Beyond the Badge has been one of my highlights this year. In a year that we all have not been able to leave our houses, getting to explore new places through research has meant a lot; one of those places I never expected to explore was the garden! A few months ago, I received a 1985 Girl Guide of Canada calendar. On the back, there was this beautiful picture of a pink rose and I was completely captivated by it. The text under the photo simply stated that it was ‘the Girl Guide Rose’ developed by the White Rose Nursery to mark the 75th anniversary of Girl Guides.
The White Rose Nursery was founded by Alexander Rabb in 1957 a few years after he immigrated to Canada from France. The company started off small, with only one location along Highway 7, in Unionville, Ontario. Soon the business grew to mail-order seed and new locations started to open across Ontario and Quebec. I remember going to the location in Bells Corners, Ottawa as a kid with my Mom, shopping for craft or garden supplies. This was sometime in the 1990s and I only really remember being amazed by the tiny doll size fake flowers they sold. I wanted them so badly so I could build a small garden for my Babies outside their dream home. Unfortunately, my Barbies never got their garden and this location along with 8 other Ontario stores closed in February and March of 2002. White Rose had declared bankruptcy in 1998 and after a number of unsuccessful restructurings, the company closed the rest of their locations within the next couple of years.
The Girl Guide Rose was intended to be an original rose and its development started in France a couple of years before the 75th anniversary. Under the lead of George Delbard, the rose went through a number of growing trials for various climate conditions and treatments for different weather diseases. Research showed that it took to heat and wet weather well and had no problems with winter temperatures as low as -34 degrees Celsius. Testing also showed it needed the same watering care as normal roses but preferred a field or garden rather than a pot. The finished rose had a parentage of its female parent being a Zambra Rose, and its male parent being an Orleans cross Goldilocks cross Orange Triumph cross Flora Dora.
Most of the information I got on this rose was from a 1984 Canadian Guider magazine that was promoting the upcoming 1985 celebration line. I actually have a couple of other items from this line and I hope to feature them at some point. The interesting thing about the column on the rose is that it encourages readers to personally contact their local nursery, tell them to order the rose directly from White Rose, and inform those nurseries that this rose already has a ready-made market in Guiders and Girl Guide families. I find it fascinating that this responsibility of helping sell the rose was so heavily placed on the readers and I wish I knew more about the gardening culture in the 1980s to know if this was a common practice. I really want to do more research on the rose’s development and the role it had as a fundraiser for Girl Guides of Canada.
The White Rose Nursery may have closed in the early 2000s, but this hasn’t marked the end of the Girl Guide Rose. When researching this blog post, I took my questions to a Girl Guides of Ontario Facebook page. I wanted to see if anyone remembered it and was surprised to find a number of Guiders still had it in their gardens. A few Guiders were kind enough to send me their photos and a few remembered a Girl Guide Lily being sold at some point. I thought I would include some personal stories of Guiders who owned them, but it seems clear that this was a very loved and beautiful flower which I would love to see someone bring back.
Terry M. - Yes, I remember the rose! Never owned one, but do remember that Girl Guides hosted a rose garden in Sunnydale Park in Barrie, Ontario for many, many years and that this rose was in the garden. In about 2008-2009, the City decided to plow the rose garden under to make room for a new plan and contacted Guiders to come to take their roses if they wanted them. Many Guiders were quite put out by this move and I am certain many of the roses were rescued.
Heather P. - I hosted girls and Guiders from England that year and as a thank you, they bought me the Girl Guide Rose. I had to pull it last spring but it lasted way longer than I expected. Lovely colour.
Debbie B.- The squirrels ate all my lilies. I may have had some bloom for about 3 years! They were really pretty.
Laitita C.- My parents bought me one for our family home. I would have been 9! We moved and the rose stayed. I would buy one again for my garden now if available. It was so pretty and had great meaning to me.
Sybil C- See my (Facebook) profile photo! Mine is still living, but not as robust as it once was. I just dig it up for the winter in my annual attempt to keep it alive.
Jan R- I had one....sadly it did not make it through a winter one year....loved the colour and hope someone will come out with a similar one for GGC
Special Thanks to Debbie Bean who sent me photos of her lovely plants.
Thanks for Reading!
Em
2021 Updates:
I was able to find the 1985 White Rose Sales catalog that features the Girl Guide Rose on the cover. The rose was advertised as costing $8.98. On the inside pages, it shows a couple of photos of Mr. Alex Rabb, the president of White Rose, meeting with some Girl Guide Members and showing off the Girl Guide Rose in a garden.
Thanks for reading!
Em
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