I think part of the dilemma is that roses are a very old plant. I don't know how long the ARS has been keeping its registry, but the society itself wasn't even founded until 1892. By that time there were already thousands of roses, I'm sure, and I would bet that lots of them already had duplicate names by then.
I think it's understandable that the Europeans would be reluctant to use an American registry. They probably regard Americans as upstarts in the rose world. Europeans were breeding roses long before the Americans were, after all.
And even if the Europeans did respect the American registry, it doesn't seem to have any rules. If the ARS had rules, how could it let Carruth use the name 'Twilight Zone' when that name had already been used by Williams less than 20 years earlier?
I think
@RoseBlush1 knows more about this than any of the rest of us. Lyn, what can you tell us about the Europeans vs. ARS controversy?
