A correspondent testifies to the resilience of 'Baronne Edmond de Rothschild': A comment on the hardiness of the 'Baronne Edmond de Rothschild' rose. I planted this as a bare-rooted plant; my dog promptly pulled it out and chewed it up, so we replaced it with another rose. 6 months later we noticed what we thought was a shoot from the root stock of the new rose, so we went to pull it off. But it was the Baronne, sprung from the chewed-off stump (still in the ground)! Of course we tenderly replanted this brave plant; it has recovered beautifully and we enjoyed many beautiful blooms last summer.

Are we getting closer to the Blue Rose...? A correspondent writes: I have successfully cloned blue gene from petunia. I will continue the research of changing the carnation into blue color. [Stay tuned for more information.]

Does anybody know...? what the initials J and A stand for in Breeder Anne Bentall's husband's name?

White Swan A correpondent inquires: My aunt tells me that my grandfather (John Swann) bred this rose, I think, sometime before the Second World War when he was employed at the Royal Nurseries in Waltham Cross Hertfordshire England and that we had this rose growing in the garden of the family house at this time and I can remember seeing a rose of this description when I lived there. Is there any way of telling for sure whether this rose was established by my grandfather during the reign of King George V? This was the period when he worked at the Royal Nurseries.

A budding rosarian emails: I'm hoping to grow some old roses in Minnesota. Will they grow here? Can
you put me in touch with someone who does grow roses in Minnesota?

Sure roses will grow in Minnesota! One in particular -- called John's Minnesota Rose Garden -- springs to mind. You'll find contact information for him there as well. Good luck!

Rose Typos Beth emails this question about the code name for 'Purple Heart™,' Tom Carruth's Floribunda. Maybe there's a typo on the code for this one? You have it as WEKbipuhit. The tag on my rose says WEKbiphuit. Of course, the typo might be on my tag! If they were trying to combine parents' names, it ought to be WEKbipuiht . . . quien sabe?

I don't know if it's a typo or not, but Weeks Roses also lists the code as WEKbipuhit (http://www.weeksroses.com/purpleheart.htm).

What color is 'Hansa'? A rosarian from New Mexico asks a color question: The description at http://www.HelpMeFind.com/Roses says 'Hansa' is medium red. Suzanne Verrier, in her book Rosa Rugosa calls it "deep vibrant purple crimson." What I've seen here in N.M. has a distinct purplish or magenta cast to it.

Color categories are broad definitions. The American Rose Society assigns 'Hansa's "medium red" -- I guess they felt it wasn't pink, it wasn't mauve, it wasn't dark red... so, medium red was left. The American Rose Society has only eighteen color categories, but there are literally thousands of roses. To my eye, 'Hansa's color is pink with a purple cast.