“I couldn’t dance anymore. So I bent a tutu out of steel and let a rose dance for me.” — Why a 71-year-old former ballerina from Benalla is letting her last rose trellises go at a special price, before her forge goes cold for good.

Every morning in November, Noelene Brassington takes her cup of tea down to the garden gate. A dancer stands there. She has her hair in a bun and holds a rose to her nose. Her tutu is so full of pink roses that you can’t see the steel underneath.

From the footpath, she looks like a ballerina made entirely of roses. People stop their cars to take photos.

Noelene is 71. She lives in Benalla, a country town in Victoria that calls itself the Rose City. She has made about 2,400 of these dancers by hand. People here call them rose ballerinas.

“I couldn’t dance anymore. So I taught the roses.”

The ballerina who had to leave the stage at 27

At 19, Noelene left Benalla for Melbourne to dance ballet. She danced for eight years. Then, at 27, her knees gave out. The doctor said she would never go up on her toes again.

She came home to Benalla with one suitcase and her last pair of pointe shoes. Her dad ran a blacksmith’s shed behind the house. He fixed farm gates and fence posts. He needed help, so he taught her to weld.

“Dad said, ‘You’ve got strong legs and steady hands. That’s all a welder needs.’”

“There you are, love. Dancing again.”

In the spring of 1986, Noelene’s mum had a pink climbing rose lying in the dirt. Nothing held it up.

So Noelene went out to the shed. She bent a round skirt out of steel, the same shape as her last tutu. On top, she cut out a dancer with her hair in a bun, holding a rose. Then she tied the rose canes into the tutu.

By November, the tutu was full of roses. Her mum stood at the kitchen window for a long time. Then she said something Noelene has never forgotten.

“She said, ‘There you are, love. Dancing again.’ I had to go back out to the shed for a while.”

That first rose ballerina still stands at the gate today. After that spring, everyone in Benalla wanted one.

How a rose turns into a ballerina

Noelene says it is the easiest thing in the garden. The rose does all the dancing. You only have to show her where to go.

• Step her in. Push the dancer into the bed with your heel and plant a climbing rose at her feet.
• Thread the canes. As the rose grows, guide the long canes in through the rings of the tutu.
• Watch her fill. In the first summer, the tutu turns green and the first roses open inside it.
• Let her dance. By the second spring, you can’t see the steel at all. Just a ballerina made of roses.

“The first year she’s rehearsing. The second year she’s on stage.”

The shed where 2,400 dancers were born

Her shed is made of corrugated iron. It gets hot in summer and smells of steel. On the wall hangs an old wagon-wheel rim. Every tutu ring is bent around it by hand. Next to it, on a nail, hang her last pointe shoes from 1981.

Each rose ballerina takes Noelene about six hours. She cuts out the dancer, bends ten rings for the tutu, and welds every piece by hand.

“Bend the ring too tight and the canes can’t get through. Too loose and she looks like she’s wearing a laundry basket.”

What 39 springs taught her about a climbing rose

• “The Rose Tutu”: The tutu rings have wide gaps, so the canes go in easily. “By the second spring you can’t see the steel,” Noelene says. “Just a ballerina made of roses.”
• “The Dancer’s Silhouette”: The bun, the rose at her nose, the little turn of her head. She gives your rose a face. In winter, when the rose is bare, she still stands in your garden like a statue.
• “The Rust Finish”: No paint, so nothing can peel or flake off. She looks like she has been in your garden for 20 years from the first day, and her colour blends in with the rose stems.
• “The Step-In Foot”: A small foot at the bottom of the stake. Step on it with your heel and she goes into the ground. No concrete, no tools.

The morning one tutu took four hours

What Noelene will miss most are the early mornings in the shed. The smell of hot steel. Standing a new dancer up on the bench and stepping back to look at her.

But now her hands have arthritis. She can still cut out the dancer. Bending the ten tutu rings is the problem. It takes strength her hands no longer have.

“First my knees took the dancing. Now my hands are taking the roses.”

After Christmas, Noelene will close the shed for good. There is no one to take over. 140 rose ballerinas are left. After that, there will be no more.

“An empty tutu is the saddest thing in a garden”

For 39 years, Noelene sold her rose ballerinas at the Benalla Festival of Roses. Always for $95.

For her last 140, she could ask twice as much. Everyone would understand. She won’t.

“Give her a rose and let her dance. That’s all I ask.”

It is spring now, the best time to start. Step her into the garden this month, and your rose will start filling her tutu this summer.

Noelene doesn’t use a computer. Her granddaughter Shona, a physio in Wangaratta, kept getting calls from people all over Australia. So Shona set up the page where you can order now. She takes the photos and packs every box. Noelene’s husband Lindsay drives them to the post office.

“Shona does the computer. I do the steel.”

What gardeners say about Noelene’s rose ballerinas

• ★★★★★

  “My climbing rose sprawled across the ground for years. I put the ballerina in last spring and threaded the canes through. This November she’s a proper dancer, all pink. The neighbours keep stopping at the fence.”

  Lorraine K., Bendigo, VIC
• ★★★★★

  “Even in winter with no leaves she looks lovely by the verandah. She’s the first thing visitors ask about.”

  Gwenda P., Toowoomba, QLD
• ★★★★★

  “Bought one for my granddaughter, who does ballet. We planted an Iceberg rose at her feet together. Every time she visits she checks how her ballerina is going.”

  Maureen D., Albury, NSW

Three questions people ask before ordering

Where can I buy one of Noelene’s rose ballerinas?

Only through this page. Noelene’s rose ballerinas are not sold on Amazon, Temu or in any shop.

How long will they be available?

Only while supplies last. Noelene closes her shed after Christmas, and there are 140 rose ballerinas left. When they are gone, there will be no more.

What if it’s not right for me?

You have 30 days to try it in your garden. If you are not happy, just send a short email and you will get your money back. No questions, no fuss.

More from people with a rose ballerina in the garden

• ★★★★★

  “Much sturdier than the flimsy wire trellises from the hardware store. We had a wild spring storm and she didn’t budge.”

  Judith M., Mount Gambier, SA
• ★★★★★

  “I ordered one, then went back for a second one for the other side of the path. Two dancers covered in roses. It looks like a little ballet in the front yard.”

  Helen S., Launceston, TAS
• ★★★★★

  “Gave it to my mum, who is 83 and has grown roses all her life. She said it’s the prettiest thing anyone ever gave her for the garden.”

  Kerry A., Orange, NSW