Newsletter  (2012)  Page(s) 15-16.  Includes photo(s).
 
Spring 2012 issue.
"...We decided to use ISSR and RAPD markers inthis comparison of 'Softee' and "Jefferson Rose."...The fragments of DNA are separted according to length, creating a "fingerprint." The same rose with the same primer should consistently give the same pattern or fingerprint.
"What did we learn in the comparison of 'Softee' and "Jefferson"? All six ISSR primers and all three RAPD primers tested produced the same pattern (fingerprint) for these two roses...The data overwhelmingly point to the conclusion that "Jefferson" and 'Softee' are the same rose.

Article (newspaper)  (Jun 2009)  Page(s) 3.  Includes photo(s).
 
Patricia Routley: Mostly my writing has been about old roses. This month I want to tell you about an old rose of the future, because this little rose bred in 1983 is so good, it is still going to be around in 2083. Softee is classed as a miniature rose but is a little larger than the normal, and of the miniatures I have had (and lost), this is the best of them all. Margaret Dixon gave me cuttings of this rose in 1998 and I have always been grateful for her gift. I used to prune ‘Softee’ in years past but later couldn’t get around to all my roses, things got neglected, and the bushes haven’t been pruned for about seven years now. They seem to do better than ever being unpruned and some years in spring I can hardly see a leaf for the flowers. The bush would flower right throughout summer for a conscientious gardener who deadheads it after the spring flush and there would always be a posy to bring inside for that special vase. I reserve a small blue and gold Limoges vase that Rob bought me years ago, for bunches of ‘Softee’. The yellow and white of the rose is reflected in the gold of the vase and the sight takes my breath away and makes me smile every time - I have this silly foible that only ‘Softee’ is perfect enough to grace such a beautiful piece of china. The 4-5cm little flowers come in clusters of yellow to apricot buds and they open to a deeper centred yellow flower that fades to white. There is often a change of colour in cooler weather with pink, peach and apricot tones, but during the long hot days of summer, they are yellow and white. Most miniatures seem to have that pretty little mucronate tip to the petal and this one is no exception. It seems to add to the delicacy. It is thornless – how wonderful! I thought so highly of it that I put four cutting-grown bushes as the centre piece of The Wee Garden and they are just perfect there. They make strong plants and unpruned, are a small dense shrub about three or four feet high and wide, always healthy with never any disease. ‘Softee’ would make a wonderful low hedge. There is said to be a ‘Climbing Softee’ but I am sceptical about this. My 1999 purchase of ‘Climbing Softee’, also on its own roots, is below the height of my bush ‘Softee’. ‘Softee’ was bred by the master of miniatures, Ralph Moore, in California. The seed parent was a result of R. wichuraiana x [‘Oakington Ruby’ <1933 x ‘Floradora’ 1944]. The pollen parent had more modern genes: ‘Little Darling’ 1956 x ‘Yellow Magic’ 1970. Mr. Moore spent his lifetime breeding miniatures and as I write this in May, 2009, he is 102 years of age. When I get too old for all of this hard-work nonsense, I am going to live in a unit and have my balcony jam-packed with pots of Ralph Moore’s miniatures. That should keep me happy.

Book  (Sep 1993)  Page(s) 437.  
 
Softee Miniature. Ralph Moore 1982. Description... small clusters of creamy white pompoms. Parentage: Unnamed seedling x unnamed seedling

Book  (Apr 1993)  Page(s) 560.  
 
Softee Miniature, creamy white, 1983, (MORfree); Seedling x Seedling; Moore, R.S. Description.