The Viraraghavans have dedicated their lives to roses for well over fifty years.

M.S. ‘Viru’ Viraraghavan with a master’s degree in chemistry, joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1959, working in various senior official capacities, including as director, and secretary, agriculture and horticulture departments, in the undivided state of Andhra Pradesh, before seeking voluntary retirement in 1980, to follow his life’s dream of hybridizing roses.

Girija Viraraghavan has a master’s degree in history and a bachelor’s in education, and taught primary school for some years. She is an authority on the history of the rose in India.

Both served as vice-presidents of the Indian Rose Federation (IRF), receiving IRF gold medals for their pioneering hybridizing work as well as their administrative contributions. For over thirty years, they were joint editors of the Indian Rose Annual.

While Viru received the World Rose Award of the World Federation of Rose Societies (WFRS), the Viraraghavans were both honoured in 2006 with the prestigious ‘Great Rosarians of the World Award’ instituted by the Huntington Gardens, San Marino, California, USA.

Keen environmentalists, they have been founding members of the Palni Hills Conservation Council (PHCC), begun in 1985 in their hill town, Kodaikanal, with the aim of preserving the biodiversity of the surrounding hills, part of southern India’s Western Ghat mountain range.

Roses in the Fire of Spring: Better Roses For A Warming World & Other Garden Adventures, published by Running Head in 2023, won the World Federation of Rose Societies (WFRS) Literary Award in Japan in 2025.