When you think of roses, you may not think of them as rare. You can easily find commercially grown roses at your local florist or even at the grocery store.
by Jessica Jordan, CNN writer
You can easily find commercially grown roses at your local florist or even at the grocery store. But when it comes to unique heritage roses, there is a world of collectors and preservationists working hard to keep them alive amid numerous challenges including commercial trends, disease, pests, and climate change.
Last weekend, a group of collectors gathered in Southern California to bid on some of the rarest roses in the United States. Many roses on the auction block are no longer available commercially – some were being offered for the first time in the US. This year’s most sought-after rose was “The Iron Throne,” which sold for $350. “It is special because it is not available commercially and is a unique color combination,” said John Bagnasco, president of the California Coastal Rose Society and co-chairman of the Save the Roses! project.
The society’s annual auction, which Bagnasco noted has been around for 22 years, is one of the ways private collectors are helping keep some roses from extinction.
It’s growing tougher to preserve some roses
Gardeners have always been at the mercy of weather, but recent drought conditions, water shortages and wildfires have impacted certain gardens across the country. “Climate change makes it tougher to grow roses,” said Steve Singer, owner of Wisconsin Roses. Heat exacerbates the presence of spider mites and other insects, and roses need a lot of water to grow, he explained. Beth Hana knows firsthand about the damage wildfires can do to roses. Hana moved to Paradise, California, in 1989 and her garden had some 1,800 roses before 2018’s Camp Fire broke out. Read the rest of the article here.