Fairhope

Fairhope, Alabama, was established in 1894 by an “adventurous” group of people who believed that they had a “fair chance of success” in creating their “utopian single tax” city. Located on the southwestern tip of Alabama on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, Fairhope today is a resort town known as Alabama’s Seaside Paradise.

‘Fairhope’, the rose, was hybridized by Pete and Kay Taylor from a cross of the mauve hybrid tea, ‘Azure Sea’ x an unknown seedling, and was introduced by Taylor’s Roses in 1989. Named after the Alabama town, it is classified by the American Rose Society as a light-yellow miniature with 16-28 petals, and it has a very good garden rating of 8.2. ‘Fairhope’ grows two to three feet high and has blooms with high-centered form. It maintained the number one position on the rose show circuit for 11 years until 2007 when ‘Bees Knees’ rose to the top spot.

Successful as both a pollen and seed parent, ‘Fairhope’ is the parent of 23 roses, including the mini floras: ‘Butter Cream’, ‘Rachel’, and ‘Peter Cottontail’; and the miniatures: ‘Baby Claire’, ‘Grace Amazing’, ‘Fairqueen’, and ‘Anna Marie’. ‘Fairhope’ is an excellent garden rose as it is disease resistance and blooms continuously.

By Gail Trimble, Master Rosarian

Edited for the website by N Londeree, October 2021