"The rain has got to our beautiful blooms," committee member Margaret Hyde said.
"With roses, they bruise and just about go mouldy overnight. It was hail last year that cancelled it. If we'd had (the show) last week it would have been magnificent."
The Rose Show has been a highlight on gardeners' calendars for decades.
However, after so much rain on the West Coast recently the judge from South Canterbury had been expecting the phone call to say it had been called off, Mrs Hyde said.
Fifteen exhibitors had been due to show their blooms, including 250 from Mrs Hyde and husband Stan, president of the rose society.
Now all of the roses in their Taylorville garden have droopy heads.
The society is moving the show to a new date in future, possibly during the second flush for roses, in January.
Mrs Hyde said it was only in more recent years that the November show had been "precarious".
Secretary Lynn Anisy said her garden was absolutely "sodden" because of the weather and there were leaves and petals everywhere.
"The roses were really beautiful. I would have been able to put one in just about every class."
The blooms had been the best in about eight years before the downpour ruined them, and she feared they might not get to the same degree of magnificence for another eight years.
The Westland Rose Society began in 1963 at the old Highland Pipe Band Hall. It meets at Holy Trinity Church on the first Tuesday of every month to share tips, ideas and knowledge about growing roses.
- Arianna Stewart
