By Carolyn Parker

LAST SPRING, when I heard that the Heritage Rose Foundation would be holding a one-day symposium titled "Madam President," I was immediately intrigued.

The symposium honors three accomplished women: Ann Bird of England, Odile Masquelier of France and our own Marilyn Wellan. I wanted to know more about these women and decided to do e-mail interviews.

Bird is the first woman president in the 130-year history of Britain's Royal National Rose Society. Masquelier founded the first French old rose society, Roses Anciennes en France. And Wellan recently completed her term as president of the American Rose Society, becoming only the second woman in its 112-year history to hold the post.

I posed three questions to the women: Was there one particular rose that sparked your interest? Were you surprised to discover where your love for roses would lead you? How do you answer the question "What is your favorite rose?"

England

Ann Bird began in 1974 with six prepacked Hybrid Teas from her local supermarket (FRAGRANT CLOUD, MISCHIEF and others). She had no idea what to do with them. Once in the ground, she threw on fertilizer and pruned them with scissors. Her passion took off a year later when she joined a local rose society and was taught to be a judge on the national level.

Then in 1981, at a garden center, she noticed the rose FELECITE PARMENTIER.

"It was from this one Alba (class) that I found my niche in the rose world," Bird wrote in her e-mail reply. "I replaced all the roses in my garden with historic varieties. Now I have a collection of nearly 200 plants. My garden, in Market Harborough in Leicestershire, is approximately 150 feet long by 30 feet wide, so it's certainly not large, but seems to be very large when I'm out in it fighting to keep everything under control!"

Ann's still amazed at what has happened to her in the rose world over the last 33 years, especially because, in the Royal National Rose Society, women had never been considered for an official position. As long as they didn't rock the boat and worked on committees, all was well.

However, it must have been Ann's hard work and dedication that led to council and trustee elections, and finally being asked to step in as deputy president of the society.

"I just laughed at this idea," she wrote, "and said 'OK, but you'll find a man during my two years in office.'"

They didn't. In July 2005, she became the first woman president and two years later was re-elected for a further term of one year.

STANWELL PERPETUAL

France

Odile Masquelier says she didn't like roses at all.

"I thought they were stiff, too showy, and too self-confident," she wrote. "I didn't like the bright colors. All my attention went to bulbs, tulips, clematis, and peonies."

Her discovery of old roses on a trip to Scotland in 1975 inspired not only a passion for roses, but also for the history of their breeders and the narrative hidden behind every rose. She feels these "Roses Anciennes" bring a new message.

Over a 40-year period, the sheltering high walls of her 21/2-acre garden in Lyon became home to 830 varieties of roses. The garden is now an association for the preservation of heritage and species roses. In 1994, the city of Lyon asked her to create a garden of heritage French roses.

Today, she's amazed at where her rose story has taken her, and especially treasures her encounters with the world's great rosarians and rose historians.

United States

In the early '80s, Marilyn Wellan's rose saga began with Jackson & Perkins Hybrid Teas. She enjoyed them, but the purchase of a Hybrid Tea labeled White American Beauty introduced another dimension. The bush grew so prolifically that she was cutting it back before it even bloomed. Someone told her to stop cutting, and it finally bloomed into the most beautiful pure white creature, soon covering an arbor. She discovered the rose was definitely not a Hybrid Tea -- it was the Hybrid Perpetual FRAU KARL DRUSCHSKI, bred in 1901.

Her rose passion flamed into a love for all roses, old and new, along with a deep commitment to champion them in any way possible. She joined her local rose society, and before long, became its president.

In 1991, she was elected to the board of the ARS, which culminated in her election as president in 2003. She's only surprised where her passion led her after the fact because, she says, her commitment had the momentum of a train.

Favorite Roses

Marilyn lives in Alexandria, Louisana, on a three-acre property that fronts a bayou on two sides. The back garden is a series of garden rooms grouped by class and separated by iron pergolas draped with climbers. Teas are her favorite rose class, but the Bourbon SOUVENIR DE LA MALMAISON is her favorite rose.

Odile has no favorite rose. "It changes every morning," she writes, "but if I had room for only three I will have STANWELL PERPETUAL and two others, a Noisette and a Species."

For Ann, it's almost impossible to name a favorite. "The Gallica DUCHESS D’ANGOULEME comes close," she says, "but usually when asked the question I say 'It's the next one I see.'"

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