Hi Cass, "Huilito" was found in the southern Rio Grande region of Texas in cultivation. It was reintroduced by the Antique Rose Emporium. In one of their early catalogs they gave a few more details about the source. I'll try to find that catalog.

Cass, I don't have ARE's first catalog, but in their second 1986-87 on page 45 "Huilito" was included in an offering of their propagator, Tommy Adams' favorite foundlings. '"Huilito", A Bourbon-China cross, this Rio Grande Valley unknown was given to us by an elderly Spanish gardener. A compact 3-foot bush, "Huilito" has blue-pink, quartered, globular roses, China-like foliage, and heavy Bourbon fragrance. 2-3 feet. #2202.....$6.00'

1988 was more or less the same, but in 1989 they expanded the description to: '"Huilito". This neat little rose was named in honor of the man who gave it to us, the grandfather of the wife of one of our staff members. A true rose-lover, this gentleman of 90 continued to do yardwork for "old" ladies and saved the rose trimmings to plant in his own garden in McAllen, Texas, down in the Rio Grande Valley. A compact 3-foot bush, "Huilito" has blue-pink, quartered, globular flowers of medium size, very freely produced. The foliage is neat and China-like, but the fragrance is typically heavy Bourbon. The flowers have a tendency to ball in hight humidity, but otherwise are charming on a neat little shrub or pot rose. 2-3 feet. #2202.....$7.50"

What they meant by "named in honor of the man" is probably not correct. It doubt his nickname was Huilito, but who knows. It was probably his name for the rose, "little fragrant one."

Cass, You might also want to add a note to the description that flower size is apparently quite variable. I think this is suggested by the photos,or at least it is to me, because my plant never has large flowers compared with a hand, always more China-like.

Somewhere I read E. G. Hill cos. description of their new introduction, but have lost my notes to it, in which they described it as having large flowers. This has made me tentative about 'Janice Meredith' as a positive id. The HMF photos tell me Huilito can be big, increasing my certainty that 'Janice Meredith' is a good id for "Huilito".

Janice Meredith, heroine of a 1899 historical novel of the same name by Paul Leicester Ford.