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2/1/2025

Martha Gets a Rose

Chris Beytes
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Two things: First, it is amazing that Martha Stewart remains a garden fashion icon well into her 80s. Then again, why not? Her style is classic and timeless. She’s never dealt in fads. Second, I would have thought she already had her own roses … in fact, I would expect her to have bred it.

Regardless, she finally does have one, thanks to Star Roses and Plants and French rose breeder Meilland, which has allowed their Jean de La Fontaine rose to be launched in North America by Star under the name Martha Stewart (who’s much better known than M. La Fontaine, a 17th century poet and “fabulist”*). Star will introduce it for the 2026 gardening season.

Martha Stewart (the plant) is a hybrid tea rose described as having “over 100 petals unfurling in shades of ballet pink and apricot. It is beautifully scented with notes of citrus and honeysuckle. It’s a truly spectacular addition to any rose collection.”

Martha was apparently involved in the selection, as she wanted to find a rose that would symbolize her life-long devotion to gardening, a rose that possessed her favorite characteristics: a gorgeous apricot-pink color, a full bloom and an excellent fragrance. GP

*A writer of fables. I was today years old when I learned that.

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