In November 1940, the last American plane that got out of France, just one step ahead of the invading Nazis, carried an innocuous bundle addressed to Robert Pyle of West Grove, Pa. The bundle contained a handful of stems from a rosebush. All through the war, French Rose-Grower Francis Meilland worried about the prize he had sent to his fellow horticulturist. Not until 1945 did he learn that it had arrived safely, Pyle had nurtured it, patented its blossoms and produced hundreds of bushes from Meilland's hardy stock. Then he christened the pale gold roses "Peace," and distributed samples...
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