This is just SOME of the problems.
"Speaking as a small employer, I would rather have a root canal than another employee. Let
Perhaps a question posed out of ignorance, but it doesn’t appear that J&P are out of business, just filing chapter 11. If they are indeed closing their hybridizing operations, might it be possible that they would be more open to the amateur breeder, not having a supply of their own roses to offer?
I could be totally off base, and I admit that seeing this post was the first I had heard of this.
Just a thought.
CM
There is no way to know what will happen, especially with an unpredictable market that is both niche and seasonal.
My gut tells me if they are closing their breeding program most likely they will close their evaluation process. Strike up a deal with some European company and just be the American supplier to so and so. It just seems like a company who is not ran by non-horticulturalist would think that is the wisest move. But that is my guess as Jadae pointed out nobody knows. The other main option is they get bought by another firm and both firms carry the exact same thing for the most part with only a few different selection so they can label something as exclusive. Thus they presurve a brand label and can cut cost in evaluation, breeding and even in growing the plants out by having only one operation with two catalogs. But in this case I would imagine only one operation will do all the breeding thus saving money overall.
But it would be nice to have somewhere the average amateur can get a fair trial of their best seedlings. I think smaller nurseries are probably our best bets. At least until your name is recognizable.
Hi, gang. I’m afraid I’ve been away from the forum for quite some time, but this being the first post I’m reading upon my return, I find myself returning to the notion of a community-based and decentralized rose testing and marketing operations with an umbrella organization tallying results. I’m not overly concerned with the big houses, and think that in today’s information age, there are other routes for the little guy to share the fruits of his/her labor. (What became of the AARS anyway? I heard tell they were to fold a while back…)
Two threads on trialing of cultivars open to amateurs are below (one as inline.)
http://www.rosehybridizers.org/forum/message.php?topid=30867#30867
Link: www.rosehybridizers.org/forum/message.php?topid=30867#34554
AARS is trying to survive as an independent test only organization.
Thought I would re-post this in case any one was interested and doesn’t get the the ARS & You monthly email.
Status of the Rose Industry
Posted by karl_bapst_rosenut 5a NW Indiana (email deleted) on Mon, Sep 12, 11 at 16:45
The Indiana-Illinois District meeting was held on September 10, 2011. Dr. Keith Zary, formerly head hybridizer for Jackson & Perkins and now working for Garden’s Alive, gave a program on the status of the rose growing industry. Garden’s Alive bought the bankrupt Weeks Roses and Jackson & Perkins (J&P). They immediately fired the CEO, President and CFO of these companies and replaced them with experts in the field of Roses.
The holding company that formerly purchased J&P, Wayside Gardens, and Park Seeds knew absolutely nothing about roses or the plant industry and pretty well drove them to ruin.
J&P printed a really nice catalog for 2012 but they have no product to back up the catalog. This explains why so many have complained about having to wait so long for roses from them.) Dr. Zary said it appears they’ll have nothing through 2015 as they’ve not contracted for any product through then.
Weeks and their hybridizing staff are pretty much intact and will be able to continue to supply retailers with current and new rose varieties.
The major change is only in their testing fields which were moved to Tipp City, Ohio. They’ll be concentrating on developing exceptionally disease resistant and cold hardy varieties including hybrid teas. This is something they couldn’t do in California. As an example, 10,000 test seedlings were planted outdoors in Tipp City last year to test for winter hardiness and disease resistance. Of these only 10 survived the cut.
Rose breeding will now be done in the Midwest in keeping with the public’s demand for these types of roses. All roses will now be sold under the Weeks name and Keith said all roses will be own root. Grafting is very labor intensive and current immigration policy makes it difficult to obtain cheap labor.
He said the major problem with the rose industry was due to the building bust. Fewer new homes mean less need for landscaping. The growers were losing money because of having to pay mortgages on unused land. In some cases over half of the growing fields were not being used.
Star Roses/Conrad Pyle is getting out of the rose growing business and will license out the growing of their product. They’re still a strong company due to the success of the Knock Out line of roses. Were it not for that they’d be out of business also.
The AARS testing group will probably be defunct soon as rose testing is being done in house by the growers.
Overall though, the future looks good. Consolidation in the industry has strengthened the few remaining growers and the changes they’ve made further helps them.
As a preview to the article I am preparing for the newsletter, Seville Farms who is doing the trials of Ralph Moore Roses for Texas A&M, is a large Wholesale Grower with several locations in Texas. They have a contract with Lowes and they are looking at the miniatures as “Gift” plants for Mother’s Day, etc.
My own long term plans are to propagate roses from my own program and those of Ray Ponton and Robert Stiba for sale on consignment to our hometown nursery. It will be a truly “regional” approach to roses. The only drawback will be the lack of mailorders.
Thank you Andre for the update. It sounds like Garden’s Alive will pretty much the major retailer for roses. Do we know if they are open to testing roses created by amateurs?
Joan, I like your idea of approaching hometown nurseries. I’ve also thought about utilizing eBay as well.
Rob