21 November 2024

Full Bloom

Ngā Hononga. Common Threads.

writer: Felicity Connell

photographer: Tess Charles

Drive south-east from Whanganui on State Highway 3 during the summer months and you’ll soon spot hundreds of roses blooming in a paddock along the roadside. A celebration of colour and fragrance, this garden is a gift to the community and to passersby – and a showcase for Matthews Roses. Here, on land farmed by their family for five generations, the Matthews family now combines a commercial rose-breeding and -growing business with sheep farming, cropping and agricultural contracting.

Top Image. “I think people have become disconnected with how things are produced – it’s a similar story across the agricultural sector,” Samantha says. “I like to connect people with how things are actually grown. When people buy a rose from a garden centre, they don’t think about the years of breeding process, or that it took two years to get the plant to this stage, or even the work to take the photo to put on the label to sell it. There’s so many layers to it.” Above. “At the moment we grow on average 280–300 different varieties of roses,” Samantha says. “My favourites would have to be any of the varieties in the ‘My Rose Collection’ range, not only because they are easy care with great flower power, but also because of the years of work with my dad spent creating the collection. They are all like my babies; it is definitely like trying to choose favourite child – impossible!”

“I always say I married the rose grower, and he married the farmer,” says Cath Matthews, 65, who met her husband, Bob, 74, forty-six years ago. She’d just returned from Te-Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington to the family farm in Whanganui, and Bob was working in his parents’ rose nursery on leased land in Pūtiki. “I was absolutely fascinated about the metamorphosis of rose-growing,” Cath says. “It’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly – you start off with this little wee bud, you put in the rose and it grows into a plant and flowers. It’s magic!” But Bob’s parents were planning on closing their rose business. “SoI approached Mum and my aunts, Spin and Joan, and asked if we could lease some land on the family farm so we could take over the rose business,” says Cath. “Thankfully, they said ‘yes.’”

The present-day operation remains a family affair, with Cath and Bob’s children, Samantha, 36, and Thomas, 31, forming part of the team. “We’ve all got our lanes,” Samantha explains. “Thomas manages cropping and agricultural contracting, and I’m involved with the roses with Mum and Dad. We all chip in with the sheep and general farm work.” According to Samantha, it’s always full on, but the family having good communication and enjoying working together is what holds it all together. “We’ve built such a strong rapport,” she says. “There is a lot of mutual respect and trust. We’re pretty direct with each other. No one’s beating around the bush, that’s for sure. We’ve got a good balance. Mum and Dad have the experience, but when Thomas or I have an idea or suggest a new way of doing something, they’re really open to exploring it.”

Keen on inspiring new gardeners, one thing Samantha and Cath both want to dispel is the myth that roses require a lot of work. “We want people to know that any Matthews rose they buy, they can trust that it’s going to grow,” Samantha says. “I don’t want them to feel like a rose is like a scary thing. I want them to go, ‘Wow! These are the most amazing, hardy plants, and because they’re so hardy, they’re so easy to grow.’ I want people to just have a go, plonk it in and enjoy the results. You can plant a rose in a pot on your balcony and still feel connected to the seasons.” It’s an approach that Cath agrees with. “Roses are gutsier than people give them credit for. With just a little bit of seasonal TLC, you’ll get so much back. It’s so rewarding for us when people grow a rose that has significance for them, like Wish Come True, My Sweetheart or My Treasure.”

The three generations – Cath, Lewanna, Samantha and Bob. “What do we have in common? Resilience and hard work,” Cath says. “We don’t muckabout. We just get on with the job.”

At 98, Cath’s mum, Lewanna McLean, continues to live independently on the farm where she was born. Two of her younger sisters, Spin and Joan – also in their nineties– live independently on their farm next door. And she’s happy to know the farm – which was bought by her grandfather, Nathaniel, and her great-uncle, Archibald Sutherland, in 1886 – is still being run by the family. When her father, Donald Sutherland, died relatively young, her mother, Ursula, carried on farming. Ursula’s nickname was Big Boss, and it’s easy to see why. “She was born in Dunedin in 1892, and as a young woman she was one of the first to ride a horse astride, not side-saddle,” recalls Lewanna. “Boys would throw stones at her, and call her ‘straddle-legs.’”

The three generations – Cath, Lewanna, Samantha and Bob. “What do we have in common? Resilience and hard work,” Cath says. “We don’t muckabout. We just get on with the job.”

Ursula was also one of only two women studying anatomy at Otago University at the time. “Every morning, the male medical students would line up and shout, ‘Clear the gangway for the sluts,’” says Lewanna. “The other girl didn’t last long, and although Mum stuck it out longer, eventually she had to give it up. She headed up north, and before she married Dad, she had a Jersey stud in Tauranga. She kept breeding records that were quite advanced for the time.”

Lewanna’s father, Donald, was one of thirteen siblings, and the only one to get married. “We had a lot of old rellies that used to come and stay for ages, as there weren’t rest homes in those days,” Lewana says. “I don’t know how my mum managed it. It was hard work for the women, but they just seemed to survive, and they always made sure they had starched tablecloths and napkins! We didn’t get electricity until well into the 1930s. When we got power, the first thing she did was get a green Beatty washing machine, so she didn’t have to boil on the copper anymore.”

Roses add a softening touch to even the most utilitarian of places – in this case, the sinks outside the staffroom. “I like to put flowers there foreveryone to enjoy,” Samantha says.

Continue reading the full story in our Kōanga Spring 2024 Edition.

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