A rose for a star: A tribute

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When George Mander and his wife, Ingrid, heard Saskatchewan's own Buffy Sainte-Marie in concert they decided then and there to name George's next rose after her.

#Not only did they enjoy Sainte-Marie's singing, but also her sense of humor and her outspoken commentary on current events. They were impressed because she composes her own music and writes her own lyrics.

Up until that point they hadn't known much about her. However, after the concert in April 1996, they became experts on her many educational and humanitarian achievements. Sainte-Marie's Order of Canada is the second highest award that can be given in Canada and her Cradleboard Teaching Project aims to create awareness of contemporary Native cultures and to build bridges between Natives and non-Natives. Ingrid wonders why so little of Sainte-Marie's achievements are publicized in the mainstream media.

When the concert was over, the Manders went backstage to meet the star and were surprised by how approachable she was. Though busy signing CD's and autographs for other fans, Sainte-Marie took the time to talk to them and seemed delighted by the idea of being a rose's namesake. In fact, she would have signed a permission form right there. George, however, suggested they wait six months until he could see whether he had a new rose which would be worthy of the honor.

George, a retired machine fitter, has been cross-breeding hybrid roses (hybridizing) for 29 years. He specializes in floribundas and miniature roses. The Buffy Sainte-Marie rose is a floribunda, but has strains of miniature parentage as well. The mature plant will produce blooms three or four inches in diameter, either in sprays (several blooms per stem) or single blooms, if pinched.

The rose is light red, changing to salmon, then to pink, with golden yellow highlights on the reverse and at the base of the petals.

Ingrid is impressed by her husband's dedication to the hybridizing process. She points out that George has introduced a half dozen new varieties to the hybrid rose market in the past 12 years. Considering he germinates his seeds under grow-lights in their basement and that it takes at least six years - often closer than 10 - to properly develop, test and register a new rose, this seems a considerable achievement.

The Buffy Sainte-Marie rose comes from a batch of 14,000 seeds (1,500 rose hips) which were produced when George cross-pollinated two hybrid roses in June 1994. In fall of the same year, he harvested his bumper crop of seeds and stored them in a cool location until February 1995. Usually only 10 to 25 per cent of the seeds germinate, said George. But in this case, 4,750 seeds germinated. Of those, he pruned out all but the best 100. Typically, his rose seedlings first bloom within about 10 weeks of germination. At that time they are only six to 10 inches tall.

Still the process is far from finished.

"At the end of the growing season [of the third year], another 50 to 70 per cent may have to be eliminated because of poor growth and health," said George. Or "blooms that do not stand up to wet weather or hot sun, or do not open at all because of too many petals." Often only two to five seedlings are worth keeping, he said. However, from this crop, about a dozen survived the elimination process.

By the autumn after the Manders met Sainte-Marie, they were certain George had a good rose, so Ingrid contacted Sainte-Marie and got the permission papers signed. They also promised to send the singer two sample bushes, one to be planted in her mother's garden and one at Sainte-Marie's home in Hawaii. At the same time, George was ready to offer the rose for registration by the official International Authority for Roses. That meant having it tested by nurseries across the world. Last year, George sent cuttings of his rose to Ontario, Oregon and Bulgaria. This year it is being tested in England and California, as well.

Not only has the Buffy Sainte-Marie rose been commended wherever t has been tested and registered with the American Rose Society, which serves as the International Registration Authority for Roses, it also won the award for Best Floribunda Bloom at the Annual Seattle Rose Show held last June 13. It is being grown at several nurseries in Canada and should be available commercially by the spring of the year 2000, here, as well as in England and the United States.

By that time, the Buffy Sainte-Marie Rose Bed - 20 plants make a bed - in the Centennial Rose Garden on Burnaby Mountain near Simon Fraser University, should be ready for viewing.