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Ralph Moore's Philosophy
of Miniature Roses Being a breeder of new roses is an interesting and exhilarating occupation. As such, one deals with beauty, patience, invention—with science and art. One must be able to see the as yet unseen, to dream dreams, to create — and yet not expect too much nor take oneself too seriously. One must be willing to march to a different drummer, to take the risk that what has been accomplished will not be appreciated. I am often reminded of the story of a craftsman of the middle ages who was patiently chipping away on a stone figure which was to go atop the cathedral then under construction. A passerby asked the workman why he was taking such painstaking effort, remarking that nobody would see it when the figure was finally in place atop the cathedral. Wherefore the workman says, "No, but God will."
If there is no ear to hear the splash of water or the sounds of Handel’s music; if there is no eye to see the rainbow, or the sunset – if there is no sensation of sound, or sight or touch, there can be no sense of being, of existence. But someone says, "See, I have taped the sound of the waterfall or of the falling tree or the rolling thunder; I have photographed the mountain or the seashore, so i know these things exist, even though no one was there (they were recorded automatically or by remote control) so this proves that the human element is not really necessary — it is all just an accident. Ah, but don't forget that without man on the scene to see pictures or listen to the tapes and recognize what they are, there would still be no proof that these phenomena ever existed. It takes a person, a living and breathing creation of God, with the intelligence to think, to compare, to create in order to discern or recognize reality. And this thinking, creative being we call man is only a reflection of his maker. From the mind of man can come invention, art or music, but it is of little or no use if there is not at least one other person to recognize and appreciate. But gratifying as is the applause, the esteem or even the monetary rewards of our endeavors, it is all, as tinkling brass or crashing cymbals, unless the great celestial director accepts or approves our efforts. Unless we try to do all to the Glory of God we must fall short of the goal. So, whether one's calling in life is to be a teacher, chemist, lawyer, doctor, carpenter, mechanic — or as mine has turned out, a nurseryman and plant breeder, there must be a reason why. Life is full of so many whys — why are men here? Not just here on planet Earth but why am I living in my town, or my street — why am I living at this time in history rather than in 1881 or 1582? Why did I take certain subjects in school or attend a certain college or university? For most of my working life I have been a plant breeder, specializing in Miniature roses, but I have done breeding work with several other species and genera. The rose, however, has been my love and my life. The rose speaks to me of so many things and it is a challenge as to the directions in which the rose can be channeled or molded. I have often watched and marveled how the director of a choir or an orchestra seems to play the various individual voices or instruments as one great instrument. He wields his baton much as a painter uses his brush – one to paint a picture in sound, the other to paint a picture on canvas. Now this is exactly what the skilled plant breeder does with living plants. He must know as much of the science as possible but he must "feel" as the artist or director.
There is also the risk of cutting the selection too narrow. For example, 1 may have set as my goal the creation of a red climbing rose with 20 petals and flowers 2 inches in diameter. My ideal plant (according to my mental blueprint) must grow upright to eight feet. Now what do I do if, among the hundreds or thousands of hybrid seedlings, I find a rose plant with all the above specifications except that it is a bushy plant growing only 2 feet high? Or the best plant bears beautiful pink flowers — not 2 inches in diameter but 3 inches? In real life we plan but the end results are often very different from our original goals or hopes. This is true in working with roses. So the basic philosophy, as I see it, is to plan and plan and plan. Listen to that different drummer. Dream dreams and work to make those dreams come true. But always be alert and ready to take a different direction if the wind changes. I have learned that many, if not most, of the new ideas and opportunities come when we least expect them. Too often we think of opportunity as coming to us clearly labeled and head-on, but I feel that most times opportunity comes to us as a fleeting idea. We must always be on the alert to see what many others miss —something we vaguely see out of the comer of our eye. Then we need to turn and take a better look. This is what Moses did when he saw the burning bush — and it changed his whole life. Each of us has burning bush encounters but many fail to turn aside to see what is happening — I like the biblical expression "and it came to pass," for I happen to believe that nothing happens but that in the providence of God things come to pass.
For example, most of my rose breeding has been with Miniatures. I have been fortunate to have had numerous firsts. With varieties Green Ice and Green Diamond the color green was brought into the Miniature rose line. Under a microscope we determined that the green color of these varieties and other seedlings of similar light green color, was not caused by a green color pigment but, rather, that green chloroplasts (chlorophyll) were present in the cells of each petal. A listing of my Miniature rose originations would give proof of the wide range of breeding done over a period of more than 50 years. Colors and forms embrace the entire range known to roses. These include many shades of red, pink, yellow, white and even lavender. Following 25 years of work, the moss from old fashioned (spring flowering) moss varieties was transferred to the Miniature. Some of these moss varieties which repeat bloom all season, are now available as well as two (a yellow and a red) bush Floribunda varieties. Most recently we have brought stripes into modem roses. Several of the Miniatures with red and white or pink and white flowers have been bred and introduced, among them are Stars n 'Stripes, Strawberry Swirl, Crazy Quilt, Joan Austin, and more recently, Pinstripe, and Rose Gilardi. While it is true that there have been in the past a number of striped roses these came about by, (1) a striped sport or mutation of a rose variety having solid color e.g. red, pink, etc., but which did not pass such variegation to the (sexual) off-spring or, (2) most common, variegation caused by virus. When such varieties are heat treated to rid them of virus only the solid (original) color ("red or pink) remains. But several years ago we made some crosses from which we (apparently) got genetic variegation. At about the same time Dr. Griffith Buck (University of Iowa) made a similar discovery, but he did not have an opportunity to follow up as we have. The variegation (stripes) in tulips and in many varieties of camellias is also caused by virus. In my work we have made many hundreds of crosses involving this striping and so now have a breeding backlog of useful parents unmatched anywhere in the world. I dream of small and large climbing roses with different patterns of striping. We already have several Miniatures with stripes and others are under observation.
So now, after many seasons and thousands of crosses we have flowered numerous striped seedlings with varying shades and combinations of red, pink and yellow. These include Miniatures and, more recently, larger flowered striped roses in both bush and climbing forms. One, a spectacular climber, bears three inch double flowers with red and white stripes. This was introduced in the U.S. by Springhill Nurseries (1993) and has the variety name Peppermint Delight. Another exciting climber has three-inch double flowers in clusters with red and pink stripes. This is now in the AARS Trials. Interestingly, all these stripes have come about through my work with Miniatures! I am now 86 years of age. Why do I keep on with my rose breeding? What better reason than to create beauty to share with others. For love of a rose, I want to keep on so long as I hear that other drummer — so long as I can dream dreams — so long as my new roses can speak of the glory of God. In closing, I would like to include a poem which expresses my feelings: ONE ROSE...... Gaynelle Lindquist
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So
this is basically the feeling and the thought behind creating a new
rose – or anything of value – that each bit of effort, each failure
or disappointment, each triumph along the way should part of the total
effort to glorify God.
At
first it seemed that a red and yellow striping would not be possible,
since the striping appeared to be only a variation in red (with pink
being a dilution of red). But again after much dreaming and many crosses
it was ascertained that if the red were laid down on top of yellow the
yellow color would show in the areas normally white or pink. As the
yellow faded (as yellow always does) these areas then change to pink,
cream or white.