We celebrated the 12 Days of Christmas by sharing an article each day about the French roots of various roses. Although that series is officially over, consider this mysterious rose a bonus. Finishing the series reinforced the idea that rose breeders and retailers are sharing heirlooms with future generations. As such, the photo in this article features a rose named Heirloom.
This Heirloom rose is not the most vigorous one in the rose garden, but it is always good to see the unique shade of its blooms. The scent is rather unique, too. It was not included in the 12 Days of Christmas series, because I could not locate information about its parentage. Apparently, the parents were unknown seedlings. That made me think about whether or not it was all that important to find the names. If I was a rose breeder, then I would probably like to know. Yet, as we explored in the article about the Legends rose, the origin stories may not matter to the end result. If it was so important to know the names and sources of roses, then we would not have this beautiful Heirloom rose, or many other equally lovely roses of mysterious origin. Not knowing can result in a pleasant surprise rather than having unfulfilled expectations. Sounds a bit like life in general, doesn't it?