Australian Di Durston is visiting Dunedin at the beginning of next month to give a public lecture on old tea roses and the importance of their preservation.
Ms Durston will give 12 illustrated addresses to rose-lovers throughout New Zealand during her two-week lecture tour, an initiative of Heritage Roses New Zealand.
"My talk is a montage of stories from the past 20 years of collecting and researching tea-scented roses," Ms Durston said.
"I will be including rescued tea roses and hope to impress on the audience the immense significance in protecting as many tea roses for a new generation of rose growers to enjoy.
"I speak from the point of view of a gardener," she added.
Tea roses, so-called because their perfume is said to resemble oolong tea, were bred in China and introduced into Europe towards the end of the 18th century. Hybrid tea roses, starting with crosses between tea roses and the hardier hybrid perpetuals - still one of the most popular rose types - have been bred since the 1860s.
As well as growing tea roses, Ms Durston is a member of Heritage Roses in Australia and one of the six co-authors of Tea Roses.
"We [the six] are known affectionately as the Tea Ladies," she said.
Because tea roses have the tropical Rosa gigantea in their pedigree, it has often been assumed they are too tender for southern gardens but this is a myth, says Heritage Roses Otago president Ann Williams.
"I was told it was far too cold in Mosgiel for teas, but I've got about five and they're doing well," she said.
Hear her
Di Durston's Dunedin talk is at Wylde Willow Garden, Abbotsford, on Saturday, December 3, starting at 4pm with drinks, nibbles and a tour of the garden. The hour-long lecture starts at 6pm. The cost is $10 for Heritage Roses Otago members, $15 for non-members (payment on the day). Register with Jenny Hodgkinson, phone (03) 489-8884, or email jen-and-ian@xtra.co.nz.
