Every year, on the second weekend of June, the gardens of the Castle of Hex in Belgium are open to the public for a festival of rare plants, roses and kitchen gardens.

This year’s festival will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on June 11, 12 and 13, 2010. Hex is located in the village of Heks in the commune of Heers, in the south of the Belgian province of Limbourg, half-way between Liège and Maastricht.

The collection of old roses at Hex starts with wild roses and continues through roses which are the product of careful hybridization. All the varieties are represented: Centifolia and Bourbon roses, Hybrid Perpetuals, Damask roses, Gallicas and Albas, Floribundas, Moss roses, Polyanthas wichuraiana, as well as dwarf roses as ground cover. Aromatic and curative plants will be on display in the Prince Bischop Kitchen Garden.

The vegetable garden, which has been laid out in the 18th century, is still providing fruit and vegetables for the household the whole year round. Box hedges line the paths like in the old days, though some alleys have been widened to allow the access for larger machinery.

During the festival, nurseries specializing in old and botanical roses, as well as collectors and breeders of rare plants, will offer plants for sale. A full series of exhibitions, demonstrations and lectures by professionals from Belgium and abroad is planned.