Rose Breeder and Discoverer  

Listing last updated on Sat Apr 2025

North Walsham, Norfolk
United Kingdom

http://www.rosebuddies.com/
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Code = LEG---

Edward Burton Le Grice [or LeGrice] (December 10, 1902 Smallburgh - June 3, 1977 North Walsham) was succeeded by his son Bill Le Grice

[From Modern Roses V, 1958, p. 199:] E. B. Le Grice, Roseland Nurseries, North Walsham, Norfolk, England.

[From Twentieth-Century Roses, by Peter Beales, p. 46: In his breeding program, Edward Burton LeGrice used] the whole range of purple and dark red Gallicas, especially those that were generous with their pollen, such as 'Tuscany Superb' from which came some very strangely coloured seedlings and, indeed some very beautiful ones, for example 'Lilac Charm' (1952), 'News' (1968), and 'Ripples' (1971)...
[From The Ultimate Rose Book, by Stirling Macoboy, p. 172:] that English raiser of out-of-the-ordinary roses... [p. 139:] notable among hybridists for his love of single roses... [p. 231:] a specialist in the unusual...
[From The Complete Book of Roses, Bush Roses and Standards, by Sean McCann, p. 126:] Edward LeGrice was one hybridizer always chasing after the unusual colours, and who gave the world varieties in greys, browns, lilac and silver...

[From Roses 1978 by Jack Harkness, page 125
Edward  Le  Grice  was born in 1902  and died in 1977. He was  devoted to his profession, and known throughout the rose world not only as a rose breeder, but as a lecturer and the author of Rose Growing Complete. If the rose world had better men, more modest and gentle, I never came across them. He was a devout Christian, a lay preacher for his Baptist Church, set in the lovely countryside of his native Norfolk, and beside which he now lies. At the last meeting I attended in his company, I wrote down the following remark he made: 'People have  to play for safety if they want to make a living; and that is quite the wrong way for a hybridist.'

[From The Makers of Heavenly Roses, by Jack Harkness, pp. 138-144:] Edward Burton LeGrice was born at North Walsham on 10 December, 1902... His first crop of roses was ready for sale in 1921... During the 1930s, he introduced the first roses which he himself had bred, starting with a cherry red Hybrid Tea in 1933, 'Mrs F.J. Jackson'. The most successful was 'Dainty Maid', in 1937... [one of his goals was:] a hardy, golden rose; he set out to obtain a breeding strain which, once established, should yield a good number of golden roses in its progeny... His practice was to make a few crosses, raise the few seeds they gave him, and if the progeny pointed in the desired direction, to repeat the cross in quantity the following year.

[From Fifty Favourite Roses, by John Mattock, p. 78:] Since the introduction of 'Rayon d'Or' a multitude of yellow roses has been produced with greater or lesser claims to perfection from their breeders but, until the coming of the floribunda 'Allgold' from the Norfolk breeder Edward LeGrice in 1956, no rose had really overcome all the drawbacks that the use of R. foetida had brought...

[From Roses: An Illustrated Encyclopaedia and Grower's Handbook, by Peter Beales, p. 40:] To get some of [the unusually coloured roses he raised, LeGrice used] the whole range of purple and dark red Gallicas...