Yantat

Among the test roses that Mom left to me was soft yellow rose with great show form and tons of petals that always opened with several rows of deeper yellow in the middle. In warmer weather, the blooms would even show a subtle blush of pink. I remembered that Mom had nicknamed it ‘Heart Of Gold’; so, that was the name that I saved for it.

I was holding off on the introduction of this test rose, because I was concerned that this really beautiful rose would not be fully appreciated as a mini. You see this test had a problem. It was one of those “mini roses that was just a bit too big to be a mini”. It broke my heart to see all these great mini roses get introduced, only to receive poor ratings and criticism, based on their ‘plump’ size. The mini flora class had not been established yet.

The overly large size of these roses was caused by their genetic makeup. Most of them had a hybrid tea or floribunda for a seed parent or grandparent. Hybridizers, like my Mom, were trying to bring the form and color of the great show roses to the mini class, creating many minis that were bigger than the traditional mini rose.

Though Mom’s plump test rose had ‘Party Girl’ (a small, yellow mini) as its pollen parent, the seed parent was ‘Portrait’ (a large, pink hybrid tea). That particular seed parent was a cross of ‘Pink Parfait’ and ‘Pink Peace’. Talk about a BIG rose gene pool; this poor mini was predestined to be a ‘fat flower’.

By 1987, there was already a humor that a new classification for the ‘big minis’ was going to be created in the near future. That yellow test rose probably would have remained a test for another 12 years, if I had waited for that ‘new class’. However, a friend of mine in the San Diego Rose Society asked me for a special favor.

Patty Howell was a world traveler and had the opportunity to visit Red China and meet with several rose lovers from a city called Yantai. She arranged for their rose society to become the sister society to the San Diego Rose Society. She also decided to help the new ‘sister city’ establish their first, public, rose garden. 2,000 roses were going to be shipped from Southern California to Yantai, China in the next year.

Patty was surprised to discover that no one in Red China was growing mini roses. Wanting to give Yantai a real ‘claim to fame’, she asked me to name one of Mom’s roses for that city and donate 50 plants of that variety for large planting in the new public garden. Patty had her heart set on the soft yellow test with the ‘heart of gold’ for the city's namesake plant. I agreed.

‘Yantai’ was introduced in 1988, and the 50 plants were a part of the huge rose shipment that was transported to Red China that same year. Patty was there for the planting and dedication of the new public garden. There is plaque at the front of the garden that acknowledges Mom and Tiny Petals for the gift of the roses that were named for the city of 'Yantai'.

As I expected, the new mini was given a mediocre rating and criticism for its ‘oversized blooms’ by the ARS members. Only the non-exhibitors could truly appreciate the vigor, beauty and generosity of this wonderful rose that seemed to never stop blooming. The heavily petaled blooms lasted for days as cut flowers and for weeks on the bush, but ‘Yantai’ would not have a place in show for a quite a while.

When the mini flora classification was established, 'Yantai' was one of the first of Mom's creations that I had reclassified. That has given 'Yantai' a chance to become one of the great show roses, already winning many trophies, including some Best of Show.