Plants named after grandchildren are always suspect. The hybridizer isn't usually a professional, though he or she may be quite talented. Hybridizing is more than just talent, however. Hybridizing is also numbers, and the difference between a talented professional and a talented amateur or academic is likely the number of crosses. The pros can simply produce more.
Produce 100,000 crosses and take the best three. Produce 5,000 crosses and take the best three. Which three are likely to be better? Probably the first--numbers make a difference. Most, but not all, great roses are produced by winnowing out a lot of chaff.
'Belinda's Dream' is named after a grandchild, but it happens to be an excellent rose. Spring is not its best season. It performs best in the heat of late summer and early fall. But spring is not bad.
The growth habit of 'Belinda's Dream' reflects, I think, its genetics: it is a cross of the classic hybrid tea, 'Tiffany', with an old rambling rose. The growth habit is sideways, the mature plant being wider than tall.
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Very pretty rose regardless of whom it was named after!
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree -- spring is not BD's best season, esp when we get rains. I've seen a lot of balling this year. But it's a fantastic wonderful fabulous rose all the rest of the season :-)
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