The winners of this year’s Concours International de Roses Nouvelles de Monaco have been announced, but there’s one prize yet to be awarded: the Prix du Public.  

The Princess Grace Rose Garden is in full bloom, with roses of every colour, form and perfume filling the park in Fontvieille. 

Some 75 roses from producers the world over were submitted ahead of this seventh edition of the competition, including 24 hybrid tea roses, 36 cluster flowering varieties, seven ground-cover roses and eight miniature roses. 

France is most represented, with 13 breeders of roses submitting 33 varieties, but there have also been contributions from specialist growers in the United States of America, Japan, South Africa and New Zealand. 

Prior to going on display at the Princess Grace Rose Garden, the roses have all been cared for at a site managed by Monaco’s Department of Urban Amenities, the Pépinière de Saint Laurent d’Eze, in a bid to reduce the environmental footprint of the festival. The six-month incubation period has also been a 100% organic endeavour. 

The producers were allowed to grow on 10 examples of their each of their new roses, but the unusually wet and cold weather of this spring seems to have held some of the specimens back as a small proportion still remain in bud.

Nevertheless, on Thursday 2nd May, it was announced that the international jury, a panel composed of rose specialists from across the continent, as well as Cécila Casiraghi of the Monaco Garden Club and Françoise Gamerdinger, the head of Monaco’s Department of Cultural Affairs, had already chosen their winners. 

A Danish rose, No.27 Orange Sunrise, won the Hybrid Tea category while the No.10 hybrid tea Jean Carles picked up the prestigious Trophée Piaget Rose and the Coupe du Parfum.  

An ivory rose, No.36 Madame, also caught the eye of the panel, who proclaimed it the winner of the cluster flowering category and this year’s Coup de Cœur des Amis de la Roseraie Princesse Grace. 

In the ground-cover category, a delicate pale pink German cultivar, No.68 Pashmina, emerged as the winner, while the flawlessly white No.77 Rosa Bonheur was awarded the top prize in the Miniature category. 

Prix du Public 

There is one prize yet to be attributed: the Prix du Public.

Between 3rd May and 16th June, the global public is being invited to choose their favourite by liking the most beautiful specimens in a photo gallery on Facebook. The image that garners the most likes, the winner, will be announced on 19th June.  

See below for a link to the gallery of roses:

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Main photo of No.10 hybrid tea Jean Carles: Monaco Communications Department