About the name
Name. 'Hansestadt Rostock' is German for 'the Hanseatic city of Rostock'. The variety is dedicated to Rostock, an old Baltic port (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany), which belonged to the Hanseatic League, the trading league of Northern Europe in the XIII–XVII centuries, for 700 years. In 2004 Rostock celebrated the 500th anniversary of its university (founded in 1419), a likely occasion for naming the variety.
Breeding. MAJOR CORRECTION: bred by Hans Jürgen Evers at Rosen Tantau (Uetersen, Germany), in 2004; on the market in 2010. Code TAN04603. Hans Jürgen Evers (~1942–2008) was Tantau's chief breeder from the 1970s to the 2000s and bred the legendary Tantau varieties. The parentage is not published (standard Tantau-practice).
Significance. The 8th variety of the 'Evers dynasty' in our catalogue. Together with Candlelight (1994), Cappuccino (2005), Andre Le Notre, Chippendale (2005), Elfe (2000), Dukat (2010) and Friedenslicht (2010), it forms a broad group of warm, nostalgic roses from the Evers family (Hans Jürgen and his son Christian). 4 gold medals in 2 years: Baden-Baden 2011 (Gold Rose + Gold Medal Best Floribunda), Paris 2011 (Gold), Monza 2011 (Gold), Orléans 2012 (Gold), plus Silver Tokyo 2013. In 2020 the variety received the 'Rose of the Year 2020' from the Verein Deutscher Rosenfreunde (the German Rose Friends' association), a prize based on the results of a popular vote of amateurs, not a jury. It is a special form of recognition: the variety was acknowledged not by professionals but by practising gardeners.