This has been sitting in my archive of seedlings from over a decade ago, loved but not shared. Every once in a while I look at it long and hard and think "This thing is so beautiful....but totally redundant; an anachronism."And so, it remains in my garden, undistributed. As any hybridizer will tell you, you end up accumulating an array of seedlings that fall into the redundant category; lovely but commercially irrelevant. I'm never really sure what to do with these creatures. Do I just propagate a few and share them with the few "collectors" who would appreciate them, letting them out un-named? I still don't know the answer to that one. What to do, what to do....
It is a beautiful Gallica, Paul, reminiscent to me, without knowing the bloom size or habit, of Cardinal de Richelieu. I understand the quandary. If it gets out, some future rosarian will spend days or weeks trying to identify it and likely ultimately misidentifying it. Another question might be that if it keeps it's association with you, will you be happy to be represented by this one? And there are some, perhaps many, who won't care about the name and will simply enjoy the beauty of the bloom. Since it seems to be a philosophical day for me based on my own blog entry today, I guess I'd vote that it's beauty should be shared with those who will appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteIt may look redundant but chances are from a genetic standpoint,it could be important. Just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI think it's probably worth distributing roses like this to different climate zones. Send some to friends. It may look just like another rose in cultivation but perform much better in particular climates than existing varieties. Just make sure your name as breeder doesn't get lost.
ReplyDeleteMaybe not completely commercially irrelevant. In the past you have told me you propagate your roses both by cutting and by grafting to supplement those produced by Rouge Valley. Your blog represents a portal between you and your fans, of which you have many (myself included). I am quite sure that if you were to register this rose and give it an official name you could make it 'fit' a more botique market. Let's say you propagated 100 of these and then made an entry on your blog that you have a limited number of this rose for sale I am quite sure you would have many people lining up just to get a piece of Paul Barden's breeding history and who would love and treasure your rose as much as you do... as you say.. the 'collector' or the connoisseur. Make it a limited edition rose but someone once told me never to release anything to the public without first registering it because we have enough unknown roses to confuse things as it is... if it was me... I would register the rose just to make it official and then produce it yourself in limited numbers. I actually love this idea much more than sending them out to the big growers because it returns some of the romance to the rose, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteI have came across this image and your blog by luck.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever distributed these and if you have could I order some please.
This is a very beautiful flower.
Michelle Milne
coolshockuk@yahoo.com