No more paper petals on Marie Osmond's roses

Remember the old Barbara Walters question about being a tree? If you change that to flower and ask it of Marie Osmond, there's no question what the answer would be: a lavender rose.

"I love roses, and my very favorite is lavender roses," said Osmond in a telephone interview from her home in Utah County. "We bought a new house a few years ago, and I've just been waiting for the right rose to come along so I can plant lavender roses all around it."

That rose has come along — a two-tone lavender rose developed by Cottage Hill Nursery Inc. and named in her honor.

The "Marie Osmond" rose will make its debut on QVC Monday in connection with the introduction of "Marie," the 12th doll in Marie Osmond's Coming Up Roses doll collection. The doll, sculpted to look like Marie as a toddler by award-winning artist Emily Garthright, is a 15-inch porcelain doll that sits atop a garden bench. The doll's dress is a lavender rose print, and the bench is adorned with purple and lavender roses. The doll is also musical and plays "Paper Roses," Osmond's first No. 1 hit, recorded when she was 12.

"It's really a signature piece, and with the rose, it's all very exciting," said Osmond. She joins the ranks of numerous celebrities and notables who have had roses named in their honor, including Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant and Judy Garland.

"Isn't that fun?" she said with a laugh. She especially likes the fact that while all roses symbolize love, the lavender rose also symbolizes enchantment and love at first sight. That's exactly the feeling she tries to create with her dolls.

"I've been doing this for 15 years now. I love dolls." But even more than that, "I love producing something people can collect that is meaningful and can be passed down from generation to generation. When my mother died, each of my brothers specifically asked to get one of her dolls for each of their daughters."

It was because of her mother that Osmond first got interested in collecting dolls. The only girl in a family of eight brothers, she shared a special bond with her mother. "As we traveled around, she would buy me dolls. I gravitated to porcelain dolls, because I loved how they looked. My mother would give me a special doll every year," and eventually "I just started designing my own."