Obituary – Frank Benardella - the Rose Man
I first met Frank Benardella during the World Rose Convention held in Oxford in 1976. At the time he was, if I remember correctly, Vice President of the American Rose Society.

Frank was a great communicator and was always at the centre of all the action. It was during the world rose convention held in Toronto in 1985 that we made close contact and talked roses all the way.

Frank was a first class exhibitor, knowing every trick in the book to coerce his rose bushes into producing superb blooms and he went to great lengths to win Queen of Show at every rose exhibition held in the USA. In his professional life he travelled the world; in his private life he became known as the ROSE MAN. He was not just an exhibitor and lecturer, but also a breeder of miniature roses.

Being a great exhibitor, he only selected seedlings with that perfect high peaked flower shape as suitable for trial. We received budding eyes from Frank in 1986. A few months later, when they started flowering, I realised that we had some very special varieties amongst them.

It did not take us long to experiment with them, growing them in greenhouses for cut flower production. The Florists in Pretoria loved these little roses. We planted more and more and exported them - mostly to Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Switzerland.

Other growers followed suit and it became a formidable industry. Eventually it was over-taken by the masses of cheap cut roses produced in other African countries.

However, a market of limited quantities for the charming miniature cut roses remains in South Africa. Most of the suitable varieties were bred by Frank Benardella. ’Old Glory’, ‘Figurine’, ‘Lavender Jade’, ‘Black Jade’, ‘Tiny Tot’, ‘Pirouette’, ‘Gee Gee’, ‘Ans’, ‘Imbroglio’ and ‘Jilly Jewel’ are some of them.

Amongst his seedlings we found a few that developed into hybrid tea’s with very distinctive characteristics and we released ‘Rosa Roedean’, ‘Athene’ and the floribunda ‘June’s Joy’. Just as we received rose budwood from Frank, we exported plants of exhibition varieties to him. That is how ‘Rina Hugo’, Helen Naudé’, ‘Bles Bridges’, ‘Lynette’, ‘Esther Geldenhuys’, ‘Andrea Stelzer’ and others became popular in the USA.

Frank Benardella travelled to South Africa to be the keynote speaker for our National Rose Convention held in Bloemfontein in 1996. He regaled the delegates with his knowledge and humorous stories on rose growing and exhibiting, i.e. keeping three refrigerators in his basement and slipping away at lunch time from work on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays before shows to pick the exhibition choice blooms of the day, placing them in the fridge in accordance to the temperature setting and development stage of the blooms.

Frank certainly had an influence in getting my children interested in cross pollinating and they will remember him for relaxing at sun downer time by smoking a pipe and drinking ice tea.

Rose lovers around the world will miss the steady communication with Frank. Our heartfelt sorrow goes out to his wife June and family. A batch of Frank’s latest creations is coming into bloom right now and will serve us as a living memory of this big loveable man.

You can include Frank's birthdate:
July 5, 1932-Jan. 30, 2010

Frank Benardella died on January 30th 2010.