Got the new J&P Spring 2011 rose catalog in. Some awful purdies in the catalog! Only problem is that a lot of these roses look like they were just rebadged.. Always & Forever reminds me of Dolly Parton, Chardonnay reminds me of Moonstone, etc etc etc.

oh well. Do love their "Wine & Roses" section, though. Tells me what's smelly & what's not (other than my feet).

Boy, was I surprised to get that catalog today, Toni. I thought J&P was dead and gone. I had wondered how I was going to get hold of Crescendo, which they had bred for the Nashville Symphony just before they went bankrupt. It wasn't turned over to Weeks with the rest of their roses when that initial transfer happened. Now I can get it straight from J&P. It's on page 5 of the catalog, although they've done something confusing: They write WHISPER in huge letters and then add the name of the rose (Crescendo) in small letters below. I bet a lot of people are going to call them to order "Whisper."

They even have the rose test panel again. And I love the Wine and Roses line. I think I like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot the most.

actually, I was right. I noted that the "exclusive" J&P Merlot looked REALLY familiar (http://www.jacksonandperkins.c...) and so did the HMF on the trade name (I guess that it's called a trade name.. what IS it called?). So I searched in HMF with JACsomed and came up with The Fairest One (http://www.helpmefind.com/gard...). Same rose, different name.

Same with their "new" Red Sky Delight (http://www.jacksonandperkins.c...) as it's also known on HMF as Plum Frost (http://www.helpmefind.com/gard...). But J&P also have that same name in their website AS Plum Frost.. so is Red Sky Delight a sport?

I think they mistyped some of their patent names because I have Plum Frost and it looks nothing like Red Sky Delight. Also, the patent name and number they have in the catalog for Shazam, a floribunda, are the same name and number for Aromatherapy, a hybrid tea that looks nothing like Shazam.

I just noticed that Crescendo is on the back cover with no confusing name entries.

Not to mention a lot of misspelled words. Outsourced? damned shame.

Misspelled words? Really? I didn't notice any, and they usually fly off the page at me.

Here's another really funny thing. There's a rose in the catalog called "Mesmerized" and it says it's the J&P 2006 Rose of the Year. I had never heard of Mesmerized. I'm not saying I've heard of every single rose on earth, but it seemed fishy that a J&P rose from 2006 could have a name I had never heard. So, I looked it up. It's Spellbound. I can just imagine what happened in Toni's "Outsourced" scenario: One worker stops typing and says: "Spellbound? What does that mean?" Another says: "It means mesmerized." The first worker then types Mesmerized in error.

oh what a tangled web....

I never buy their roses anymore.
They always die on me.

I try not to buy J&P roses.. I won't buy them from a nursery & I'll pick them up ONLY IF!! it's something really really spectacular at Home Depot/Lowes. I'm willing to try $10 on a J&P, but not $30+ from a nursery.

*sigh* 4 more months.. 4 more months......

J&P has done some backtracking on the things they said and the pictures they used in the catalog. A lot of people apparently noticed that the picture of Cabernet Sauvignon was the same picture they had used for Heirloom in last year's catalog, but flipped so that no one would notice.... They've now posted a new photo of Cabernet Sauvignon on their website. It's not that exciting at all -- just sort of solid pale lavender.

They also admitted that Merlot was called The Fairest One last year and some of the other "wine" roses also had Disney names last year. Apparently Disney didn't renew its contract with them when they went bankrupt, so they weren't allowed to use any of the Disney names this year and had to come up with new ones.

They also posted a new photo of Rose (that "e" should have an accent mark over it, like the wine) on their website. The one in the catalog was the wrong photo.

They don't explain why Spellbound was renamed Mesmerized, so I think it's just a marketing ploy aimed at catching the eye of people looking for new roses.

On a site called Rosarians Corner, I learned that my 2008 red J&P test rose is this year's Always and Forever, to which they have assigned a hybridization year of 2011.

I saw "Always & Forever" and thought it was Mr. Lincoln. LOL!!!!!!!! Thank you for adding a beautiful picture of it, though.. one of the few reds I love.

And doesn't surprise me w/the Disney names being renamed to something else. Disney's greedy. Evil mouse.

It looks a lot like Mr. Lincoln in person too, Toni. Same blackish-red buds and long stems, but it doesn't have Mr. Lincoln's deliciously intense fragrance.

It's good to know the J&P marketing department is working so hard to improve the red rose.

zuzu said:It looks a lot like Mr. Lincoln in person too, Toni. Same blackish-red buds and long stems, but it doesn't have Mr. Lincoln's deliciously intense fragrance.