''Rosa'' 'Electron', also known as Mullard Jubilee, is a bright pink

hybrid tea rose Hybrid tea is an informal horticultural classification for a group of garden roses. The first hybrid tea roses were created in France in the mid-1800s, by cross-breeding the large, floriferous Hybrid Perpetuals with the tall, elegant Tea roses. T ...

developed by

Samuel McGredy IV Sam McGredy refers to four generations of Northern Irish rose hybridizers. Sam McGredy I founded the family nursery in 1880. Sam McGredy II focused the nursery on roses in 1895. Sam McGredy III took over in 1926, and was the first to name roses ...

in 1962. Originally named 'Mullard Jubilee', it was introduced into Australia in 1970 as 'Electron'. The rose was named an

All-America Rose Selections The All-America Rose Selections (AARS) is an award that was given annually, from 1940 to 2013, by the American rose industry to an outstanding new rose variety. The AARS selection was regarded as the most prestigious rose prize in the United States ...

winner in 1973.

Description

'Electron' is a medium-tall upright shrub, up to 2–4 ft (60–120 cm) in height. Its blooms are 4—5 in (10—12 cm) in diameter, with 32 to 40 petals. The rose has a sweet,

Damask Damask (; ar, دمشق) is a reversible patterned fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin ...

fragrance. The large, high-centered, cup-shaped petals are generally borne singly on long stems. The petals are bright pink in color. The plant has very prickly stems and dark green glossy leaves. 'Electron' thrives in cool climates, but is prone to fungal diseases in warmer areas. It is recommended for

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

zones 4 and warmer.

History

McGredy roses

The Sam McGredy family represents four generations of rose hybridizers from Northern Ireland. The first Samuel McGredy (1828–1903), established the family nursery in

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

. Originally the head gardener at a large estate, in 1888, McGredy moved his family to Portadown, leased 10 acres with a greenhouse and established a nursery with his son, Samuel II (1861–1926). The nursery sold a variety of plants, but they were best known for their fruit trees and show pansies. Samuel McGredy II began breeding roses in 1895. He submitted his first roses at the

National Rose Society The Royal National Rose Society (RNRS) (1876-2017) was a specialist horticultural organization in the United Kingdom dedicated to the cultivation and appreciation of roses. Founded in 1876 as the "National Rose Society", it was the world's olde ...

in London in 1905, where he won his first gold medal, the salmon-pink, "Countess of Gosford" rose. He produced many award-winning roses during his career as a rose breeder. McGredy was awarded the National Rose Society's Dean Hole Medal in 1921. The business passed to his son, Samuel McGredy III (1897–1934), after Samuuel II's death in 1926. Samuel III (Sam) expanded rose production at the company. He named many roses after family members. 'Margaret McGredy', named after his mother, was used, along with an unnamed seedling, to hybridize the world-famous hybrid tea,

Rosa Peace The Peace rose, formally ''Rosa'' 'Madame A. Meilland', is a well-known and successful garden rose. By 1992, over one hundred million plants of this hybrid tea had been sold. The cultivar has large flowers of a light yellow to cream co ...

. The nursery's rose-breeding program declined after McGredy's early death of a heart attack at the age of 38 and the beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. His son, Samuel IV, was two years old at the time of his father's death. Rosa_%27Eyepaint%27_McGredy_1976_01

When Samuel McGredy IV (Sam) (1931–2019) took over the family business in 1952, he knew very little about rose breeding. He sought out the renowned rose hybridizers at the time: Reimer Kordes from Germany, Eugene Boerner from the United States and Niels Poulsen from Denmark, in order to educate himself on modern rose hybridization. Soon after, he created a new rose breeding program at the nursery. McGredy's first commercial success was his Gold Medal winner, floribunda rose, 'Orangeade' in 1959. During the 1960s, McGredy was best known for his hybrid tea and floribunda roses. Rosa_sp

In 1972, alarmed over the increasing political violence in Northern Ireland, McGredy and his family moved to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand. He transplanted his nursery stock, and renamed the company ''McGredy Roses International''. New Zealand's climate, ideal for plant cultivation, allowed McGredy to breed roses outdoors without greenhouses. He soon introduced a new series of what he called 'hand painted' roses, brightly coloured striped roses and roses splashed with two or more colours. Some of his most popular rose cultivars include ''Rosa'' 'Dublin Bay', ''Rosa'' 'Sexy Rexy', ''Rosa'' 'Olympiad' and ''Rosa'' 'Handel'. When McGredy retired in 2007, he closed the nursery. He died in 2019.

'Mullard Jubilee'

McGredy's early goals in rose breeding were the development of healthy, vigorous roses that would meet the growing demand for distinctive roses, both in the United Kingdom and the United States. By the 1960s he was becoming more innovative, creating new vibrantly coloured, distinctive hybrid tea and floribunda roses. In 1962, McGredy used the hybrid tea, ''Rosa'' 'Paddy McGredy' and floribunda rose, ''Rosa'' 'Prima Ballerina', to develop a new electric pink hybrid tea rose. That year, the Mullard Electronics Company in the UK offered McGredy the unprecedented fee of £10,000 ($24,000) for a new rose cultivar to be named for the company. The company requested a future award-winner, a "world-beater", according to McGredy. The new electric pink rose was chosen to bear the Mullard name and was introduced in Europe as 'Mullard Jubilee' in 1970. The new cultivar was also introduced into Australia in 1970 as 'Electron'. In his 1982 book ''Look to the Rose'', McGredy discusses his famous rose: The rose won several awards, including gold medals from the Royal National Rose Society (RNRS) (1969), The Hague Rose Trials (1970), Belfast International Rose Trials (1972) and Portland Rose Society (1973). The cultivar was named an

winner in 1973.

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosa 'Electron'

Electron The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no kn ...