TRELOAR Roses was a winner at the recent National Rose Trial Garden awards in Adelaide.
The Bolwarra company rose to the occasion, winning a rare gold medal for its new perfume passion rose.
Treloar director Gary Matuschka was ecstatic about the win.
"This variety has everything people look for in a rose - it's a hybrid, it's fragrant and it's healthy," Gary said.
It was the first gold medal Treloar Roses had received in 15 years of attending the trials.
Perfume passion also won Australian rose of the year, most fragrant rose and best hybrid tea.
Four other roses entered by Treloar also won medals, including peach profusion for the best pest and disease tolerance, bringing the tally to 10 medals.
Treloar Roses imports its roses from a breeding program run by Kordes Roses in Germany.
The roses are then sent to Treloar for trialling. The best varieties are sent to the national rose trial garden in Adelaide.
The trials are conducted over two years. During the trials, each variety is assessed 14 times by 10 independent assessors.
The criteria for judging include habit, health, flowering, pest and disease tolerance and fragrance.
"We have our own quarantine centre and choose only the healthiest varieties for trial," Gary said.
"It's also about choosing the best varieties for the Australian climate."
Treloar Roses was founded by the late Ted Treloar in the early 1960s, when he began selling rose plants from his nursery at the back of his fruit and vegetable shop.
Gary now works with Ted's grandson, Trent, in managing the farm at its new location at Midwood Homestead, near Portland in the state's south-west.
"It's a lovely display garden, and we encourage visitors to come and look at the farm as well, to see how the roses are grown," Gary said.
The garden is open at all times, with prime flowering between December and April.
Treloar Roses is the biggest rose grower in Australia and runs an extensive mail-order business from its website.
"It's all very exciting and gives the varieties being introduced merit," Gary said.
