Belinda’s Dream is considered the finest garden rose introduced by respected rose hybridizer Dr. Robert Basye. Introduced in 1988, Belinda’s Dream bears beautiful pink blooms on a largely disease-resistant garden rose.
A legendary figure in rose hybridization, Dr. Robert Basye was a professor at Texas A&M…in mathematics. Dr. Basye pursued his decades-long passion for rose breeding at his ranch twenty miles outside of College Station.
The pink roses are beautiful from bud to full maturation. While New Dawn is lovable for many reasons, the blooms are scruffy once fully opened. Not so with Belinda’s Dream, as the flowers have a somewhat old rose look.
Garden rose Belinda’s Dream was named after the daughter of a friend of Dr. Robert Basye.
The clear pink roses do not tend to fade with age, and mature to 4″-5″. Fragrance is good (fruity). Belinda’s dream grows 3′-6′. Such a large differential in potential mature height is fairly unusual, but this cultivar in particular seems to have the great strength of superb heat tolerance. This is a rose that seems to grow and flower best in hot climates.
Belinda’s Dream has many petals on a single flower (over 45 at least), and I suppose this is why the individual flowers finish so well.
In cooler or somewhat wetter climates/conditions, there are reports this rose can exhibit balling. This is not surprising, given all of those petals. Rose gardeners with the most success with this cultivar invariably seem to be those in hot, drier areas.
It’s interesting how roses seem to do best in climates most similar to where they were bred. Dr. Basye practiced his craft at Texas A&M University, a hot and dry place for sure. Legendary rose hybridizer Griffith Buck developed his roses (noted for their cold hardiness) in Iowa during the same era Dr. Basye was active in Texas.
A final note on winter hardiness: We garden in USDA hardiness zone 8, and Belinda’s Dream is fine here. It is specified as hardy zones 5-9, but report after report suggests that this rose is not reliably hardy in zone 5.
