Origin of Naming Roses
Why are roses singled out to be named after people, anyone can have a rose named after them as long as they have enough money to pay for it.
Many of the roses get their names from famous people, who decides what rose will have a famous name.
This article was written by Susan Reimer I have left the link for her website in this article
The origin of naming roses
There’s a story behind every rose name
History of naming roses is filled with stars, legends and first ladies
By susan reimer www.susan.reimer@baltsun.com
One of the many perks of being first lady is getting a rose named after you.
At some point during Michelle Obama’s term in the White House, a grower will bring over a truckload of roses that have been in testing and cultivation for a decade and ask her to choose one to bear her name.
Laura Bush chose a coral rose with a spicy fragrance from among those suggested to her by the growers at Jackson & Perkins, which has a First Lady Series of roses and others honoring such luminaries as Diana, Princess of Wales; Billy Graham, and Pope John Paul II. (Mother Teresa’s people declined the honor.)
Rose people are a special breed. reading about the scandal, duplicity and myth behind their naming was delightfull.
Naming roses is about more than sentiment, there are rules for naming roses put in place by the International Cultivar Registration Authority. Though they do not have the force of law, the rules are widely observed: a maximum of 10 syllables and 30 letters or characters.
Among the lore and the list of names is ‘Baltimore Belle,’ a white rose
The notorious perfectionism of Barbra Streisand was in evidence when it was proposed that a rose be named after her. She selected three hybrid teas and added them to her own California garden where the tryouts lasted for two years.
Normally, honorees drop by a nursery, pick a rose and have a photo taken. But not Babs. Only after observing the trial plants “in every season, from every angle and in every light,” did Streisand choose a lavender rose touched with purple.
(Also worth noting: The first Tournament of Roses Parade was held long before there was a football game to go with it, but there is a rose named ‘Rose Bowl’ and a red miniature rose named ‘Touchdown.’)
But there are stories and myths around the naming of roses that are tinged with tragedy, and that is true of the Cherokee Rose.
There is a Cherokee legend that the immortal Spirit People protected the maiden Dowansa during a tribal massacre by turning her into a rosebush with snowy petals as chaste as her heart. To further protect her from careless passers-by, including her bereaved lover, the Spirit People armed her canes with hooked thorns.
In the early 19th century, the Cherokee people had set up their own nation in northern Georgia, complete with a constitution. But after gold was discovered on their land in 1828, the U.S. Army rounded up all 17,000 Cherokee and forced them to march to Oklahoma. At least 4,000 died of hunger and disease on the march, according to Brenner and Scanniello.
Along that 1,000-mile route, clumps of Cherokee Rose can still be seen growing wild, and tribal storytellers say that the Great Spirit comforted his people along the way by allowing a rose to grow wherever a mother’s tears moistened the soil.
All you need is a checkbook and you can have a rose named for you. for $15,000 or more.
First ladies are not charged.
