Roots and Routes

Rosa ‘Miss All-American Beauty’

• Introduced by Meilland International in 1965
• Introduced in the United States by Star Roses  in 1967
• Bred in France by Marie-Louise Meilland in 1982
• Class: Hybrid Tea
• Deep, vibrant hot-pink
• Strong, classic damask fragrance
• Parentage: Chrysler Imperial × Karl Herbst

The Miss All-American Beauty rose produces enormous, richly colored hybrid tea blooms in a brilliant shade of deep hot pink. The variety earned the Portland Gold Medal in 1966 and went on to become an All-America Rose Selections winner in 1968, one of the most important honors for a new rose in the United States.

Interestingly, this rose originally carried a very different name. In Europe it was introduced as the Maria Callas, honoring the legendary American-born Greek soprano whose dramatic voice and commanding stage presence made her one of the greatest opera singers of the 20th century. When the same rose was marketed in the United States, it was given the name Miss All-American Beauty, a name that seems tailor-made for its enormous, glamorous hot-pink blossoms. Thus, behind its distinctly American-sounding name is an unexpected connection to one of opera’s most celebrated international stars.