Ultimate Pleasure

Mom nicknamed her greatest mini test rose 'Pink Jean', or maybe she meant 'Pink Gene'. You see, it's seed parent was the wonderful floribunda 'Gene Boerner'; and the pollen parent was the mini queen machine, 'Jean Kenneally'. I know that she was naming it for one of the parents...but which one...or both? I forgot to ask.

Long before this rose was ever introduced to the public, I knew that it belonged at the top of my list of great roses. When people would ask me, "What is your favorite rose?", I would tell them "My #1 is 'My Sunshine', until Mom's pink test rose gets released."

Of course, that would always leads to the big question, "When?"

I held this rose back for a number of special reasons. Initially, I wanted to put it into the Award Of Excellence trials. That turned out badly, as the rose came in at #21, during the first year of testing, which bumped it out of consideration.

I still don't understand how that happened. This is a truly extraordinary rose, and I thought that it would be a shoe in for the AOE Award.

The fast growing plant reaches waist height in just a few months. The gorgeous, pink blooms with a paler pink reverse absolutely cover the plant for a breathtaking display. It is impossible to ignore in the garden.

The flowers have wonderful form and come in both one-to-a-stem blooms, as well as bouquet like sprays. I knew that it was destined from the trophy table for the first time that I saw it. If that weren't enough, this is one of the most disease resistant roses that I have ever grown.

Something must have really gone wrong, during the trials, for the evaluators to mark this rose so low.

After that AOE disappointment, I decided to hold back the pink mini for just a bit longer. I had another idea in mind for 'my favorite rose'. I was only a couple of letters short of completing Mom's alphabet of mini roses. I wanted to finish the Dee Bennett ABC's with something special...a great rose...the pink.

The remaining letters in the alphabet included 'K' and 'U'. When my granddaughter was born, my son, Brian said that she would have to be named 'Kay' or 'Ursula', in order to assure that I named one of the roses for her.

Now, you know that isn't truly; but it did help to knock off one letter, when my new grandbaby was named 'Kay Denise'. That left the letter 'U' for the pink mini test, and I wasn't going to name it 'Ursula'. *lol*

I felt that this rose was worthy of the 'Up Sisterhood' (i.e. 'Pucker Up', 'Cuddle Up' and 'Cheer Up'), but that would require the 'Up' to be at the front of the name. I considered 'Up, Up And Away'; but I wanted to save that name for a climbing rose.

'Upsy Daisy' wouldn't work, because you're not supposed to use the name of another plant, when naming a rose. For example, you can name a rose 'Petunia' or 'Marigold'.

Of course, 'Up Chuck' and 'Up Yours' weren't appropriate either. The name 'Unforgettable' had already been used. I gave some consideration to 'Undercover', 'Unbelievable' and 'Uniquely Yours'; but they just didn't sound quite right.

Finally, I decided to drag out my 'Oxford American Dictionary'. Yep. I went right to that my favorite reference book again. I opened it to pages full of 'un-this' and 'un-that'; then, I went back to the start of the U's and soon came across 'Ultimate'.

Okay...'Ultimate...What'? After some pathetic options (i.e. 'Ultimately Yours', 'Ultimate Winner' and 'Ultimatum'), I realized that the second word should begin with 'P'. That would give the new rose the initials 'U.P.' and make it an 'Up Sister'. I really liked that idea.

Now, the question was, "What words begin with 'P' and go along with 'Ultimate'?" 'Ultimate Pink' had been used already. Back to the dictionary. 'Partner'...'Pastry'...'Pastel'...'Pet'...'Perfection'? Hmmm? Nope...too obvious..."pretentious", as Digger Dave would say. : )

I was up to my arm Pits in P's, when I saw the word 'Pleasure'. Hmmm? "Kinda sexy sounding name...'Ultimate Pleasure'?" Yeah! I liked it immediately...an 'UP' and sexy to boot.

The name had been chosen, and the rose that finished the Dee Bennett alphabet was introduced in 1999 with a photo that I had taken of the pink test rose way back in 1985, when Mom was still alive and calling it 'Pink Jean' or 'Pink Gene'.