One of New Zealand’s premier garden events, The Timaru Festival of Roses is a vibrant and entertaining fiesta of summer, creativity and of course the Queen of Flowers – the Rose.

Each year hundreds of visitors to the region mix with thousands of locals to welcome the beginning of summer and the bloom of the roses. The Festival combines stunning public and private garden displays, rose themed tours, fabulous floral art creations, children’s activities, music, theatre and creativity – all with a huge level of community participation.

The Festival attracts garden lovers and creative enthusiasts from all corners of New Zealand and our reputation is such that international tour groups are planning their itineraries (often one or two years in advance) around the annual end of November Festival dates.

The entire Festival and in particular the Market Day is a huge community effort with many non-profit groups and service clubs using the event to raise valuable funds.

The Festival achievements include winning the South Canterbury 2008 Trustpower Community Awards.

Planning for the 2013 Timaru Festival of Roses is underway with lots of behind the scenes activity going on. Most of the work at this stage is focused organising the events and in particular viewing and selecting gardens for The Open Gardens of Timaru.

Do you have a treasured garden located within the Timaru town or rural areas?  We are looking for properties to show off during the Festival. All sizes, shapes and styles of garden would fit it, the main ingredient is the enthusiasm, devotion and creativity of the garden owners. We are interested to hear from you (Phone us 03 688 5531 or email info@festivalofroses.co.nz)