Gene Boerner

This rose's location in the garden is NE 2.
  • Classification:   Floribunda
  • Flower Color:   medium pink
  • Flower Size:    2-3 inches
  • Flower Form:  full, high-centered
  • Petal Count:  35
  • Fragrance:  mild
  • Repeat Bloomer:  yes
  • Foliage:  glossy
  • Plant Height:  3-5 feet
  • Plant Width:   2-3 feet
  • Growth Habit:  vigorous, upright
  • Disease Resistant:  yes
  • Hybridizer:  Eugene Boerner, Jackson & Perkins
  • Registered:  1968
  • Parentage:  ‘Ginger’ x (‘Ma Perkins’ x ‘Garnette Supreme’)
  • ARS* Rating:  8.2  (a solid a very good)
    *American Rose Society Rating

Awards:
  • 1969 AARS (All-America Rose Selections) award

Notes:
  • “…many rosarians feel that it was Eugene Boerner who developed the floribunda into what it is today. He developed numerous floribundas during his 45-year career at Jackson & Perkins beginning in 1920, which led to his becoming known as ‘Papa Floribunda’. Gene Boerner hybridized more than 60 floribundas in his lifetime – eleven were given the All-America Rose Selection (AARS) award.” --- Kitty Belendez at www.scvrs.homestead.com/FabFloribundas.html  retrieved January 2021.

  • “WW-II left it open for the American rose industry to take off, and take off it did, with Gene Boerner and J&P as major contributors. Some of his more renowned introductions include: Aloha, Apricot Nectar, Bridal Pink, Coral Dawn, Diamond Jubilee, Faberge, Fashion, First Prize, Gene Boerner, Goldilocks, Ivory Fashion, John F. Kennedy, Lavendar Piniocchio, Ma Perkins, Masquerade, Parade, Saratoga, Spartan, Summertime, White Masterpiece and Zorina….Many of Boerner’s roses are still in commerce, and well regarded. Others live more in their contributions to other breeders’ programs. Help-me-Find shows that David Austin has used Aloha almost profligately in his program…” --- Ed Cunningham, Rhode Island Rose Review, November 2005. 

  • “His memory also endures in the Eugene S. Boerner Fund, a scholarship he endowed at Cornell University to support the study of rose development, culture, and pathology.”  ---  Brenner & Scanniello, (A Rose By Any Name, page 87).