Angie Griffin, of Wharfedale Gardeners' Group, reports on the organisation's annual meeting and latest talk 'Roses: their place in history and the best varieties for gardens' by Andrew Mikolajski

AT our annual AGM we bid a fond farewell to our chair Gillian Spencer and our treasurer Steven Rollinson as, after their many years of service, they are stepping down to take up places on the committee, so we don’t lose them completely.

Taking over the reins will be Anni Allsuch and Sam Roberts as joint chair and Christine Good (membership secretary) will be supported by Rachel Gilham as treasurer. It seems everyone is so busy these days that the workload is better shared.

Our talk was given by Andrew Mikolajski, who has written numerous books on gardening and gives lectures and talks all over the country. He is the horticultural advisor for the RHS and contributed to the latest RHS Encyclopaedia of Plants and Flowers.

It is hard to imagine a garden without roses. We tend to believe that roses are quintessentially English but by giving us a fascinating talk on the history and heritage and how they became the nations’ favourite flower, we learned that such a wide variety of roses were welcome visitors to our country.

Originating naturally in Central Asia, the rose does not grow as a native plant in southern hemisphere. Historically the Romans brought roses (Rosa Mundi) with them to England. The ‘old roses’ such as the gallicas, albas and damask were favoured in the 1780s (think ‘Downton Abbey’) and the Victorian plant hunters brought many specimens from China.

Although the traditional roses are always popular, due to smaller gardens and less time to tend to them, gardeners are opting for the smaller pot or patio roses. The prettiest of these has to be the delicate pink dwarf floribunda ‘Queen Mother’.

Andrew suggested that when filling a large pot at least three roses should be planted together to create a full display in the first year. Andrew made the point that we often grow roses as a single specimen but they are also useful as a flowering shrub, mixed into the borders with other perennials. Roses look good with ferns and grasses, alchemilla mollis or hardy geraniums, their frothy habit disguising the bare, lower root stock of the rose.

As many gardeners grow at least one rose the Q&A session with Andrew was a treasure trove of a lifetime’s experience. We shall all feel a lot more confident in choosing the right rose for the right place and enjoy our blooms for many years to come.