Paul Barden's rose 'Mel Hulse'

I've known Mel for about a decade, having first encountered him as a funny, but deeply human character on rec.gardens.roses, where he often served as a referee in a cyber-scrap. When I met the man in person it became much more evident that Mel was indeed a caring man, who loved both the roses he knew and grew, and the people who tended them. Mel took a personal interest in me and in my work with roses and was always enthusiastic to give a home, either in his back yard or at the Heritage, to one of my new test varieties. Mel couldn't wait to share what he had. It is because of him that I include roses like "Secret Garden Musk" and 'September Morn' in my collection; roses that I may have otherwise overlooked if it hadn't been for Mel, whose praise of some of these plants had a way of sounding like a proud parent's love for a talented child.

For Mel, the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden was as much a classroom as it was an archive of roses. If he was there, he was showing somebody how to take a good cutting, or pointing out a rarity among the rose collection. He didn't just know a lot about roses, ALL kinds of roses, but he was eager and always prepared to share what he knew with absolutely anyone. I remember a lecture series I attended at Ft. Bragg, CA several years ago and Mel was showing the group how to take their own cuttings to propagate using the "Baggie method" and everyone went away from that lecture feeling that this previously mystical technique was something they could do themselves, effortlessly and with great success. That was Mel in so many ways; the guy who made people believe in the limitless capacity for the Human mind to learn and to do. And to care about each other.

I will miss the man who went dashing about the West in his hot red Miata, the back seat loaded with a cooler full of cuttings, and a few roses in pots, picking up and delivering new treasures at every stop along the way, like the Johnny Appleseed of Roses. You're a good friend, Mel.