Rose

In 2010, Touchette was the research chairman for the CNLA at a time when the association acquired the rights to all of the rose genetics from the famed ornamental breeding program at the Morden Research Station, including the internationally-recognized Explorer and Parkland series of hardy roses. Touchette participated in replanting somewhere between 2,000 to 3,000 different rose seedlings at CNLA’s three-acre research plot at Prairie Shade Nurseries in Portage la Prairie overseen by Rick Durand, research co-ordinator for the CNLA. In fall 2011, Duncan paid a visit to Touchette to discuss the possibility of selecting one of those roses and naming it for the Never Alone Foundation. It was an inspired idea that would prove to motivate many across our country, each separated by only a few degrees and all fuelled by the same passion to help people who are living with cancer. Duncan recalls the initial walk through the rows and rows of roses. The CNLA rose committee had already decided it would keep most of the newly introduced roses in the Canadian Artist series. Duncan was struck by the singular beauty of one particular rose that was not a part of any series. Its attractive colouration, light fragrance and compact size of no more than 91 centimetres (just under one metre), made it an ideal candidate as a giving rose. “It was a star in the ocean,” said Duncan. With the trial and evaluation process already underway at Portage, Duncan proceeded to grow the as-yet-unnamed rose in his home garden. “It’s such a great performer,” says Duncan, whose instincts proved right. Astounded by the number of blooms the rose has produced each summer, his preference has been to grow it in pots on his patio, where he can have full view of the masses of roses and the glossy leaves with slightly serrated edges. Duncan also planted the rose in one of his flowerbeds and deliberately chose a less-thanideal location for the sole purpose of testing its resilience. With competition from the nearby roots of a basswood tree and less-than-optimum sunlight, the rose withstood the challenge. From the gardener’s point of view, disease resistance in roses is paramount and in fact is the No. 1 qualification that is driving rose-breeding efforts today. Duncan gives the Never Alone Rose top marks on that level, noting in three summers in his backyard the rose exhibited no signs of disease. Now, sometimes even good ideas take a slow path to reality. Not this one. Rick Durand, who at the time oversaw the rose plot at Portage, was extremely impressed by the rose Duncan had selected and its ability to produce a multitude of roses on individual branches throughout the growing season. “The only thing that seems to stop this rose from producing more blooms,” said Durand from his home in Kelowna, B.C., where he now resides, “is a hard, killing frost.” The longer the growing season, he added, the greater number of rose