Rossi baptises own rose.

Terra Nigra's bright yellow hybrid-T rose was baptised in Holland by the 500cc world champion of 2001 and six-times MotoGP race winner Valentino Rossi, as the Italian attended a party at Honda Netherlands in the VIP Village after Saturday's Gauloises Dutch TT in Assen.

For the first time in race history, a rose is named after a grand prix motorsports legend, as Mr Kanazawa, director of Honda Motor and president of the Honda Racing Company in Japan, presented a beautiful bouquet of 46 yellow Rossi roses to the MotoGP winner and reigning world champion at Assen.

The new Rossi has, like Valentino's winning motorcycle, a very strong yellow colour, which apparently does not fade on the plant nor in the vase. It has a very elegant flower bud, which develops into an enormous flower. The winning Rossi was the result of a 1998 rose crossing, and was selected in 1999 because of its strong colour and large flower size. It passed all the required tests before becoming the commercial Rossi variety in June 2002.

Early next year, the Rossi will be introduced in many countries around the world. One of the countries that will be first to take the flower will be Italy, where yellow roses are very popular. This one is expected to be a guaranteed hit!

Terra Nigra was founded in 1971 by the Boerlage family and has not only set standards in breeding science, but has set standards for success with growers, wholesalers and florists worldwide. Today, Terra Nigra continues to produce and market robust, productive, disease-resistant roses and gerberas in an array of innovative and exciting colours.

Grand Prix(R) and Bull's Eye(R) are two other successful rose varieties from Terra Nigra that owe their names to sport events. Grand Prix was introduced during the Dutch TT a few years ago and, last year, Bull's Eye was baptised by twice Embassy Darts champion Raymond van Barneveld.