(Jul 2013)  Page(s) 17.  
 
Darell Schramm. California’s Oldest Surviving Roses. 
The most prolific and most original of California nurserymen to develop new roses during these early years was Luther Burbank........
But two of his roses from this period, Santa Rosa and Burbank, have survived. Similar in description and twins in color, form and size, the plants were said to be hybrid Bourbon teas, or hybrid teas, and both are off spring of Hermosa and Bon Silene. He does state, “The Burbank rose was a product of seeds….accidentally garnered.” The introduction date usually given for Burbank is 1900. But the John Doyle Co. featured Burbank on its catalog cover in 1899, and American Gardening magazine published a picture of the rose in the November 5, 1898, issue. Accordingly, the correct date for its entry into the rose world would be 1898. That conclusion, however, would contradict the sources that claim Santa Rosa came first, in 1899. Scientific record keeping would have resolved the confusion. Today, both Santa Rosa and Burbank appear alike. Have they become confused over the years? Has one of them vanished and the other survived? If so, which is which? Surely, they were not the same rose to begin with, one sent out a year after the other but under a different name. Such a practice was not uncommon, but surely the man who gave us the ‘Russet’ potato, the ‘Shasta’ daisy, the ‘July Elberta’ peach, and the ‘Santa Rosa’ plum—to name just a few great hybrids—had no need to stoop to subterfuge. After all, he did give us roses, not least a lovely white rambler early in the next century.