The cultivar was named an All-America Rose Selections winner in 1984, and the recipient of the Portland Gold Medal in 1995.

[1] The Sam McGredy family represents four generations of rose hybridizers from Northern Ireland.

Originally, the head gardener at a large estate, in 1888, McGredy moved his family to Portadown, leased 10 acres with a greenhouse and established a nursery with his son, Samuel II (1861–1926).

The nursery's rose breeding program declined after McGredy's early death of a heart attack at the age of 38 and the beginning of World War II.

[4][5] When Samuel McGredy IV (Sam) (1931–2019) took over the family business in 1952, he knew very little about rose breeding.

[5] In 1972, alarmed over the increasing political violence in Northern Ireland, McGredy and his family moved to Auckland, New Zealand.

New Zealand's climate, ideal for plant cultivation, allowed McGredy to breed roses outdoors without greenhouses.