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Aug 22, 2014 8:28 PM CST
Name: Lyn
Weaverville, California (Zone 8a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Garden Sages Garden Ideas: Level 1
The problem isn't that there are no new roses beyond the Knock Out roses. It's that with J & P and Weeks both going bankrupt, there are no professional breeding programs for roses in the United States.

Weeks was purchased out of bankruptcy by Gardens Alive and all of the new introductions with the Weeks brand name were roses that were in the pipeline prior to bankruptcy. Gardens Alive has maintained the growing fields in Wasco and is still distributing roses to many high end nurseries, but have let the breeding program go.

J & P is no longer wholesaling roses to nurseries as the company was bought by "capital investors" and for the land that was once used for the growing fields for J & P roses. They now get the roses sold under their brand name from subcontractors and the quality of the plants offered has gone way down. The new owners of J & P don't know roses and have come across as rather unethical in many respects, so the demand for J & P roses has gone way down. None of the roses patented by J & P prior to bankruptcy are being distributed through regular nurseries as far as I know.

Conard-Pyle, Star Roses, is the only other large national distributor of roses. They have the patent rights to the Knock Out Roses. They have been the agent for Meilland Roses since prior to WW II. Most of the roses they are introducing to the US have already been introduced by Meilland in Europe and they do not have an active breeding program. They are soliciting new roses for testing from what in the industry are called amateur breeders. That's where the Eyconic series of roses came from.

If you look at the Weeks website, the roses being offered for 2015 are primarily the older roses that are now out of patent.

However, there is a market for roses and several companies outside the US are establishing a foothold in the market.

Smiles,
Lyn
I'd rather weed than dust ... the weeds stay gone longer.

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