Roses Bred by McGredy

The house of McGredy had been breeding roses in Ireland for more than half a century when Sam McGredy introduced Chanelle, Orangeade, and Picadilly in1959. These roses were hits. Picadilly went on to parent a vast number of roses. By the time Handel was introduced in 1965, its shining white petals kissed with both primrose yellow and candy pink, it was clear that Sam McGredy was a rose breeding force to be reconned with. At some point he chose to move his whole operation to New Zealand; the move must have gone fairly smoothly since there are no apparent large temporal gaps in the flow of good new cultivars.

McGredy managed to make significant progress on almost all fronts. He introduced a number of superlative climbers including the highly rated pure red Dublin Bay. He introduced a line of 'hand painted' striped roses of which Oranges and Lemons may be the most novel. The most successful of this line must be Eye Paint which covers itself in brilliant red blossoms with a white eye.

He introduced a number of hybrid tea roses remarkable for their durability: Electron, Olympiad, and New Zealand are some of the hybrid teas of easiest culture to be found. They have good form, good color, good size, good vigor, good disease resistance, and good fragrance. There's not much more to ask for. Of New Zealand I have sometimes heard rosarians claim they do not grow it because it is too easy! Perhaps they should spend time promoting and cultivating Old Port. It is an English style rose whose culture I understand presents a number of challenges. Its particular shade of purple and its particular shape make it quite unique.

Anyone who has seen it grown perfectly and at the height of bloom would surely agree that Sam McGredy's most superlative effort was Sexy Rexy. Topping out at four feet in height and about three feet across it manages to completely cover its surface with two inch wide old style flowers. The sheer 'wow' effect is impossible to describe.

McGredy's contributions to rose breeding are among the most towering of any twentieth century individual. No breeder produced truly great roses for more years. None produced so many roses in so many different areas. None has produced so many unusually colored roses. And I can think of no breeder that has offered a 'grand slam' hybrid tea - one that aces all the categories by which we might judge hybrid tea roses. How incredibly fortunate the rose world is that today we can regularly enjoy our gardens so much more thanks to the productive work of Sam McGredy.

RoseFile Database.

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Cultivar	Class	Color	Fragrance	Breeder	Hardiness
Angelita	Miniature	White	None	McGredy	Zone 5
Arthur Bell	Floribunda	Chrome Yellow	Strong	McGredy	Zone 5
Bantry Bay	Cluster Flower Climber	Candy Pink	Slight	McGredy	Zone 5
Bonfire Night	Floribunda	Coral/Gold Blend	Slight	McGredy	Zone 6
Brown Velvet	Floribunda	Red	Strong	McGredy	Zone 6
Casanova	Hybrid Tea	Pale Apricot	Moderate	McGredy	Zone 6
Casino	Large Flower Climber	Yellow	Moderate	McGredy	Zone 6
Cathedral	Floribunda	Red/Yellow Blend	Slight	McGredy	Zone 4
Chanelle	Floribunda	Buff	Strong	McGredy	Zone 6
City of Belfast	Floribunda	Scarlet	None	McGredy	Zone 5
City of Leeds	Floribunda	Coral	None	McGredy	Zone 4
Courvoisier	Floribunda	Gold	Strong	McGredy	Zone 7
Dorola	Miniature	Chrome Yellow	Slight	McGredy	Zone 4
Dublin Bay	Large Flower Climber	Red	Moderate	McGredy	Zone 4
Electron	Hybrid Tea	Rose	Strong	McGredy	Zone 5
Elizabeth of Glamis	Floribunda	Salmon	Moderate	McGredy	Zone 5
Eyepaint	Floribunda	Scarlet	None	McGredy	Zone 5
Fragrant Hour	Hybrid Tea	Pink/Orange Blend	Powerful	McGredy	Zone 5
Freegold	Miniature	Pale Apricot	Strong	McGredy	Zone 5
Galway Bay	Large Flower Climber	Coral	Slight	McGredy	Zone 4
Ginger Rogers	Hybrid Tea	Salmon	Slight	McGredy	Zone 5
Grand Hotel	Large Flower Climber	Scarlet	Slight	McGredy	Zone 5
Gwen Swane	Miniature Climber	Coral	Slight	McGredy	Zone 5
Handel	Cluster Flower Climber	White/Pink Blend	Strong	McGredy	Zone 5
Hurdy Gurdy	Miniature Climber	Red/White	Slight	McGredy	Zone 5
Lady Alice Stanley	Hybrid Tea	Candy Pink	Strong	McGredy	Zone 5
Little Artist	Miniature	Red/WhiteBlend	None	McGredy	Zone 4
Maggie Barry	Hybrid Tea	Salmon	Slight	McGredy	Zone 6
Matangi	Floribunda	Red/White Blend	None	McGredy	Zone 5
Michelangelo	Floribunda	Red/White	Slight	McGredy	Zone 5

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