WE HAD IT ALL:

Love story: the Reagan roses (Washington Whispers, US News)

Bill Ihle is a top exec with the Jackson & Perkins rose company. His mission? Finding the next rose, one that exudes romance and love or ably commemorates a great hero-figure. You can imagine what Ihle thought after reading the collection of love letters between Nancy and Ronald Reagan. "They're like Bogie and Bacall," he says. "Their love is so celebrated. They were a team, a romantic couple that a rose would celebrate." And too big for just one rose, he reveals to Whispers. This fall, Jackson & Perkins offers the Ronald Reagan rose and the Nancy Reagan rose. It's a first-ever twofer for the corporate green thumbs who've brightened gardens with the Diana, Barbara Bush, JFK, and Abe Lincoln roses. Nancy picked them from dozens Ihle offered: hers an apricot hybrid tea with huge blooms, his with glamorous red petals dusted white underneath. Of the sales, 10
percent goes to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation that funds his library and museum. "It's a fitting reminder," says Ihle, "of this loving couple."

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 22, 2002 8:34 AM