Name of a rose?

We recently got this request from a major publication asking:

We have a column in the magazine called Life List, where we feature a woman who has realized a lifelong dream. We are now looking for a woman (30-60 years old) who has hybridized a rose and has had it named after her within the last two years. I was wondering if you might know of a woman who fits that description. Your help is much appreciated. Thank you so much!

Does anyone have a name to suggest?

Meg,

OK, let me make sure I understand what the quest is really for: they want to find someone who has created a new rose AND named it after themselves? If that’s correct, then your search is probably going to be in vain and here’s why: it is an unwritten rule that hybridizers don’t name roses after themselves. A breeder will often name a rose for their spouse or friends, but they won’t put their own name on a rose they created. Its considered vain.

However, if they simply want to find a person in that age range who has had a rose named after them in the past two years, that won’t be hard to find. But the way the question was phrased, I don’t think that’s what they want.

Good luck,

Paul

Yeah, I would pretty much die before naming a rose after myself.

Well, we’ve been kicking this around all afternoon and pretty much agree with what Paul and Jadae have said.

I did a Power Point program on roses named for famous women, but that’s not what they are looking for unfortunately. I think they just sat around a table brainstorming and someone, completely unfamiliar with hybridizing roses came up with the suggestions of finding a woman hybridizer who named a rose after herself.

Thanks guys…I appreciate your thoughts and perspective.

There have been roses named after the men who bred them. I think that most of them were named posthumously, like ‘Bill Warriner’ and ‘Captain Thomas’. I believe that Lord Penzance named ‘Lord Penzance’ for himself. In any case, it doesn’t seem that any woman has named a rose for herself.

Hi Meg,

why do you not search of a woman who named a rose after her children(daugther)? Perhaps you can find a woman hybridizer.

Andrea

Meg,

Finding a woman who named a rose after herself is going to be hard. There might be a couple of ladies that might be close what you are looking for.

The first lady is Joyce L. Fleming. She named a rose after (her husband I think) ‘David Fleming’.

The second is by Elizabeth Strong. She named a rose called ‘Lizzie’s Fame’. There is a list of recently-registered roses at http://64.78.40.53/irar/newregis.asp. There may be others there as well that are close, but none were named after themselves.

Andy

Link: 64.78.40.53/irar/newregis.asp

Or, perhaps a female hybridizer who named it after her mother or grandmother.

But yeah, like the others have said…I don’t see me EVER naming a rose after myself. LOL That would just feel…really weird. LOL

Well, I did once refer to one of my seedlings as “Philip’s Fungus Factory” but I guess that doesn’t count…

What about “Miss Kitty”, an attractive sport listed on HMF with Kitty Belindez as the ‘bred by’? Not quite the same?

Hi Jackie…

Thanks for your input…the editor was looking for a hybridized rose by a female hybridizer that she gave her name to. I think the guidelines are a bit too strict and as everyone has mentioned, most women hybridizers wouldn’t consider naming a rose after themselves.

I appreciate everyone comments.