Congratulations! How I would love to visit your garden some day.

Well Done - I am ashamed to say I have not yet been to Mottisfont - at least not in the flesh - hope to remedy this soon.

Congratulations, and well deserved!

I hope all the gardeners at Mottisfont understand the importance of the garden to the rest of the world.
Lori

That's wonderful Jon! Mottisfont has always had the award in my heart.

What an honor and well deserved.

Absolutely wonderful, and so well-deserved. Mottisfont is a treasure to be cherished by all who visit there.

Rosefolly

That would be such a great feeling to hold this award. You really deserved it. Heartly congrats
I will definitely read the details on great rosarians web site, once it is up :)

Big Congratulations, Jon. I told my wife day before yesterday that we need to visit Montisfont Abbey. I look forward to getting there one day in the next few years. Jeff

How wonderful and absolutely well deserved. Congratulations! Mottisfont is right at the top of dream trips for me. Someday...

Anne

Wonderful! I was surprised Montisfont wasn't in the Hall of Fame already! Congratulations!

Sherry

Congratulations to you and everyone there at the Abbey. It is a wonderful tribute to your work.
Of all the gardens in the world, Monttisfont is the one garden I most greatly wish to see.

Luxrosa

Congratulations! What wonderful work you do. You must be so excited and proud to have this recognition for your labor of love. Well deserved!

Congratulations-----I would love to visit your gorgeous garden--

Florence

Congratulations to you Jon and everyone on the staff at Mottisfont. I too am surprised that this recognition has not been given sooner. I think of Mottisfont as a wonderful sanctuary of the old roses, a place where they will be forever safe and cherished. Having seen Mottisfont and your own personal garden only in photographs, however, I must confess that the latter is the garden of my dreams and a great source of inspiration to me. Thank you for that.

Ingrid

Congratulations, Jon. I will probably never get to UK, but I have so enjoyed the glimpses provided by the pics you have posted. To me, Mottisfont is my dream garden, and it's wonderful that the public award recognizes what we have all known for some time now.

Kate

This is only the second year for this award, and last year the Great Rosarians honored two totally volunteer US gardens, the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, where Jill is curator, and the Sacramento Historic Rose Garden, which I manage. It was such a stunning honor for us, and even more so to be in the company of this year's winners, Mottisfont, Peter Beales' gardens, David Austin's garden, and the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden in the NY Botanical Garden.

Jill's acceptance of the award was especially nice since she can't stop glowing as she describes how welcome she was made during her visit to Mottisfont last year, and how wonderful the garden, and the people associated with it, were.

The public recognition for all of these gardens was well-deserved, and I hope will bring more US visitors to them. I'm working on plans to go to Europe this year to see roses - maybe I'll be seeing you soon, Jon!
Anita

Thanks, Anita - it would be lovely to meet you, keep in touch with plans :)

We enjoyed Jill's visit so much. It was only a couple of weeks after my heart operation, so I wasn't up to much - luckily, good food, plenty of wine and great company meant we all managed to have a good time!

It really is a great pleasure to see us listed with Jill's and Anita's gardens. The fact that we all manage to keep in touch on this Forum is very special. Even if you can't all come to visit Mottisfont, please do try to see the Heritage and Sacramento gardens - these guys work so hard to maintain and preserve our beloved rose.

I thought you might like to read David's response to the Award, which Jill read at the ceremony. All the accolades and congratulations belong to him - a man who has dedicated his life to this one beautiful garden, and to the preservation of the highest standard of horticultural skills:

On behalf of the National Trust and the gardeners of Mottisfont Abbey, I gratefully and gladly accept this prestigious award.
The elevation of our rose garden into the Hall of Fame is an occasion both for celebration and reflection. Since its white door first swung open in 1975, Mottisfont has presented a Midsummer spectacle of colour, form and loveliness unequalled in Britain. From humble beginnings it has grown to be counted among the most precious and popular of the National Trust's vast treasury of delights, visited and enjoyed by more than 150,000 people per year.

The garden, with its collection of over 600 varieties of roses, is presented not only as a tribute to the timeless glory of this most glorious of flowers, but also to the vision and genius of Mr. Graham Thomas, who gathered so many of its treasures together, displaying them to matchless effect within the mellow walls of this most ancient site. This award acknowledges the invaluable contribution that Graham made to our knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the rose, a contribution without which our lives would be so much the poorer.

For myself, now in my 33rd year as Head Gardener at Mottisfont, I am thrilled beyond measure that this garden which I have tended with care and affection is now receiving its just recognition as a Rose Garden of especial merit. In the text of the Award (from the American Rose magazine) I read that the garden is being recognized for 'the depth of its collection of roses' and 'for 'the excellence of its horticultural practices.' Ladies and Gentlemen, as a working gardener I cannot tell you how my this latter accolade means to me!
I receive it with a sense of proper pride, and share it with the many, many colleagues who over the years have shared in this work with me.

Thank you, Jill, for receiving this award on our behalf. Thank you, that noble band of past recipients - the Great Rosarians of the World - who have judged us worthy of this
honour. Thank you, Clair, for making this all possible. And thanks to all who love the Rose! Today, more than ever, the world needs such devotion to Beauty. The world needs to be brightened by the grace and loveliness that is the Rose - that is this Flower of Love.

David G Stone.

Best wishes
Jon

Wonderful congratulations!

A beautiful and touching acceptance speech-----Thanks--

Florence

If there was a Great Gardener of the World award surely David would be one of the first.

Excellent news! Congratulations to everyone at Mottisfont. I hope I get to experience Mottisfont in person some day.

Randy

Here is the article on the Great Rosarians website:

http://greatrosarians.com/weblog/?p=2356

Jill