Italy: Rome plants hundreds of new roses in city’s rose garden

Rome: Rome has added 340 new rose plants to the Roseto Comunale, the city’s rose garden on the Aventine Hill, mayor Virginia Raggi has announced.

“Such a purchase had not been made for 10 years,” said the mayor who added that the some of the new roses will replace plants killed by an unidentified parasite.

“The Rose Garden is a precious place” – said Raggi – “Inside there are varieties of roses that participate in a prestigious international competition, the Premio Roma, in addition to the botanical collection, consisting of about 1,200 ancient and modern roses.”

The new roses have been planted in recent days by the gardening staff which last year installed information panels about the plants, in Italian and English, for visitors to the garden.

Located on the eastern slope of the Aventine hill, overlooking the Circus Maximus, the rose gardens are usually open free of charge from late April until mid-June each year, and often for a couple of weeks in October.