Tom Carruth will speak at the Del Mar Rose Society on Thursday, Feb. 27. He is one of the greatest modern rose breeders in the world, winner of 11 All-America Rose Selections and creator of more than 150 cultivars. He has worked in the rose industry since 1976, doing genetic research and breeding with Armstrong then Weeks Roses for 33 years.
Some of his most famous roses are the buttery "Julia Childs," the mauve "Barbra Streisand," the platinum blonde "Marilyn Monroe," and the extraordinarily purple "Ebb Tide."In 2012, Carruth took on a new role as the curator of the Rose Collection at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, responsible for the 3-acre Rose Garden showcasing 1,300 cultivars and some 2,500 individual shrubs. Carruth has even designed the sublime palest pink, yellow and cream blended rose, the "Huntington's 100th" for the garden's centennial, according to a news release.
Carruth's broad goal of rose breeding and hybridization is to make the rose a contender with all plants, rather than a fussy queen of the garden. He introduced disease resistance, fragrance, floriferousness, novelty and attractive habit. The magic of roses is that they can make someone stop to see the beauty that's all around them, and recognize the detail that Mother Nature puts into even the tiniest blossom.
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