Roses have grown on the Bohemian territory since prehistoric times. One of those prehistoric roses was even called Rosa bohemica and it is was propably related to contemporary pimpinellifoliae roses. So people must have known roses in the past and they might have used them, especially for alimentary purposes. The first authentic information about their appearance on the Bohemian territory is from Middle Ages, when they were used for healing, namely Rosa gallica, as well as in other countries of Europe.
Rose became a heraldic plant used by nobility (Houses of Rožmberk and Slavnik (příp. odkazy)), towns, and by church as well. In 1677 The "Rosa Bohemica" cartograph (odkaz) a map arranged in the shape of a rose, was created.
With the oncoming of modern times, the horticultural importance of roses increased; several gardens of French design were founded, where roses could be utilized as spectacular decoration. The nobility collected a variety of roses, including very expensive latest breeds, which were imported from abroad. During the 19th century rose market widely expanded, many new breeds were introduced and so the rose itself became the focus of general horticultural interest. As such it accompanied man to the industrial era. The first attempt to establish a society dealing with rose growing was made in 1894, when an anonymous, who called himself "Nemo", proclaimed the necessity to form a "rose society" in horticultural gazette "Flora", copy no. 6. The call remained unresponded until 1929. Nevertheless, some sparse articles concerning roses were published, mostly in "Flora"; foreshadowing the golden era of Czechoslovak rose growing, which started a few decades later.
In the mid-twenties another initiative to estabilish a national rose society emerged. It was finally constituted on 10 Feb 1929 at the foundation meeting in Prague. There was a remarkable difference between the pre-war rose society and contemporary Rosa Klub; unlike today, nearly all of the members were professional gardeners and breeders. The Society ("Czechoslovak society of rose growers?lovers") had bold ambitions: general rose-promotion, quality supervision, foundation of national trial rose garden, creation of generally imperative quality classification system, price adjustment etc. Moreover, The Society was expected to solve possible disputes among the breeders in an arbitral way. The Society suceeded in improving the level of Bohemian rose growing and it founded a rose garden in Průhonice, however,it was unable to achive many of its goals, namely the price adjustment.
Unfortunately, the competiton between breeders and the complicated political situation paralyzed further functioning of The Society, which was dismissed on 29 June1941 in Pardubice. Immediately after the war it didn't seem that a new association would arise. Hard times brought the necessity to focus on re-building the country; and the fifties were not favourable to such projects, either. The only bright moment was the British initiative to found a rose garden in the village of Lidice, that was destroyed by the Nazis during the war; 28 foreign countries sent roses there. The garden was finally founded in 1955, then rebuilt six years later. In 2002 the rose garden was renewed to its present state, the old shrubs were dug out and new ones planted, the paths were reconstructed. Today the garden is in perfect condition.
The establishment of Rosa klub ČSSR was undoubtedly an important turning point. The prosperous sixties offered better conditions compared to harsh fifties; people started being concerned with the look of their surroundings, and so roses came into fashion then. In 1967 a group of the Club founders was formed; besides several rose breeders it included Ludvík Večeřa, a significant rhodologist, a horticultural publicist Vladimír Mölzer and, of course, docent Bohumil Jaša, who became president of Rosa klub for the next three decades. Rosa klub was finally founded on 2 March 1968 in Prague, where its principal objectives were set.
They include covering all rose-related events; the popularization of the cultivation of roses, the quality control of marketed shrubs etc. Since the club foundation its bulettin, Zpravodaj, has been bringing rose-related world news, horticultural tips, articles about the history of roses etc. The foundatoin of a rose garden in Olomouc and later in Hradec Králové presented a real challenge for The Club. In Olomouc we have organized, since 1970, a rose exhibition "Vyznání růžím" (A Confession to rose) every two years.
A big break for Czech rose growing was establishing a competition rose garden in Hradec Králové in 1972, where each year "The Golden Rose of Hradec Králové" contest is held by Rosa klub. Despite the fact that Rosa klub soon split up into two separate parts, the Czech and tbe Slovak ones, it experienced a golden era during the seventies and eighties; when it had about 1600 members. Nowadays it has about 500 members but the number is rising. The Club surely has a promising future as it is capable of adapting to new conditions. We have been able to attract some significant foreign competitors to Hradec Králové contest and, last but not least, we have managed to create our own website.