Thanks to Hester Macdonald of HM Garden Design for this article below. On Wednesday, Hester went along to a press conference in Nyon and discovered that the town is trialling an exciting new project involving roses. Members of the public can go along and see “this quiet revolution” happening in the town. Details below.
A World First for Roses – in Nyon!
Perhaps you know where the Espaces Verts for Nyon are based? Tucked up behind Nyon Tennis Club, on the Avenue de Bois-Bougy? There’s a quiet revolution happening there, and if you have time to visit this weekend on Friday 14th June from 16:00 to 19:00 or Saturday 15th from 10:00 to 15:00, you can see it all for yourself.
In the middle of a field of wheat, screened from all but the most curious of passers-by, you’ll find dozens of neatly-arranged squares, filled with roses, carefully tagged with numbers, but with no other information. This is the new rose competition for Switzerland, and the numbers refer to one of the 27 international rose breeders that have sent in their new roses for trial in Nyon. See photo of aerial view below.
This is an entirely unique competition, as each of the plants has been raised completely pesticide and treatment free by the breeders, and will continue to be grown in exactly this fashion. The gardeners at the Espaces Verts will only providing watering and some additional compost, in fact, the conditions that most home growers would be quite happy to create.
The competition has been created by the Amis de la Rose de Nyon with the support of the World Federation of Roses, and of course, the significant support of the team from the Espaces Verts et Forêts of Nyon. The roses were planted in March of this year, and considering what a wet and cool spring we have had so far, have surprised everyone by putting on a floral show, just in time for the open days this weekend.
Go along and have a look if you have time this weekend, and see what the future of roses looks and smells like.
