Petals of Honor

I love roses. Just l-o-v-e love them! Any color, and size, I just adore them.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have one named after yourself? Lots of well-known people have been immortalized in roses, and many of those have then gone on to become legends in their own right. But creating a new rose is a painstaking process, often taking up to 10 years and involving cross-breeding of tens of thousands of varieties.

To name a rose after an individual, the hybridizer must first obtain permission from that person or their estate. The next step is registration with the International Registration Authority for Roses, through the American Rose Society. A good practice is to also apply for a trademark.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Elizabeth Taylor
A ravishing lavender-pink, as elegant as the lady herself.

Lady Diana
Princess Diana has had many roses named for her, but this particular burnished pink is the one used at royal occasions. A tall, nearly thornless variety.

Ingrid Bergman
A full, deep red which continues to bloom even after frost.

Audrey Hepburn
A free-blooming, scented hybrid tea. One of the few American roses to have ever won a gold medal at the esteemed rose competition in The Hague.
Delicate and elegant, just like Audrey.

Cary Grant
Commissioned by the actor's fifth wife in 1986, this highly
fragrant orange bloomis also extremely thorny! Hmmm.....

Queen Elizabeth
A beautiful soft pink grandiflora, it won the All-American Rose Selection prize shortly after breeding, and was then given Royal approval by the Queen.
It has been one of the 10 most popular roses for over 40 years.

Dolly Parton
A interesting orangy-pink blossom, as large in personality as its namesake.
Dolly loves it so much she's planted it at Dollywood and in her personal garden in Nashville.

John F. Kennedy
A true classic and one of the most fragrant of the white hybrid teas.

Of course, naming a rose to honor someone is nothing new. Many of the antiques, such as the Noisettes, Moss, Damask, and Gallica roses are named after benefactors, or noted people of the times, such as Napoleon, Mozart, and even Don Juan, which is appropriately enough, a climber! (pictured)

The American Rose Society currently lists over 25,000 names, so I don't think I'll hold my breath waiting to see my mine on a rose...

If you would like your own personal rose arrangement, call us at Bloomers!


If you enjoyed this post, you may also like:

http://bloomersfloristwilmington.blogspot.com/2010/06/june-is-national-rose-month.html