Having had the pleasure and the good fortune of growing up near Sequoia Nursery, I feel especially blessed to have made Mr. Moore’s acquaintance now over twenty years ago as a student of horticulture. Many people don’t realize that he is generally accepted as the Father of the Modern Miniature Rose. He nearly created the market for the miniature roses that are now such a part of everyday life and appear ubiquitously everywhere from supermarkets and chain stores to florists shops. We take these wondrous creations for granted, but without the work of Ralph Moore they simply would not exist.

Mr. Moore has also had great success in other areas of horticulture, introducing many commercial varieties, including thuja, Cherries, and Lilacs. He has established funding for educational programs with royalty proceeds, in some cases, totalling many thousands of dollars. The most recent example being the beautiful pure nonfading yellow miniature 'Cal Poly™'. 'Cal Poly™' benefits the excellent horticultural school, California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo, that happens to be my alma mater.

Mr. Moore is in actuality a modern day Luther Burbank. His long history of work with miniature roses has resulted in many of the most important modern roses we have today. He singlehandedly succeeded in the daunting task of the development of the modern miniature moss rose. This was a very complex and time-consuming venture that has now spanned over forty years and has involved thousands of experimental crosses. We now have modern miniature roses that look as if they were taken right off of Victorian tea cups and saucers. These roses are completely modern, however, and repeat with satisfying regularity. They are a joy to be cherished and marvelled upon.

Mr. Moore succeeded in proving that the stripes in roses could be inherited and were not viral in nature as was thought by many. He took the old hybrid perpetual, 'Ferdinand Pichard', and developed modern remontant striped miniatures that were then used to produce such current ARS winners as 'Scentimental™' and 'Fourth of July™'. We now have the genes of miniature roses in some of our most important modern hybrid teas, floribundas, and climbers. Amazing!

Mr. Moore has laid the groundwork for the breeding of roses for many years to come and, in some ways, is also responsible for the current trend toward going back to own-root rose production. He has used Rosa wichuraiana as well as R. bracteata and R. rugosa in his breeding program over and over again. This has resulted in many roses that not only are easily rooted and hardy, but that are also unique in form and resistant to disease. He is still breaking ground using selected clones to produce the “Halo” series of miniatures that have a contrasting eye, Hulthemia, R. banksiae, and native California species.

He has used the unique, beautiful and thought-to-be-sterile old centifolia, 'Chapeau du Napoleon', to produce what could develop into a whole new class of roses with crested sepals, a heretofore thought impossible task. We now have 'Crested Sweetheart' and 'Elegant Design'.

Ralph Moore is not resting on his laurels, even though his work has been lauded. To this day, at the age of 93, his enthusiasm does not waver and he is active in breeding, always interested in new developments and getting feedback on what the public finds appealing. He takes the time and patience to educate those of all backgrounds and is eager to share his findings with others in the world of rose breeding.

As a role model, one would be hard pressed to find an individual who has worked harder or done more for the development of roses in the twentieth century than Ralph Moore, and yet, he is always quick to point out that all breeders of roses stand on the shoulders of those who have come before them. A current example of this would be his popular floribunda and exhibition rose, 'Playgirl™', bred from the beautiful Alex Cocker rose, 'Playboy®'. He has led the way for many breeders as his varieties and formulas for breeding have been used time and again by other breeders to produce some of today’s most popular and enduring varieties. We all owe him a debt of gratitude.

If one takes the time to do a little research, you will find his contributions are much greater than most would have believed. He is truly a pioneer. His love is of creation, but his legacy will be with us always. His work continues and who knows what surprises still lie in store from the hand of Ralph Moore. I, for one, am anxious to see.