The Naming of Oprah's Legends Rose
story by: Lydia Plunk - photos by: Gene Sasse
Every person has a story. So does every rose. The story of the Legends™ rose is worth knowing.
The idea of the rose was born of friendship. Two friends of Oprah Winfrey wanted to do something very special for her fiftieth birthday. But what does one get for a woman who if she hasn’t bought something she wants, can?
Maybe they could arrange to have a rose named for their friend. They approached Dan Bifano- the man Oprah fondly refers to as “Dan the Rose Man”. The Santa Barbara garden designer is legendary for his artistic eye and absolute respect for his clients’ privacy. As he has designed gardens for all three women, he was the perfect go-to man. He agreed to help.
The idea was presented to Oprah for her forty-ninth birthday, with her friends hoping that the project would be completed in time for her next birthday. However, as a rose often takes nine to eleven years to develop from idea to market-ready plant, that goal turned out to be overly-optimistic. The quality of the rose to be identified with Oprah was more important than making an arbitrary deadline.
Over the next five years, fifteen prospective new introductions were sent through Dan Bifano for consideration. Involved with the process throughout, Oprah was specific that she was most concerned about color impact and bloom size for a rose that was intended to be her namesake. Under Dan’s supervision, samplings of the contenders were sent to Santa Barbara for field testing. The specimens were evaluated for additional qualities such as vigor, disease resistance and bloom repetition.
As this project moved towards completion, Oprah made a decision. Rather than have the rose named just after herself, she preferred to share the honor with the 25 women feted at the 2005 Legends Weekend held at her Montecito estate. The new horticultural offspring is now officially christened as the Legends rose.
In Oprah’s Montecito garden, close to 3 dozen Legends roses bloom. Robust and full, the Legends rose is a remarkable improvement for use in the landscape over the many spindly hybrid teas commonly available. From the official press release, the plants are covered in, “enormous, glowing, rich red flowers sitting atop long cutting stems clothed with proportionally large, reddish-green leaves. Each immense bud opens to become a monstrous, many-petalled, ruffled bloom. A single petal will cover a child’s palm, and a single gigantic bloom can create an entire bouquet.”
Dan Bifano is quite taken with the Legends rose. If for any reason Oprah had declined to select this rose, he intended to approach Weeks Roses to inquire if this variety might be named ‘Santa Barbara’. The luminescent ruby colored rose whose ruffled petals flare open like a swirling flamenco dancer’s skirt capture the essence of the city, which proudly displays its long and rich Spanish history.
While the rose is not yet available for purchase by the general public, it is already creating quite a buzz. This remarkable rose has already been mentioned on Entertainment Tonight, the spring’s issue of ‘O at Home’ magazine and graces the current May cover of ‘O’ magazine.
