Rose and Plant patent information

I have had a lot of questions about plant propogation via cuttings, and the legality of it all. It is very tempting to take cuttings for home use, and I had it completely justified, because frankly I really wanted to do it. But I talked to some people who are not plant-people (and therefor not swayed by the temptation part) and from those conversations decided that I should honor plant patents. It isn't the biggest moral conundrum of the century, but I want to have integrity.

I am not an expert by any stretch, and if there are any out there, please correct or clarify anything I post about this. Here is what information I found:

Plant patents last for 20 years, and then they are up. What I have run into when researching which of my roses are still under patent is a lot of years listed next to a particular variety are not accurate in terms of determining if the patent is up.

For example: the Sharifa Asma rose by David Austin is commonly listed under the year of 1983 on most websites. This gives the impression that the patent would be up in 2003. But if you go to the US patent website and search for patent "pp8143" under patent number, you can see that the patent for this rose was applied for on December 6, 1990 and the patent was issued in Febuary of 1993. Plant patents are good from the application date. That means this is an active patent until December 6, 2010.

Just to muddy the water a little bit more, plant patents applied for between June 8, 1995 and May 28, 2000 may be eligible for patent extensions. After that plant patents can be subject to "term adjustments", whatever that means. If maintenance fees are not paid on time, patents can terminate early as well.

I have also discovered that the name plants are patented under are not the same as us lay people call them. For instance, Sharifa Asma is patented under the name "Ausreef". This brings up interesting questions as to if someone was wanting to market this rose after the patent was up if they could use the "Sharifa Asma", and I would guess that this falls under copyright law, which protects intellectual property. Or maybe it is a trademark thing....

Here are some of my resources:

General information Concerning Patents
from the United States Patent and Trademark Office

Patent lookup
Also from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Make sure whenn you search patents to put a "pp" right before the number, with no spaces. You also want to limit the search to "patent number" in field 1.

Rose verdict for 2008

Here is a quick review on how the new roses did for 2008:
(In order they were planted, all are first year in the ground)

Teasing Georgia:
I must have got the climbing version, because this was everywhere. I have a feeling I will be trying to move it, because it grew away from the wall, and towards the sidewalk. It's growth was lanky, but it is the greenest of the roses now, in January. Between this and the other rose I got at Costco, this one did a lot better. It didn't bloom as much as I hoped, and the blooms where small and sporadic, but maybe next year.

Pat Austen:
This is the second Costco rose. It did the worst. There was very little in the way of growth, and a pitiful show of flowers. The first flush, looked pretty irregular as far as form went. There wasn't much of what I would call a second flush, just a miserly flower here and there. It just never seemed to thrive. I am leaving it in, but I don't have high hopes on it surviving through the years at this rate.

Lunar Mist:
I loved this one. It was very eager to grow, even though my watering habits where a bit sporadic for this rose. It flowered quite profusely, and tripled in height. The flowers were a bit small, but I am use to Hybrid Teas. There wasn't a lot of scent, but the flowers were very pretty. I was away from my plants for about three months in the late summer-fall, and had a non-gardener watching them. When I got back this rose was completely leafless. I was so sad because I thought it was dead due to lack of watering, but the Red Baron peach tree which was located near it had leaf curl and lost it's leaves during the same time. So I wonder if that was the cause. At any rate, it is putting out a flush of leaves now, and they all seem healthy. Overall I love this plant.

Tamora:
This one was a complete joy! It was never without flowers for most of the summer. Today I spotted another bud on it. I loved bringing them in in bud vases,and the flowers were the largest of any of the varieties I planted this year. Its color was reliable, and consitent throughout the season. There was a slight scent, pleasant and light. Both bushes of Tomora did excellent. I am completely smitten by this rose, and plan on increasing the number that I own.

About the placement of my rosees in the garden:
Roses were grown in USDA zone 9, with hot, arid summers.
I had a Teasing Georgia, Tamora, Pat Austen, and another Tomora along an angled northish facing wall in the garden in that order. No underplantings, except for uninvited burmuda, that we tried to keep unhappy. They were watered regularly and received no fertilizer.
The Lunar Mist was by a East facing wall, again angled so not a true East. It was underplanted with a wild flower mix with bachelar buttons, cosmos, love-in-a-mist and the like, along with a few volunteer pumpkins. It was watered by hand, and not always as often as it should have been. It had never been fertilized.

My disappointing Costco roses

    Well, in January I picked up two bare root roses from Costco, the Teasing Georgia and Pat Austin. At the same time I picked up Collete from a nursery. The following week I picked up two Tamoras from another nursery. Collete has been blooming beautifully since before Easter. Tamora started blooming soon after. The Costco roses have yet to start even thinking about forming a bud! They are half the size of Tamora, even though their mature height should be almost twice as high. I got a "deal", but I am paying for it in blooms!

There is a Red Baron in My Backyard

We finally, after 4 years of talking about it, we planted a fruit tree. We picked the Red Baron Peach because of the bloom. (Superficial, but I am okay with it.)

I Couldn't Help Myself

I saw Tamora, another David Austin rose, and bought two of them. This wasn't part of the plan, but it is now!


They'll grow about 3 ft, the smallest roses in my yard. Tomorrow I'll plant them in between Teasing Georgia and Pat Austin.

Roses

DH helped me plant some roses in the back. The only plants back there now is one lonely tree, a random evergreen bush, and whatever weeds decide to grow. One is a new rose for 2008, "Lunar Mist", which is a lighter version of "Colette".

This will be my second attempt at growing Dave Austin roses, this time they are"Teasing Georgia" and "Pat Austin". I hope to keep these alive long enough to bloom.

Teasing Georgia

Pat Austin