe) and Ludwig Taschner of Ludwig’s Roses.

Among the very special attendees was president of the World Federation of Rose Societies, Countess Ghislain de Briey de Gerlach from Belgium, along with more than just a few other rosarians of note. On Friday afternoon, it came time for the rose show and exhibition, with a large number of people travelling to Amble Ridge to revel in the glory of the many wonderful roses.