Elton Treloar says roses contribute to the enjoyment of life. As RICK BAYNE discovered, growing and supplying plants in their bare root form is a fitting life’s work for the man who simply likes roses.
Elton Treloar likes to look at the world through rose-coloured glasses.
He only has to look through his office window for his dream to come true.
Elton is the third generation in his family to manage Treloar Roses, Australia’s largest rose grower, near Portland in south-west Victoria.
Although he has worked in other fields, including IT, Elton has been involved in the family business for years and became a director last year alongside his brother Trent after former partner Gary Matuschka left the business.
Growing and supplying bare root rose plants across Australia is a rewarding career and Elton wants to extend that happiness for customers and staff.
“I love the varieties of roses,” he said.
“In my office, you turn around and see all the flowers and they look lovely.”
He also enjoys growing good relationships with customers.
“Customers are usually here for happy reasons,” he said.
“It’s a good thing when people enjoy what you supply and we’ve found that if you look after the customer, they will buy from you again.”
The business was started by Elton’s grandfather Ted and has been operating for more than 60 years.
Ted’s first job as a teenager was picking apples. He worked in a packing shed that’s still on the farm and is now used as the maintenance shed.
He started by growing and selling fruit and vegies in the late 1950s, but soon saw an opening in the mail order rose market.
He was a local and knew the land and knew roses would work.
“In the early ’60s he realised he could send them through the mail, so he got into roses and started mail order. He was very early in getting on to the mail order and that really helped to grow the business over the years,” Elton said.
Ted had a full colour printed catalogue by 1966, a popular tradition that continued until 2021.
Elton and Trent continue that mail order tradition while sharing their grandfather’s vision for new technologies.
Online sales account for 70 to 75 per cent of the retail business and as early as the mid-1990s Elton registered a website address for Treloar Roses.
“We got into the online shopping quite early. We even had people worldwide look at our website,” Elton said.
Treloar Roses has a mixture of retail sales and wholesale supplies to nurseries.
The farm covers about 121ha (300 acres), with about one-third dedicated to roses. They have had as many as a million roses planted at one time, although it is closer to half that number these days.
“We had wound down a few years ago when there was uncertainty about the future of the partnership, but the number of roses in the ground has come back,” Elton said.
The future was clarified when Elton stepped up to take on Gary’s role.
“It’s a good, successful business and I wanted to continue the family heritage and look after long-term staff. We have had some people here since the 1970s,” he said.
“And I like roses. Roses contribute to enjoyment of life and I enjoy being part of that.”
The farm has about 500 varieties, contributing to 593 different products. That might sound like a lot, but worldwide there are about 15,000 varieties.
Varieties change over time and Elton says customers are always looking for the next big thing.
They no longer stock weeping roses, partly because of the cost of posting them, and don’t do as many tall graftings because they’re more expensive.
“You have to pick and choose what is going to be popular,” Elton said.
“Iceberg has always been the most popular variety, and retail customers are recognising that there are way healthier varieties now. Breeders have been breeding and only selecting varieties without using any pesticides or fungicides at all in their trials.
“German rose breeding company W. Kordes’ Sohne led the way and started the trend in the ’90s. The other breeders are catching up, but this is why Kordes is cleaning up so many awards both here and in Europe now.”
Elton’s favourite bloom depends on the moment.
“Everyone asks that but it moves around,” he said.
“At the moment we have one with a beautiful pink blush called KORwintori that is currently unnamed in Australia, and Phoenix, Earth Angel and Coconut Ice look fantastic.
“I tend to see the varieties that won’t be on the market for a year or two and there are a lot of good things coming up. Roses are always improving and becoming more disease resistant.”
Treloar Roses grows year-round, grafts in summer and plants the root stock over winter. This year, things are behind schedule.
“It has been so dry compared to any other year, so we’re behind with everything,” Elton said.
“We were grafting into May but usually have that done by the end of March or mid-April. We’d love to have more moisture in the ground.”
The business has about 25 full-time staff and peaks at up to 60 with casuals depending on the season. It has fostered many ongoing partnerships and for three decades has been the lead agency for Kordes.
Elton has recently returned from trial awards in Adelaide, winning several gongs, recognising the success of Kordes’ roses.
Spicy (KORirrlaus) was awarded the gold medal as well as the big one, Australia’s rose of the year, along with several other trophies.
Kordes’ roses also got a silver medal, an award for the most fragrant rose for another unreleased rose and other awards.
Last year it won a gold medal and rose of the year for Fur Elise.
So, what do you need to do to grow good roses?
Let’s see what the experts say.
“Give your roses the best possible start by preparing their new position well in advance of planting, at least two months prior,” Elton said.
“The position should be in a sunny spot with little competition, have good drainage and plenty of nutrients.
“Roses are very adaptable and can be grown in almost any soil type given it is well drained, deep and full of humus (decayed organic matter). However, the best soils are those of a medium to heavy loam to a minimum of 35cm, over a good clay sub-soil.”