It’s not often that you get three great rose minds together in the same place, but that’s exactly what happened recently at Conard-Pyle Co. headquarters.
Steve Hutton, president, Conard-Pyle, Jacques Ferare, vice president of licensing and product development, Conard-Pyle, and Alain Meilland, president, Meilland International, spent some time examining the roses in the test fields in West Grove, PA. The test fields are home to hundreds of roses that are left to fend for themselves – no irrigation, no spraying, no TLC. The best performing varieties may someday make it to market, but only if they can survive what Steve Hutton calls “rose hell.”
Doug Hall of Organic Gardening and Ginny Smith of the Philadelphia Inquirer also visited and interviewed these three experts on what makes a standout rose. Here are some photos of the day, plus, click here to read Ginny’s report.
The media have a field day (literally) in Conard-Pyle’s test field.
Alain Meilland (left) and Steve Hutton talk roses in an appropriate setting!
Jaques Ferare and Kristen Nemeth examine a rose currently undergoing testing.
Jaques and Alain share their thoughts on roses.
Alain and Steve spent quite some time in the test field – but with scenery like this, who can blame them?
Steve, Alain and Jacques discuss the performance of a new rose variety.
