Name this rose! Only $8000

If you've ever wanted to be immortalized in name and in gardens everywhere, here's your chance.

Brad Jalbert of Select Roses in Langley, B.C., is selling naming rights to two of the three new hybridized roses he's introducing next year.

For between $3,000 and $8,000, you can purchase the right to name a new rose. Compared to prices on the world market, which range from $12,000 to $100,000 for the opportunity, these are bargain prices.

Jalbert says his are more reasonable, because even after 15 years in the business he's still considered new to rose breeding.

One of the roses up for naming is a Fragrant White Hybrid tea (above). Jalbert says, "A fragrant white hybrid tea is extremley rare in the rose world and I have yet to see one with this size of flower."

"This seedling is a sister seedling to my pink 'Gerda Hynatashyn' rose, named after the past governor-generals' wife. This white seedling has MASSIVE flowers, largest longest buds of any rose I have ever seen. The plant grows upright and tall, produces long stem white roses with a strong sweet perfume and high center flower. They look stunning in bud form. The foliage is large, very glossy deep green. We grow this rose own-root in the field and have about 30 plants available for spring 2006 digging."

Naming a rose or having a rose named after you is like buying original art, said Jalbert, who toils for five years before a rose is ready to be named and sold."

Name your rose and Jalbert handles the paperwork to register it with the American Rose Society.

"The name must be accepted and it's forever in the history books. Every few years, they publish a new rose bible -- this big red book called Modern Roses -- and the name of the rose with its full description is in there."

Jalbert would then propagate the rose and sell it from his 38th Avenue nursery. "You get the thrill of maybe seeing your rose in somebody's garden," he said.

Jalbert auctioned off the naming of a rose last year for the St. Paul's Hospital Foundation. A Victoria man paid more than $4,000 and named it for his wife -- the Sherry Parks Sunrise -- as a Valentine's Day gift.

"She was just thrilled," said Jalbert. "It's the greatest gift she's ever had."

Jalbert, who is passionate about his roses, has hybridized 40 new varieties in the 15 years he's run his business. (The Province)

I think it would feel a bit egomaniacal to name one after yourself, but would sure make a swell gift, especially as a tribute to a deceased loved one, or to commemorate the birth of a new baby.

Anyone interested in naming a rose can contact Jalbert through his website.