BY KATHY VAN MULLEKOM | DAILY PRESS
The sun shined on the Rose Parade Monday in Pasadena, Calif., thanks to the Sunshine Daydream rose, the 2012 All-America Rose Selections award winner.
The yellow rose was among 20,000 roses on the Garden of Imagination float created by Bayer Advanced. The company makes some of the best rose products I’ve ever used, especially its 2-in-1 systemic rose and flower care product.
Roses on the float included a riot of color in various shades of red, orange, yellow, gold, white, light orange, peach, hot pink and lavender.
Also using other flowers, seeds and plant materials, the float told the story of two brothers who grew up working on their family’s California garden. One brother imagined a more beautiful world, the other imagined a world beyond our own — and both saw their dreams come true, according to a Bayer Advance spokeswoman.
Rex Walheim imagined flying in space and achieved the dream of becoming an astronaut. He was a mission specialist on three shuttles, including Atlantis. He now works on NASA’s new deep space exploration system that is supposed to take its first test flight in 2017.
Lance Walheim is a horticulturist with a 17-acre citrus ranch and is Bayer Advance’s rose care expert. He’s written more than 30 books, including “Roses for Dummies.”
The float that honored them was 30 feet tall, 18 feet wide and 55 feet long; it was the fifth float in the procession.
The float’s archway and pillars were covered with fine ground white rice, white mums and light grey lettuce seed. The vines were created from ground parsley flakes, variegated English needlepoint ivy, red and orange roses and red hanging amaranth with red and orange rose pods. Ti leaves covered the tree trunks; the terra cotta pots were covered with bronze fine-cut strawflowers to create the look of real pots.
The Walheim brothers stood at the end of a floral rocket contrail, or vapor trail, created from thousands of beautiful roses with strobe light effects.
The rose Sunshine Daydream is a grandiflora with prolific clusters of light yellow, cuplike flowers that fade to a cream yellow. The round, bushy and continuous blooming rose flowers spring to early frost. It comes from Meilland International, which has 18 All-America Rose Selections to its credit, including Carefree Spirit and Elle.
To be chosen as an AARS winner, Sunshine Daydream thrived during two years of testing in 21 gardens nationwide, including Norfolk Botanical Garden. Learn more about All-America Rose Selections at rose.org.
