THE 2008 GREAT ROSARIAN OF THE WORLD

BILL RADLER

He Won With A 'KNOCK OUT'!

By Helene Pizzi

It is no wonder that Bill Radler has been chosen  to receive the prestigious GREAT ROSARIANS OF THE WORLD award for 2008.  It was only seven years ago when Bill Radler’s first rose,  ‘Knock Out’ was introduced: now, all over the world, people are not only talking about this disease resistant, low growing, continually blooming, easy-care landscaping rose, but they are buying it too, making Bill Radler, an indisputable winner.  The roses that have followed in his ‘Knock Out’ series have been successful as well. 

In the summer of 1998, when Bill took me around his lovely garden (in the residential area of Greenfield, Wisconsin, a part of greater Milwaukee), we stood on his back patio and he pointed to a bed of low growing red roses blooming under a swaying lacy mauve over-cover of Verbena bonariensis.  “That is the rose that seems to show promise.” he smiled,

Beyond, the back yard had been turned into his workshop and testing ground; it remains the same today.  Hundreds of roses are planted in neat rows fanning out from a central grassy path leading to a vista and a stone urn with a tender white Lantana that has to be over-wintered inside.  Here in the USDA Zone 5, the temperatures dip and the icy cold and snow lasts for months.

The following year, over the dinner table at Bill’s (he is as creative a gourmet cook as he is a hybridizer) he said he had just had a call from Conad & Pyle saying the rose was going to be called 'Knock Out'.  He need to get used to the unexpected name and repeated it every now and then.  Even though it was an unexpected and unusual name for a rose, we all agreed with him, as he nodded, “I guess it sounds good.” 

The rose was released in 2000 and that year it won the All-American Rose Selections award.  The rest is history..  Since then it has sold more than any other single rose in history, breaking sales records world-wide and lining Bill's pockets as the royalties keep rolling in.

Bill laughs as he tells how he hybridizes: “The experts usually carefully brush the pollen on to the female stigma with a fine sable brush.  I just use my fingers, and it works!  Then I brush my finger on my pants to clean it.  This is not rocket science…it’s a lot of putzing around!” 

He harvests his hips in September, removes the seeds and stratifies them “…in a zip lock bag in the refrigerator, and it works fine for me.”  His eyes twinkle as he explains that he still plants his seeds, as he always has done, in his basement in Greenfield, under fluorescent lights.  “They are always on, 24 hours a day.”  Each year’s new crop produces about 500 seedlings.  After a careful selection and,“With a great deal of luck, perhaps there will be one or two roses that may show promise.”  These are are planted out in his back yard and then really put to the test.

Bill treats his roses ruthlessly.  He uses an overhead watering system because wet leaves encourage disease.  He also gathers diseased leaves from the ground, dries them and then grinds them so he can strew ‘trouble’ everywhere..  Only the healthy roses will be spared, then they will be left uncovered to get through the winter on their own.

Bill Radler's interest in roses came when he was a mere lad of 9, growing up in Whitefish Bay, an affluent residential area of Milwaukee..  With his allowance money he bought a supermarket rose, planted it in the garden and to his parent's surprise, his rose survived the winter.  He was hooked.  He spent his pocket money on more roses.  He also learned that they could be grown from cuttings and by budding and soon he had filled his parent’s back yard with roses, roses and more roses.

He joined Milwaukee's North Shore Rose Society and was only 17 when he won the sweepstakes having taken the most blue ribbons for the roses he exhibited.  As he continued to fill up the family garden with bloom he began to understand what an undertaking it actually was to grow roses here, in this climate.  Many could not survive our frigid winters here in the USDA Zone 5 climate, and often those that had been carefully covered for the cold months died just the same.  Bill joined the other passionate rose growers by spraying regularly for disease, pruning with expertise, and spending lots of time and energy in the garden to make these beautiful flowers grow well.  The more he gardened, the more he felt there  must be an easier way to obtain the same result.

Bill went on to take a degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Wisconsin and in time became the Director of Boerner Botanical Gardens located in the Whitnall Park in Hales Corners.  There Bill was surrounded with the roses he loved.  As director, he also judged the roses in the Boerner All-American Test Garden for part of the American Rose Society trials.  Bill also kept an eye on private gardens in the city noting that roses grew weakly, were subject to disease, and that even with covers and mulching, many died over winter.  It was then that he began hybridizing in earnest, aiming for a rose that would be hardy, disease resistant, fragrant, bloom continually, and above all, be as care free as possible. 

Bill took early retirement from Boerner to be able to pursue his rose-breeding hobby.  Year after year  Bill persisted and has been successful because, he states, “The roses I have bred should be planted deep, and then each spring, all damaged or dead wood should be pruned away and the bush clipped into a good shape.  Easy.” He smiles as he nods,  “Give it lots of water, a little fertilizer and that is about it!”.

We are now sitting in his elegantly remodeled spacious kitchen eating orange jello that he makes with green tea instead of water.  “It is an improvement on a low calorie snack!” he smirks.  Bill is trim and fit and youthful.  He is disciplined in every aspect of his life, including his hybridizing.  The wide windowsill over the sink has African violets that he has bred and other rare ones.  He continues, “Roses, considered high maintenance plants that required lots of work, poisonous spraying and complicated pruning, were loosing their appeal to gardeners,” he continues, “People now want plants that will give a colorful touch to the garden with low maintenance and easy care.” These new landscaping roses will be the roses of the XXI century.

Upstairs he showed me one room that is dedicated entirely to tender potted plants; it has the feeling of a Victorian glass house.  From his upper lounge the view over his back garden is excellent.  The tidy ordered rows spread out like a large fan.  In the winter the view is just as lovely with his roses buried in pristine snow.  The 2 meter high almost invisible fence that surrounds his test garden successfully keeps the roaming deer out.  They have invaded the city and herds live in the wooded Root River Parkway nearby.  ‘Critters’ is what Bill calls the many animals and insects that are a threat to his lovely roses.

I blinked twice however when Bill took me into his office, a spacious room beyond his living room.  It was a delightful mess…papers piled high…letters here and there around three large screened computers.  Bill is a tidy perfectionist and although it looked untidy, he said he has his own way of order and knows where everything is.  We listen to his music here, “happy music, all kinds…just so it is happy”.  He pipes music into the garden too, where 3 full time men are busy working, “A luxury that now, thanks to the royalties I can afford.”.

One after another Radler rose has followed 'Knockout'.  Nurseries and garden centers are carrying his 'Blushing Knock Out', 'Pink Knock Out' and 'Double Knock Out',  'Carefree Sunshine',  'Ramblin' Red', 'Lemon Meringue', 'Climbing Carefree Sunshine' (“is rambunctious and reblooms”), and‘Bright Eyes’, a Climber with compact growth, ideal for smaller gardens.  Rumors have it that there are even more excellent hardy and disease resistant roses to be released very soon.

'Roses are not my only passion," he points out as he shows his hosta collection on the north side of his house.  'I wish I had more time…" he confesses, "Hostas are wonderful too and I have hoped to breed new ones too…"

Fit, trim, athletic and good looking, Bill Radler works out regularly and even leads gym classes.  He travels when he can, and often will fly hours just to speak quickly and return home again to proceed with his challenges and creations with the world's most loved flower.

Bill’s charm will carry him through the Great Rosarianms of the World 2008 ceremonies and for sure he will add many rosarian friends at that event.  Hope to see you there!