Olive Tree Village Rose Show back in Palmerston North after Covid-19 hiatus

Olive Tree Village Rose Show organisers Merle McCulloch (left) and Dorothy Weston. Photo / Judith Lacy

Just like a rose needs many elements to flourish, so too does a rose show.

The Olive Tree Village Rose Show on Saturday was organised by a 22-strong committee.

The show started 29 years ago, the same year the Palmerston North village opened. Only roses grown in the village are eligible to enter.

Thanks to Covid-19, Saturday’s show was the first since 2019.

The days leading up to the show had been rough for the roses with all the rain - and for residents wanting to pick their entries, convenor Dorothy Weston says.

In the end, there were 140 entries across eight classes, more than she was expecting.

The classes included patio, three stages of one variety - bud, middle, exhibition bloom - and one stem with no more than three flowers open.

Each class had two stewards. Judging for first, second and third place in each class was done by residents before the show opened.

Dorothy Weston won the best exhibit of the Olive Tree Village Rose show with Loving Memory in three stages of development. Photo / Judith Lacy

After 18 years, Weston stepped down as convenor on Saturday.

The show first started when some members of the Manawatū Rose Society moved to Olive Tree Village. Ted Walker, Una Kilmister, Bruce Kilmister, and June Hocking (all now deceased) were instrumental in getting the show off the ground.

Nationally qualified rose judge and society member Peter Elliott has been involved with the show since it started in the gardener’s shed, as there was no community centre then.

Raffles are a feature of the show, with residents donating prizes. Weston continued the tradition begun by her late husband, Philip Weston, of donating a bottle of whiskey as a raffle prize. Philip was a Lancaster bomber pilot and Hunterville farmer.