The colour of the flowers during Melbourne cup Carnival

Flemington Racecourse has the largest rose garden you’ll find in the Southern Hemisphere and was first planted in the 1960s. While the yellow rose stands as an emblematic symbol of the Lexus Melbourne Cup, its association wasn’t always planned.  

Flemington’s spectacular rose gardens are lovingly tended to all year round by Mick Ryan. It’s the largest rose garden you’ll find in the Southern Hemisphere and was first planted in the 1960s.

The elegant-coloured hues we see in bloom on each race day also nod to the colours you can wear each day. You’ll spot red roses at the entrance from Epsom Road, yellow at the Members’ Lawn and plenty of pink and coconut ice on the front lawns.

Ryan has been working at Flemington as a gardener for 35 years, and attending just as many Melbourne Cups, too – ever watchful over the roses as they put their best petals forward for all to admire.

Pruning certainly can’t be done in a day or few weeks either. Ryan begins at the end of April and completes the pruning process by the second week of August and is monitoring their every blooming move until Cup Week arrives. 

“It’s an intensive 17-week program to get the flowers blooming at the same time,” says Mick Ryan.

“It all comes down to the trained eye. We walk around and see what is early or late to bloom and change the day we do the pruning the following year. There’s an art and precision to it,” he says.

“The more work you put in, the more the roses will flower and give you a much better display. As tough as they are, they appreciate love and care and reward you with more flowers,” Ryan says. 

Word has it that several committee member wives came up with the yellow rose tradition for Melbourne Cup when they suggested it to their husbands. The trend took off and remains in place today. While it’s not compulsory to wear one in your lapel, it’s a big day for florists who pin their hopes on selling plenty during race week. They are also sold trackside on each day.

“We’ve held onto the trend and more and more people started following it. It’s a nice touch for the day because flowers are a great conversation starter too,” Ryan says. “They look very elegant in a lapel.”

All about the Poppy Appeal 

• The annual Poppy Appeal is one of the RSL’s biggest fundraisers, which ultimately helps to deliver services like crisis accommodation and health and wellbeing programs to veterans and their families across the state. 

• Research suggests the official Poppy Appeal began in 1921, when the forerunner to the RSL, The Australian Returned Soldiers and Sailors Imperial League first sold poppies for Armistice Day. 

• Just days before the armistice, the secretary of the American YMCA, Moina Michael, read John McCrae’s legendary poem In Flanders Field and was so moved by it she decided to wear a red poppy as a personal commemorative ritual. Inspired, the French YMCA secretary Anna Guérun, began to sell poppies to raise funds for war widows, orphans, veterans and their families. 

• The poppy became an international symbol of sacrifice and loss, and the Poppy Appeal continues to contribute significantly to the annual fundraising work of the RSL. 

Poppies will be available to purchase on course during TAB Champions Stakes Day, Saturday 9 November 2024.