Creation of a Rose
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Text and photos by RRS member Richard Radic.
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When we purchase a rose from a catalog or from a nursery, we are
purchasing the result of a long and painstaking process that spans years
of imagination, development, care, testing, marketing, and finally distribution.
The following is a brief outline showing the path that a rose takes to reach your garden:
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Determine the Parents: The developer chooses parents that he or she feels will make a healthy,
disease resistant rose and will produce offspring that offer a new set of visual or aromatic qualities
to the market. This means the developer needs to know the strengths and weaknesses of many different roses
to have a chance at coming to the desired result.
- Hybridization: The developer then cross-pollinates the parents and gathers the seeds of the union.
This process includes propagation of all the good seeds and monitoring the results.
- Selection and Testing: This process is that of testing the offspring’s hardiness,
disease resistance, quality of foliage, bloom, and scent.
- Sending Budwood to Nursery Growers: The developer then sends his choice of roses in the form of budwood
to large nursery growers. The nursery growers then go through a further selection process to determine which
they will choose to grow. The grower then grafts the budwood onto rootstock and continues to multiply the number
of the rose through grafting. This process takes several years.
- Selection and Testing: The nursery grower is continually monitoring the rose for hardiness and quality.
The grower chooses the best 2-3 roses per year to introduce to the public.
- Marketing: Distribution through catalogs and local nurseries. Of the original seedlings, less than one in a
thousand make it to market.
The Raleigh Rose Society is fortunate in that we have an active rose developer as a member.
Astor Perry has more than 30 roses that have made it through the strenuous selection process above and can be
purchased through catalogs and nurseries. Some of his creations include:
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Anna Caroline Maxwell |
HT, dark red, 2000 |
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Atherton |
HT, Medium Yellow, 1981
35 petals, Mild fragrance
[Seedling X Sunblest]
Available only in India |
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Bambey |
HT, Medium red; 1979
Exhibition form; 60 petals; fragrant, medium growth
[(Fragrant Cloud x Peace) x Alec’s Red] |
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Blue Violet |
HT, Mauve; 35-40 petals (1981).
Tall |
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Bobo |
HT, Medium red 1979
Urn shape Dbl 30 petals
Very Fragrant |
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Chowan |
HT, Orange blend 1995
Dbl 26-30 petals, fragrant, tall upright growth.
[Folklore x Hot Pewter] |
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Cloudland |
HT, Mauve 1994
Dbl. 26-40 petals. medium upright growth
[Blue Moon x Paradise] |
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Colossus (PERsus) |
HT, Golden Yellow, 1998
Dbl 26-40 petals, moderate fragrance, medium upright growth
[Folklore x Golden Gate] |
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Darling Annabelle |
HT, white with faint pink centers 1992
Exhibition form, Dbl 26-40 petals, moderate fragrance, tall upright growth
[South Seas x Peace] |
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Dothan |
HT, medium pink, 1983
Exhibition form 35 petals; slight fragrance, upright growth
[Koppies x King of Hearts] |
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Dreamward (BURapward) |
HT, yb, light yellow with pink blush 1996
Dbl 15-25 petals, slight fragrance
[Peace x Granada] |
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Dublin |
HT, medium red 1982
Exhibition form 35-40 petals,
very fragrant, upright growth
[(seedling x Mister Lincoln) x Ann Letts] |
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Elmhurst |
HT, pb, peachy pastel pink with yellow 1985
Dbl 35 petals
Exhibition quality medium upright growth
[Granada x Helmut Schmidt] |
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First Flight |
HT, dark red, 2001 |
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Goldstrike |
HT golden yellow, 1997 |
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Hondo |
HT, deep yellow with red blush 1989
Dbl33 petals upright growth
[Irish Gold x Las Vegas] |
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Intrepid (PERpid) |
HT, dark red, 1998
Exhibition form, dbl 24-40 petals,
moderate fragrance,
medium upright growth
[Karl Herbst x Burgandy] |
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Irish Cream (PERcream) |
HT, light russet, 1999
Dbl 26-40 petals,
moderate fragrance, medium growth
[Butterscotch x Mandelon] |
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Jema |
HT, apricot blend, 1981
Dbl 45 petals; tall
[Helen Traubel x Lolita] |
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Just Dreamy (PERjusdream) |
HT, flowers yellow-gold, reverse apricot gold, 1999
Dbl 17-25 petals, medium growth
[Folklore x Golden Gate] |
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Kingaroy |
HT, Dark red (1979).
Dbl 30 petals, slight fragrance, medium growth
[Unnamed seedling x Red Lion] |
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Koppies |
HT, lp, Cream blended with light pink, 1979
vigorous tall growth (1981).
[Tropicana x WendyCussons] |
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Lasker |
HT, Pink blend, 1979
Exhibition form dbl 40 petals, tall growth
[South Seas x Oregold] |
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Lewiston |
HT, Medium yellow,1981
Exhibition form 40 petals, very fragrant, tall growth
[Red Lion x Kings Ransom] |
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Lobo
(Centennial blend for North Carolina State University’s 100th anniversary) |
HT, rb, red-purple with reverse white, 1987
26-40 petals, short upright growth
[Kordes Perfecta x Gavotte] |
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Macho Man (PERmach) |
HT, mauve, 1999
Dbl 17-25 petals moderate fragrance, short bushy growth |
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Millennium (PERmill) |
HT, medium red, 1997
Dbl 26-40 petals, some fragrance
Upright medium growth
[Fire Magic x Precious Platinum] |
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Pastel Princess |
HT, two toned pink blend, 1995
15-25 petals, fragrant, upright tall growth
[Seedling x Seedling] |
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Ruffles |
HT, medium pink, 1994
26-40 petals, moderate fragrant, tall growth
[Seedling x Alec’s Red] |
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Shari |
HT, Pink blend, 1992
26-40 petals slight fragrance, tall upright growth
[Sweetie Pie sport] |
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Starshine |
HT, pink and yellow blend 1995
Tall growth
[Peace x Condesa de Sastago] |
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Stokes |
HT, peach with reverse salmon, 1982
Exhibition 35 petals, medium tall growth
[Susan Massu x Yellow Seedling] |
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Suffolk |
HT, Pink blend, 1983
Exhibition form , 45 petals;
slight fragrance, medium upright growth
[Garden Party x Unnamed Yellow seedling] |
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Tifton |
HT, yellow blend, 1983
Exhibition form, moderate fragrance, bushy growth
[Fire Magic x Oregold] |
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Tulsa |
HT, light pink 1996 |
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Twenty First Century (PERtwentyfirst) |
HT, dark yellow, 1999
Dbl 26-40 petals, upright medium growth
[Butterscotch x Mandelon] |
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