This Mislabeled Rose Needs A Study Name!

The Heritage Rose Garden has hundreds of "found roses" . Usually when we find a rose, such as in a cemetery or at an old farm, we give it a "study name" that says something about the rose and/or where it was found. Many of our cemetery roses have names like "Legacy of John Doe" indicating they were found on or near the grave of the person named. Others are named for the place, such as "Center St. Yellow Tea". We usually also have notes in our database to tell us which cemetery, or what town the street is in, so if our plant dies, we can try to revisit the site and get another cutting if the rose is still there.

Unfortunately, not every found rose we've received has been given a study name. Some just have a visual description like [Red HT] that say nothing about where it was found, and they aren't memorable, either. There are also many roses we were sent from nurseries and gardens in several countries that arrived without nametags, or turned out to be a rose other than what it was labeled.

We think it's time to try and get these roses identified, or at the very least, give them nice, memorable study names. Each month (approximately) we'll put up photos of one of our nameless foundlings, with whatever information we have on it. If you recognize it, use the form below to tell us what you think it is. If you don't know what it is, use the photos and information to suggest a good study name for it. We'll pick the best suggestion and use it.

February 2012

Nothing is blooming at the moment because we've been pruning. As soon as we have good blooms on our unknown roses so we can get good photographs, we'll start the monthly naming game again.

What shall we call it?









Previous entries and their new study names:

December, 2010: Unknown Kordes-type floribunda is now: "Margie's Love" N-5-4

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January, 2011: "Small orange-blend HT" is now: "Brilliant Sunrise" M-27-25

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February, 2011: The rose at P-8-6 that wasn't Rose du Roi was identified as Royal Blush, an Alba hybrid by Rolf Sievers, 1976

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March, 2011: The pink hybrid tea at N-11-2 will have the new study name"Durare Petals".

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April, 2011: The lovely pink shrub had a number of good suggestions for a study name. We put it to a vote, and "Got Pink" is the winner. You can see "Got Pink" at N-12-8.

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May, 2011: The gorgeous pink hybrid tea had several suggestions for a study name, and we decided to go with "Rhoda May". You can see "Rhoda May" at M-27-24.

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June, 2011: Most suggestions for this white rambler were related to weddings and brides. We're going with the suggestion of 'Bride's Bouquet'. You can see 'Bride's Bouquet' at P-11-30.

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July 2011: Because the flower looks like a Moss version of Omar Khayyám, we decided to combine suggestions and name it "Omar's Pink Swirls". You can see the plant at P-12-18.

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August 2011: There were six entries for this rose, and three of them contained Fire. We're going with the name "Firestar". You can see the plant at N-14-10.

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October 2011: There were seven entries for this rose, and we decided to take Ingrid's suggestion of "Tropic Glow". You can see the plant at O-10-30.

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November 2011: We're combining two suggestions and naming this rose 'Rhonda's Abundance'. You can see the plant in the Courtyard Garden for now, but we will propagate a plant for the Shrub area (section N).

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Several possible IDs were suggested: Pride of Oakland, Pink Parfait, Ruffled Cloud and Simplicity. We will wait till they have bloom again and compare blooms. Unfortunately, the only study name suggested was the name of an actual rose, so we can't use it. We'll just hope it turns out to be one of the suggestions. The plants can be seen at L-11-4 and L-11-20.

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