As the days warm up, a Brisbane rose garden is flourishing after surviving flooding rains earlier this year, once again proving that Queensland's weather is no match for the bright blooms.
New Farm Park's rose garden, located by the Brisbane River, currently holds 7,000 rose bushes throughout its 15-hectare leafy grounds.
Starting in 1914, the heritage-listed park began with only 800 roses, but by 1940 the state's tourism bureau reported that more than 20,000 plants were growing at the popular picnic spot.
Brisbane City Council gardens curator Dale Arvidsson said the February floods had been tough to recover from, but new and stronger rose varieties had helped the gardens bounce back.
"It was a challenging time for our gardens and parks in Brisbane and many suffered during the wet time," Mr Arvidsson told ABC Radio Brisbane's Craig Zonca and Loretta Ryan.
"We've been doing a lot of work to bring things back and improve the life of the soil and look after the plants affected.
"When you see the roses in New Farm Park and the display they put on now, it's hard to think back to how challenging it was earlier in the year."
He said October was the right time to "stop and smell the roses".
"New Farm Park is home to so many roses, as well as other flowering plants including Australian natives that are also in bloom at the moment," Mr Arvidsson said.
"Spring is a perfect time in Brisbane to see everything wake up and the weather is perfect after what really was a cold, challenging winter."
A history of thorns and blooms
The rose gardens and park have changed over the decades. The location was once a farm that grew crops to feed convicts before becoming a racecourse for a short period of time.
In the 1940s Harry Oakman, then head gardener for New Farm Park, redesigned the flower beds by organising them into variety and colour so the public could be educated about the gardens.
Parts of that 1940s spiral design rose garden still remains today near the bandstand area of the park.
The number of roses increased in the 1960s and 1970s, and The Telegraph, Brisbane's evening newspaper at the time, claimed there were 40,000 roses in the park in 1965.
On a larger scale than the floods seen earlier this year, the infamous 1974 floods covered the rose beds with silt and many of the original plants were lost with beds needing to be started from scratch.
"The roses have always been a feature of New Farm Park since the 1920s," Mr Arvidsson said.
"The rose varieties though that were available in the 1920s are very different to what we have on offer now.
"Many of the varieties we have are made for the Queensland climate and can survive the weather, floods, and rains that the sunshine state throws at them.
"Plant breeders have been improving roses so they are much better suited for this environment."
Over the years the Queensland Rose Society has been involved in helping the gardens trial different varieties of roses before they've been planted to ensure their longevity.
The group has looked at varieties that can withstand long dry periods, floodwaters, and certain pests to strengthen the floral offering.
Variety the spice of life
Among the rose varieties in New Farm Park, Mr Arvidsson said there was one bright pink rose that was a favourite.
"One you should see right now is the Perfume Passion. It's really suited for the Brisbane climate and is a highly perfumed rose and is a bright pink spectacle," he said.
Other classic varieties in the park include Iceberg, Playboy, Peace and Mister Lincoln roses.
"What we have on display in the gardens are some of the best roses that you can grow in your own garden so it gives people the chance to decide what they want in their own garden," he said.
"I think of the 7,000 roses we have in New Farm Park I've smelt them all."
