Who we are

Seizo Suzuki (1913-2000), a world renowned rose breeder, left about 160 new rose varieties and 2000 varieties of heritage rose collection. In 1995, Mr.Suzuki donated a part of his collection: 90 varieties of species and 200 varieties of the old roses. In the following year, using this collection, we opened a small rose garden called Rose Garden Alba and established the Rose Culture Institute, a non-profit organization. The purposes of the institute are collection and conservation of wild roses and old rose varieties; research and development of techniques in rose cultivation; breeding of new varieties; and collection and publication of rose literature. The garden attracted huge number of visitors during the blooming season. Many people noticed the charm of the old roses. They possess the delicate sweetness and mellow fragrance which have been lost in modern roses. Each year, the small rose garden became famous and contributed to promoting public knowledge of heritage roses for several years. At the same time, the garden gained the support of many rose-loving volunteers. These volunteers have worked very hard to run the garden. They made all of the facilities in the garden by themselves. In 2003, we decided to join hands with Sakura City and move the garden to larger space. All the roses were donated to the city and we started to make a new rose garden again with the volunteers in 2005. City of Sakura Rose Garden was opened in 2006.