FOR visitors to Warwick's CBD they're a delight, but for the caretakers of our town's famous roses they're a labour of love.

Few can appreciate the beauty of the roses in the CBD more than the handful of Southern Downs Regional Council parks and gardens staff who work tirelessly to make the Rose City bloom.

At the forefront of the "military style" operation to care for the hundreds of roses in the centre of Warwick is Parks Supervisor Dave Webster and Parks ganger Emily Coy.

Miss Coy said the hard work and constant care given to the roses by the team made them bloom so beautifully.

"We're straight on top of them - they're our main plant in the street," she said.

"The biggest job is dead heading - we dead head spent flowers every fortnight."

The parks team's approach to roses is quite different to many gardeners, with the roses pruned in a "military style" operation at the end of August - perfectly timed to get the first blooms for rodeo week.

The last week of August is the big annual rose prune, which takes a team of people and a few small trucks a week to complete.

Mr Webster said the team timed the prune exactly again this year, with perfect blooms during rodeo week.

"If you put in the time you'll get a great result," he said.

"For me it's the best job in council, we get great results and it's very rewarding."

With the roses in the main CBD "selling" the town, Mr Webster said the parks crew played a vital role.

"It's a real team effort - we're our biggest critics," he said.

"We use really good products - the results show."

For the team there's nothing better than sitting back and watching the glorious roses bloom.

Miss Coy said the recognition from the public was the highlight for her.

"The biggest thing is people smell them and want to know what they are," she said. "It's always good when they ask what it is."

Our roses

Drip irrigated, timed to water twice a week

Fertilised and pruned once a year

Heavy feeding, high maintenance plants

Pruned back to three open stems in a "vase" shape

Spent flowers dead headed fortnightly between October and the first winter frost

Hundreds of different varieties - never fully documented or counted