Cemetery roses respond to nurture

Taking care of a Gallica rose bush at the Northern Cemetery in Dunedin at a Heritage Roses Otago working bee is Robyne Selbie.

Convener Fran Rawling said there was a collection of about 1300 roses which were pruned and shaped earlier this week.

The group held a working bee monthly, along with extra sessions in the winter for planting.

In 2016, about 500 roses showed signs of damage after having been sprayed with herbicide.

Ms Rawling said most of the poisoned roses were found and were now "looking pretty good" after a lot of fertiliser and careful pruning.

Many of the roses were very rare, which was why the group kept a mother plant of each type from which to propagate.