Knysna's beautiful rose in bloom

KNYSNA NEWS - A veteran of the rose world, rosarian Sheenagh Harris, was recently recognised for her steadfast dedication to the rose world when a rose was specially named after her.

This beautiful gesture was made by a couple from India, Viru and Girija Viraraghaven, after years and years of cultivating the Sheenagh Harris rose. This is a tremendous honour.

It takes up to 10 years to breed a new rose by trying out new strains before one actually comes up with a brand-new rose. "It takes an immense amount of effort to cultivate a rose from scratch, so I can simply not explain how honoured I am by this," Harris said.

While the rose could sadly not be presented to Harris physically, the Viraraghavens told her about it via a video call earlier this year. Harris had no idea.

"It was such a wonderful surprise, the rosarians from Federation of Rose Societies of South Africa (Rosa) and the Knysna Rose Society planned a special video call and out of the blue Viru and Girija introduced themselves and began speaking about the rose," she remembers.

"For some time now, we have been wanting to honour you by naming a rose for you - you, who are one of our good and long-time friends in the rose world, and who has done so much for the rose, not only in SA, but across the world," the couple said during the call.

"It was indeed a very happy circumstance that our hybrid Rosa gigantea strain had produced a very striking single rose, a repeat flowering shrub with beautiful foliage. This rose has warm colours like the colours of evening, in a way reflecting the warm glow of your personality. We know that you have said that you like single roses and we too are fascinated by their beauty."

When staunch and long-standing Knysna Rose Society member, Joan Spencer, attended the celebratory lunch after the announcement of Harris' rose, she was so taken with the beautiful rose that she was inspired to paint it and all its striking colours on a silk scarf as a gift for Harris.

The silk was imported from China especially for the purpose of painting and the special paint comes from France.

Harris' work for the roses

Harris (85) has been a part of the rose world for many years as she grew up in a household of rosarians. Her parents, Jack and Mary Wise, were both presidents of Rosa and founder members of the World Federation of Rose Societies (WFRS). A life-long resident of Johannesburg, Harris joined the Gold Reef Rose Society in 1995 and became a committee member four years later.

She served as either chairperson or secretary until 2009. She was also president of Rosa from 2004 to 2006 and remained on as secretary after this, simultaneously holding the position of editor for three years. During this time she also served as vice-president of the WFRS for Africa from 2006 until 2009.

At the end of that tenure she was elected president of the WFRS from 2009 to 2012, during which time she visited 23 countries for the love of the rose. Harris remains the only person to receive the President's Award (bestowed upon the Rosa member who has made a most significant contribution to roses) on two occasions - in 2009 and 2018.