This. I thought when I saw it, WOW. I fell in love with Chicago Peace at a couple of different nurseries and just had to have it join the rest of our brigade of rose bushes, bringing new and interesting colors to the garden...without being tacky like some hybrid multicolors are.
Chicago Peace has been around over six decades and was awarded the Portland Gold Medal in 1962 (yep, as part of my hometown's favorite rose festival!). It's a "sport" - i.e., mutation - of the origina Peace rose that's been around since the 1930s, which has a pretty cool story. Per the description on Wikipedia:
"It was developed by French horticulturist Francis Meilland, in the years 1935 to 1939. When Meilland foresaw the German invasion of France, he sent cuttings to friends in Italy, Turkey, Germany, and the United States to protect the new rose. It is said that it was sent to the US on the last plane available before the German invasion, where it was safely propagated by the Conard Pyle Co. during the war."
How I love stories of seeds and flowers and other unique aspects of the natural world being saved from destruction - it shows a side of humanity that is often forgotten in this world, and I'm grateful for these tidbits of knowledge.
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