Next year marks the 200th birthday of the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland, founded in 1816 when a group of gardeners came together in the appropriately named Rose Tavern in Donnybrook, Dublin to discuss their worries that “the art of gardening was falling away and rapidly declining”.
To celebrate, the RHSI has chosen a cream-flowering shrub rose recently bred by one of the world's oldest rose breeding companies, Dickson Nurseries in Co Down, and it is now inviting members of the public to name it. See rhsi.ie, or send your suggestions to RHSI, Laurelmere Lodge, Marlay Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
