By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Sam McGredy IV is one of only
16 rose breeders in the world.
SAM McGredy IV is a member of a very exclusive club -- there are only 16 members in the whole world. These men and women are rose breeders, growers who by hand cross pollinate different species to create a new and better rose. It's a business where the odds are against you, McGredy said. "You raise 50,000 seedlings and you might find one worth saving. Putting mettle
to the petal"It's a very specialized field. You can spend 10 years of your life before you have anything to sell, and then you may find out nobody wants it. Fashions in roses change just like anything else. Maybe you made the cross in 1987 and you created a gorgeous pink floribunda. But by 1998 everybody wants yellow hybrid teas. That's why there are so few breeders."
McGredy and his wife Jillian are New Zealanders who spend their winter in Honolulu each summer. He is the fourth generation of the McGredy dynasty to be a plant hybridizer. The first Sam McGredy started the nursery business in Northern Ireland in 1880 hybridizing pansies. The second Sam began hybridizing roses in 1895 and was called "The Irish Wizard" because he won so many English Rose Trials.
The third Sam, who died when the current Sam was 2, formed a business relationship with the American firm of Jackson and Perkins to introduce his roses to this country. He produced the firm's first All-American Rose selections winner "Rubaiyat" in 1947.
Sam IV continued the family business in Northern Ireland until 1972. At that time, discouraged by the terrorists, he and his family moved to New Zealand. In the following years he has won just about every international award offered for the creation of new roses, but the dynasty appears to have ended. He said that none of the young McGredys are interested in growing roses as a career.
He is best known for what he calls his "hand-painted" roses, roses of one color splashed or striped with another. His first release was "Picasso," released in 1971. Its deep pink blossoms are splashed and edged with silver white. As with many great discoveries, the two-colored rose wasn't what he was aiming for. "I was looking for hardiness, using a German species rose 'Fruhlingsmorgen.' I planted thousands of seedlings in Ireland, and I saw one bloom with white-edged petals. I took the pollen from that flower to obtain a new rose," he said.
Once he had the rose, he needed a name, and because it looked painted, he decided to name it for Pablo Picasso. "Because I wanted to patent it to collect royalties, I needed Picasso's permission to use his name. So I wrote to him, asking for permission, and I got a letter from his manager saying that it was OK. I sent the letter to the patent office and they turned me down because the letter wasn't signed by Picasso himself.
"So I wrote another letter asking for the artist to sign the permission note. Then I got a scathing letter back from the manager, furious because he felt I was insinuating that he didn't have the authority to sign for Picasso. Only later did I discover that Picasso never signed anything he wasn't legally obliged to, because his autograph sold for $10,000." Eventually, the patent office accepted the manager's letter.
One of McGredy's most popular roses he named "Sexy Rexy" for a friend who was flattered by the idea and "very amused when the British rose growers announced that the name was in most poor taste." Again, McGredy persisted, and the rose, which has as many as 300 flowers on a single plant, is an international favorite.
"Our top-selling rose in America is 'Olympiad,' a red hybrid tea named for the Los Angeles Olympics. It was the only rose used in landscaping the games area and medal winners were presented with one 'Olympiad' rose at the awards ceremonies," he said.
In each case, McGredy had a list of goals in mind when he made the crosses between two rose varieties. "First is color," he said. "Then I want vigor, a strong rose. Some breeders try for thornless bushes, but I've found that the flowers are no good. I look for the number of blooms on a bush, and for the life of the rose as a cut flower."
He added that most breeders are trying to return fragrance to roses that have lost it through hybridization, but that there is a connection between restored fragrance and the tendency to mildew. Nobody wants mildew, no matter how much they want a traditional scent. If mildew is a problem in New Zealand, it will be worse here. It thrives in high humidity with no rain because it grows on dry leaves. Poor air circulation also encourages mildew, which is why roses should not be planted against a wall.
"You've got a 1 in 8 million chance of getting exactly what you want (in hybridizing)," he said. "You get the right color and find that it dies in the winter. Or you are breeding for all the positive qualities and the negative ones show up instead."
But enough of them do turn out glorious, which is what keeps rose breeders in business. So why don't we see more roses in Honolulu? Basically, it's the same reason you don't see more plumerias in Seattle. Our climate makes rose growing a constant challenge rather than a pleasant, easy hobby as it is on the mainland.
"Roses prefer a dormant period. You don't have that here. You need warm weather roses, and there are a number of them," McGredy said.
The Honolulu Rose Society recommends several of McGredy's, including "Sexy Rexy" and "Olympiad." Most mainland growers are also not as plagued with the rose beetle as local growers are. The bugs die back in cold weather, but here they go on and on. They can be controlled, the society says, by Sevin, Isotox or Orthene if you don't choose to hand-pick them off the bushes.
Roses are as hungry as the bugs that eat them. "Roses are gross feeders and require a general rose fertilizer regularly applied," McGredy said. They also need deep watering to moisten the entire root system. "They like their bacon and eggs," he added.
One of the joys of rose growing is having cut flowers. After roses have been cut from the bush, the stems should be cut once more under warm water, or soak the flowers in warm water for several hours before arranging them. This forces air out and water up the stem to keep the flower fresh.
The droopy neck of a cut rose occurs when more water is lost from the flower's surface than enters through the stem. The rose society recommends rolling the cut flowers in newspaper and standing them in deep water two or three hours. They discourage thorn removal since it leaves wounds on the stem, allowing entrance of bacteria and loss of moisture.
McGredy spent part of his vacation on the final proof reading of his new book, "Sam McGredy's Favorite Roses." It should be available here early next year, he said. Featured on the cover of the book is his newest hybrid, the "Jillian McGredy" named for his wife. He describes it as "a gentle pink with a lovely scent." Jillian smiled.
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