A Giant Amongst the Minis

A pillar of ‘Red Cascade’ at the Antique Rose Emporium.

Ralph Moore owned and operated Sequoia Nursery in California beginning in 1937. He was instrumental in creating hundreds of varieties of miniature roses and received 18 awards of excellence, as well as the American Rose Society’s Gold Honor Medal for service to the rose. He died in 2009 at the age of 102 and subsequently was awarded the Great Rosarians of the World Award for outstanding rosarian.

Moore employed a great number of unusual varieties to create his collection. He employed ‘Sweetbriar’, Rugosas, and ‘Rouletti’, among others. His striped roses came from using the variegated Hybrid Perpetual ‘Ferdinand Pichard’. Before his death, he donated all his genetic material, including unreleased varieties, to Texas A&M for continued rose breeding research with this amazing collection.

About the author: Mike Shoup is the owner of the Antique Rose Emporium. This month’s article is taken from his new book, Empress of the Garden, due out this fall. Visit his company’s Brenham and San Antonio display gardens for endless ideas on landscaping with roses. To order roses online, visit www.weAREroses.com.