The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manhattan Rose Society
Sponsoring Organizations
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Supporting Organizations
Previous Honorees
The Great Rosarians of the World Annual Lecture Series was founded in 2000 by Clair Martin, Shannon Curator of the Rose and Perennial Gardens at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. GROW was conceived as a way to honor the men and women who have made significant contributions to our love and understanding of our favorite flower, the rose. Honorees are selected from the world's top hybridizers, writers, and educators and invited to present a program covering their work and contributions to the field. Beginning in January 2001 the annual lecture series was inaugurated as part of the educational outreach programs of The Huntington Rose Garden.
In 2006 the Huntington Rose Curator initiated discussions with the Manhattan Rose Society's Pat Shanley and Gene Waering to explore the possibility of expanding the series to an east coast venue. In late March of that year he was invited by the Metropolitan Rose Council to make a presentation to a group consisting of local rose society and the major botanical gardens. At that meeting, under the leadership of the Manhattan Rose Society and Pat Shanley, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and The New York Botanical Garden agreed to co-host the program beginning in 2007. Brooklyn Botanic Garden elected to host the first joint program in March with The New York Botanical Garden to host the program in 2008.
This expansion of the GROW series was designed to provide the honorees with the widest audience for their presentations and promote responsible and sustainable rose growing nationally.
Honorees
2001
One of the United Kingdom's best know rosarians, Peter is a former President of the Royal National Rose Society, a rose nurseryman with an extensive list of Old Garden Roses, an author, and a hybridizer. Peter was the obvious choice for the first lecture in the series.
2002
If anyone could be called a "National Treasure" it would be Ralph. Our second honoree had just turned 95 when he presented his GROW lecture. Many today consider Ralph to be the founding developer of the modern miniature rose. He has spent his career working in his home town of Visalia, California where he has hybridized miniature roses and other garden plants for nearly 70 years.
2003
The founder of the world wide Heritage Rose movement, Miriam is a living legend among old rose fanciers. She founded the Heritage Rose Group and published The Rose Letter until retiring recently. Miriam's garden of Old Garden Roses and yearly Celebration of Roses is a pilgrimage every spring.
2004
Phillips and Rix are household names in the horticultural world. Roger Phillips is the photographer and Martyn Rix the botanist. Together have produce over 30 books on roses and other garden plants. They also jointly traveled the world to produce the BBC TV series Quest for the Rose.
Roger Phillips (right) & Martyn Rix (left)
2005
Peter Harkness is a fourth generation rose nurseryman. His family's firm Harkness and Sons has been producing award winning roses since the 1880s. Not content with just producing beautiful roses, Peter is a published author and acknowledged scholar on rose history.
2006
Working for years hybridizing roses for the difficult climate of Southern India, Viru Viraraghavan's roses are finally reaching the US market. His breeding program has focused on utilizing native Indian roses to produce roses that will tolerate the hot, dry climate of Southern India. His goal is to produce repeat blooming shrub roses for tropical gardens. Girija is an authority on the centuries long history of rose cultivation in the their homeland.
2007
Fourth generation scions of a rose nursery family, Wilhelm and his cousins decided to make a change in their breeding program and are now producing some of the most disease resistant roses on the market today. Observing their testing fields they made the decision not to use chemical sprays to prevent problems and only select the survivors for eventual introduction. Their contribution to the sustainable garden has started turning heads world wide.
Wilhelm Kordes on Right
2008
The hybridizer of the 'Knock Out' series of hardy, disease resistant roses Radler has become a phenomenon in less than a decade. His 'Knock Out' is dominating rose sales world wide due to its strong resistance to blackspot.
Click here to read more about Bill
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