During my single season in little league baseball I learned one thing; go down swinging. If you don't swing at the ball it will never go anywhere but in the catcher's glove. This advice strikes me as germane to Carruth's roses. The reason is that as I look over this list I see two things. One is that I personally do not like many of the roses much. Betty Boop left me cold. Gizmo the same. I liked the look of Scentimental but in the local garden at six millimeters away I could smell nothing, Not with three hundred blossoms around me on a still morning. I've seen George Burns and I am impressed by the collection of red , yellow, and white flecks in the flowers. Yet I cannot imagine having it in my garden. About Face languishes in a local park. The flowers are interesting, but don't strike me as pretty. And it seems the exact opposite of vigorous.

One day I would like to grow Crystalline and Stainless Steel. I already grow Memorial Day and I am very very happy that I do. It is big and lovely, and fragrant, and of easy culture. It grows beside New Zealand in my own garden and while they are both pink and of easy culture I cannot imagine being without either.

As for the baseball analogy, I'm not sure which of Carruth's introductions will still be in the market a century from now. But I am impressed that he is working hard to really expand the parameter space that roses grow in. He is not simply developing a slightly bigger, better pink or white or red hybrid tea rose. His roses tend to break new ground. And they do so in a lot of areas. It's kind of reminiscent of Sam McGredy. When one works so hard and so effectively to do this it is inevitable that many of the results will not fit with peoples' preconceived notions about what is good. I am convinced that as Carruth keeps on swinging he is bound to hit a home run sooner or later. Perhaps he already has.