The Peggy Martin rose comes with a backstory of resilience and hope.
But this is no ordinary rose.
For Louisianan Peggy Martin, Katrina took almost everything.
Cascades of pink blossoms cover this striking plant.Credit: Ralph Anderson
Her parents, Rosalie and Pivon Dupuy, fell victim to the storm.
For a fisherman like Pivon and a gardener like Peggy, it was heaven.
And it was here that Peggy had planted a beautiful garden filled with old roses450 of them.
M.J.’s shrimp boat was gone.
Where the garden had been, they found mud and blackened stems.
Did God do this for me because so much was gone?'
It came to Peggy as a pass-along cutting from a friend who had received it the same way.
That cutting came from a garden in New Orleans.
Even so, she continued to pass it on to her friends.
After Katrina, an idea struck him in the middle of the night.
The money raised helps rebuild greenspaces along the Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi coast.
Peggy takes comfort in knowing that her rose is helping bring back the beautiful gardens of her coast.
The ‘Peggy Martin’ rose grows in USDA hardiness zones 4-9, in full sun, and well-drained soil.
This rose is semi-thornlessthe backs of the leaves are prickly but the canes don’t have thorns.
The ‘Peggy Martin’ is very disease resistant.
