BY DORIS MURILLO

“Ever since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to break a record on the Guinness,” WCHS substitute teacher Christopher Rose said.

Recently on May 2, 2018, Rose set the record for world’s tallest rose bush. The rose stands at 18 feet and 8 inches with the variety of the rose being bewitched. This journey began in 2016 when Rose realized that his rose was standing at 16 feet high.

“That’s when I said I was going to look it up on Guiness and I found out that the record was at 18 ft 6.2 inches,” Rose said.

The journey was a year and a half long, but well worth it to Rose. Once he set himself up to the task, he did not give up despite of challenges that were faced.

“I had the rose growing without any support to hold it up, until the last year and a half that I put a bamboo pole because the wind would knock it to the side. It drove me crazy,” Rose said.

Along with difficult physical circumstances of growing a plant, there also came many rules and regulations many people do not realize have to be met in order to set a record. The Guiness officials want to know the exact day the record will be broken, which is kind of unmanageable considering a person does not have direct control of how much a plant will grow over the course of time. There must also be a rose specialist witness statement, proof of qualifications, 2 witness statements, photographic evidence, video evidence, media articles and a cover letter to name a few.

“I needed an expert so in September, I contacted Chris Greenwood, the president of the Pacific Rose Society, and I asked Greenwood if he thought he could come out,” Rose said. 

The rose expert agreed to take a look at the rose and become of a witness as well as the now current president of the Pacific Rose Society, Paul Jackson. Rose’s neighbor who had helped Rose with the record-breaking plant became a witness as well.

“We made a video of us measuring the rose which I submitted in the beginning of December,” Rose said.

After the submission, Rose waited until February when he received a response from Guinness, but not quite the response that was expected.

“I got an email that said I needed more documentation Greenwood was an expert so he sent in a letter to Guinness explaining how he developed new roses and how he was a judge for rose events and then I waited again,” Rose said.

Then at last, on May 2 at exactly 5:10 a.m. Rose received an email that validated his rose as the world’s tallest rose bush.

“All I could say was, yes finally!” said Rose.

Due to Rose’s passion for plants and his perseverance to break the record, the hardship of it was outshined. From the neighbor who planted the rose 17 years ago to Rose’s daughter who wished to see the flower rise to her bedroom window and to Rose’s endless care for the flower, the rose is now standing high, healthy and victorious.