Frank Penn Memorial Award 2019 – Max Bullen

Citation:

The Auckland Rose Society has great pleasure in nominating Max Bullen for the Frank Penn Memorial Award.

Max joined the Auckland Rose Society in 1985 and has been a dedicated member of the Society since. He has also been a prominent member of the Auckland Committee over the last 25 years. Max was made a life member of the Auckland Rose Society in 2008 and has previously served as Vice President and maintains the role of Vice Patron.

As one of Auckland’s leading Consulting Rosarian’s, Max wrote the cultural notes for the Auckland Rose Society Magazine for more than 25 years and also currently supplies Cultural Notes to the Franklin District Rose Society for use in the Franklin magazine as well. We have lost count of the pruning, grafting and rose culture presentations Max has performed over the last couple of decades, both for Auckland members as well as for the public, and he is always happy to help new people with their rose questions, offer advice and simply visit gardens to help out with any rose problems they may have. Each year he has helped to prune members’ roses and prune for members of the public. Many a donation has been received by the Society on the back of his annual endeavours over the last few decades.

An avid Exhibitor Max has won multiple show awards over the years and has been a regular on the Champions bench at the Auckland Show, as well as exhibiting and winning awards at the Franklin show every now and then whilst enjoying the short trip south. Max has always been there to help with the Auckland Show set-up, Stewarding, and the taking down of the Show and will also help to man the gazebo for us at the Auckland Festival of Roses at the Parnell Rose Gardens this year.

His garden is known for its two-storey high Papa Meilland and 3+ metre wide Berolina and he still maintains around 100 roses on his 880sqm section in Mt Wellington. Max has also been responsible for the Metlifecare Highland Park rose gardens for the last decade, helping to maintain hundreds of roses there in his day to day role as a gardener for the village.

We have no hesitation in nominating Max for the Frank Penn Award and feel it would be fitting recognition for his tireless efforts in supporting the Society and promoting the Rose.

Max Bullen