The Royal National Rose Society is dedicated to the cultivation and appreciation of roses. It was founded in 1876 and is based in St Albans in England. It is a membership organisation, with members drawn from professional and amateur gardeners and horticultural businesses in the United Kingdom and around the world.
A key function of the Society is to conduct trials for new breeds of roses from all over the world. The International Merit Trials held at the “Gardens of the Rose” for both amateur and professional breeders are renowned worldwide.
Where possible the Society provides help with any rose related problems, from finding a specific rose through to identifying roses, as well as providing general and specific rose care advice. It also holds probably the world’s most comprehensive rose library, with books dating back to the early 1900s. This facility provides a useful resource for both members and many affiliated learning institutions throughout the world.
The Society publishes a quarterly journal called The Rose. The yearly publication The Rose Annual was revived in 2005 but has not been printed since 2007.
The society's show piece is the Royal National Rose Society Gardens (formerly The Gardens of the Rose) at its headquarters.