Contrary to the opinion of Gertrude Stein, a rose is not a rose is not a rose. Lindley Mann, for one, could cite numerous traits that distinguish one from the next. And he should know, for his Richmond, Ind., firm, E.G. Hill Co., long has been a leader in the business of rose breeding.
For two decades, E.G. Hill has held the patent on two of the nation`s most popular red roses, Forever Yours and Royalty.
The rose business being the competitive one that it is, E.G. Hill has a full-time research program aimed at developing a better rose, though what exactly constitutes ”a better rose” depends on the rose in question.
Rose breeding in general falls into two camps: indoor roses (meant for sale as cut flowers) and outdoor roses (those intended for the garden).
Like the handful of major commercial breeders in this country, E.G. Hill breeds for both markets. Ironically, a rose that succeeds in one arena is likely to fail in the other.
Grown in the protective confines of a greenhouse, the indoor rose
(typically a hybrid tea) needn`t withstand the same rigors that affect an outdoor variety. But greenhouse overhead–heat and labor–drive the costs up. At E.G. Hill, for instance, the cost of energy, alone, has nearly tripled in the last decade.
So to minimize costs, breeders are trying to develop more prolific rose varieties. ”We`re looking for anything that produces like crazy,” Mann says. Productivity–the greatest number of roses per square foot–is the goal of the indoor rose breeder.
But longevity is another concern. Mann says that this is the industry`s area of greatest improvement in recent years. Twenty years ago, the average
”vase life” of indoor roses was three days. Today, improved greenhouse controls, as well as better storage and handling techniques, have helped to double that. Still, breeders continue to seek improvements in the plants themselves, to extend vase life further.
Beyond production and longevity, the breeder`s goals might be viewed, broadly, as attempts to recapture traits that were lost through earlier breeding.
”Our biggest problem today is coming up with the large-headed hybrid tea,” Mann said. ”We can come up with large heads, but not large enough.”
The problem is one of priorities. In the quest for increased production, breeders have used short-stemmed, smaller-headed roses as breeding stock. While production has increased, the heads of the new, ”improved” varieties have gotten smaller.
”It`s a compromise,” Mann said. ”What we`re trying to do at this company is breed back in the head size. In my opinion, people want more value for their money, and they want to see big heads on the roses.”
The pursuit of more roses has meant other compromises, as well. Stems, for example, have gotten shorter. As a result, the much-prized long-stemmed rose has become increasingly rare and expensive. Perhaps the most curious loss, however, is fragrance. As Mann describes it, fragrance in indoor roses was bred out somehow. He`s not sure when or why it happened–only that it disappeared across the board.
”We`re attempting to breed it back in,” he said. ”And we`re succeeding. But frankly, it`s about fourth or fifth on the priority list.”
And in an industry where each new rose variety is seven or more years in the making, time is money.
Despite more than a century of expertise in rose breeding, E.G. Hill is but a newcomer to the garden rose trade. ”The market there has growing demand, and I want to be a part of it,” Mann said, admitting that it won`t be easy. As Mann himself can attest, lessons learned in the greenhouse do not transfer readily to the garden. ”It`s a different field,” he insists.
”Frankly, you think that because you breed for one market, you should know them both, but it`s a totally different scene.”
When E.G. Hill started its garden breeding program three years ago, the company planted 75 rose varieties. Within a year, a third of those varieties proved sterile and were thrown away. According to Mann, an experienced outdoor rose breeder would have foreseen this problem. But rivals don`t give away trade secrets, and Mann had to learn for himself.
”We`ve known the characteristics of greenhouse varieties for many years,” he says. ”We don`t know that for the garden. So we`re asking a lot of questions and doing a lot of research.”
Then, too, there are different goals. Bush formation is a key consideration for the home gardener, and thus for the breeder. A full, compact bush is the ideal. ”In the greenhouse,” says Mann, ”we don`t care what the bush looks like; we don`t sell bushes, we sell cut flowers.” Likewise, hardiness and disease-resistance are secondary concerns in the greenhouse. They are a cornerstone of breeding for outdoors.
Perhaps the greatest irony is that the garden rose has retained the very qualities–large head, long stem and fragrance–that the indoor rose has lost. Thats why the two types are joined in certain breeding endeavors.
”If I want to bring fragrance into a greenhouse variety,” says Mann,
”I would definitey breed it with an outdoor rose. But when I do that, I sacrifice production and keeping quality. Thats why breeding is a long-term proposition: If you bring the scent or fragrance in, for example, then you have to go back and start breeding again for production and longevity.”
If breeding is a process of constant concession, so, too, it is one that demands clairvoyance. At present, E.G. Hill anticipates that its first garden rose introduction is at least five years away. In the meanwhile, Mann is ever trying to forecast the next fashion in indoor roses.
”We keep our red rose the biggest part of our breeding process, he says. ”But frankly, we`ve gone off on other tacks now.” By that Mann is referring to the next trend that he foresees–namely, a dominance of pastels. Today the red rose is unrivaled in popularity, accounting for three-quarters of the roses sold in this country. Even Mann admits there is little or no evidence to suggest a shift. Nonetheless, nearly one-third of E.G. Hill`s breeding program now centers around the creation of a ”family of pastels”–a 10-year, $300,000 project based on what Mann describes as a hunch.
”That`s what makes or breaks it,” he says. ”If I hit that hunch, and it`s correct, then we will continue to be the leader in this industry. If I don`t hit it, I hope the red rose will still be there to fall back on.”
