Yandina rose breeder Laurel Sommerfeld awarded Best Australian Bred Rose Trophy
A Queensland woman who has grown roses for more than eight decades has developed a one-of-a-kind flower called Great Balls of Fire and won a highly acclaimed award in the process.
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Even if a Sunshine Coast resident has not met one of the region’s most recognised rose growers, they may have tasted her petals in a popular distiallary’s product.
Laurel Sommerfeld has grown roses for decades on the Yandina farm she has lived at since she was born.
In her 80s and still hopping on and off a ride-on mower or weeding with the sprightliness of someone 40 years younger, Ms Sommerfeld was also recently recognised as one of the best rose growers in the country after netting a national award.
Ms Sommerfeld bred and grew her own variety of rose that won the Davis Trophy for the Best Australian Bred Rose of the Trial.
Named Great Balls of Fire for its vibrant flower, her rose was trialled from 2022 to 2024 at the National Rose Trial Garden of Australia in Adelaide.
Although the climbing rose is no longer in flower, Ms Sommerfeld said it had a “perfume to die for” and it was eye-catching.
In October, the Sunshine Coast resident was surprised to hear she beat out multiple international award-winning breeders.
“To a certain extent, you’re lucky to have your rose noticed at all,” Ms Sommerfeld said.
Still extremely active, Ms Sommerfeld has always loved roses.
Raised on Rose-Mere Farm, Ms Sommerfeld’s passion for growing started as a child.
The farm used to be sugarcane “everywhere you looked” but there were always rose bushes around.
She remembers always giving her father roses for his birthday and Christmas.
“He loved that,” Ms Sommerfeld said.
She said growing roses was all about “bringing joy” to others.
“To be able to give them to somebody, or take them into a hospital, or just put them on the table and enjoy them,” the grower said.
Ms Sommerfeld is an active member of the QLD Heritage Rose Society and has won several prizes for her roses in Sunshine Coast shows.
She is well-known in the community for her gardening skills and local distillery Sunshine and Sons even uses her roses for their Mother’s Day tea.
She said it was difficult to grow roses in Yandina as she needed to pick the right varieties that could handle the humid conditions and good drainage for the soil with high amounts of clay essential.
Her roses did come under threat in 2010, when the Southern Regional Water Pipeline was being installed in Yandina.
Ms Sommerfeld said the project was heading straight for her rose trellises, which would have destroyed a lifetime of painstaking work.
She said she “stood her ground with solicitors and the paper’s help” and managed to get construction diverted around the rose trellises.
As a non-commercial and independent breeder, Ms Sommerfeld intends to use the increased attention this award affords her in the rose breeding community to sell “Great Balls of Fire”.
She is currently also supporting the Mt Cootha Rose Garden to prepare for the Australian Rose Show to be held in Brisbane in 2025.
The Queensland Rose Society will host the Australian Rose Society and she hopes that local growers will be able to showcase their roses.
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Originally published as Yandina rose breeder Laurel Sommerfeld awarded Best Australian Bred Rose Trophy
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