A Horticulture Information article from the Wisconsin Master Gardener website, posted 13 Jan 2006 2006 All-America Rose Selection Winners A winning rose embodies all of the characteristics consumers desire in a garden plant: beautiful, fragrant, disease resistant and easy to maintain. These traits have earmarked All-America Rose Selections (AARS) winners for 65 years. Every AARS winning rose completes an extensive two-year trial program where it’s judged on everything from disease resistance to fl ower production to color to fragrance. All-America Rose Selections All-America Rose Selections is a non-profi t association dedicated to the introduction and promotion of exceptional roses. Since 1938, the AARS trial program has encouraged the rose industry to improve the vitality, strength and beauty of roses for American home gardens. Today, the AARS program is one of the most successful and highly regarded of its kind, having brought to the forefront such roses as Peace, Mister Lincoln, Knock Out, and Bonica. Unlike some other rose trials, the AARS trials are based upon performance in 17 test gardens throughout the United States. Roses that win the award tend to do well everywhere. Each variety in the trials is judged and graded four times a year for two years by a nursery professional associated with the test garden (and unaffi liated with any nursery that has roses entered in the trials). At the end of the two years, a selection committee representing the 15 members of AARS reviews the trial scores and notes. The top scoring rose in each of the six classes is considered for an award, but occasionally a second place rose is also given an award, as has occurred with the 2006 winners. Two fl oribunda roses, a grandifl ora and a hybrid tea are the 2006 All-America Rose Selections winners. The fl oribunda roses Julia Child and Rainbow Sorbet, the hybrid tea Tahitian Sunset and grandifl ora Wild Blue Yonder will be available for the 2006 planting season through selected catalogs and at retail garden stores nationwide. Julia Child This fl oribunda, hybridized by Tom Carruth and introduced by Weeks Roses of Upland, CA, is destined to be as famous as her namesake. Personally chosen by the award-winning chef herself, this rose combines old-fashioned style with delicious fragrance rarely found in a free-fl owering plant. This rose has a rounded habit and excellent disease resistance, raising the bar for any English-style rose. Julia Child also features a strong sweet licorice and spice perfume, as well as a butter-gold color that’s perfectly suited to any landscape. The compact, medium-low plant grows about 3 feet high and wide with bright, super-glossy green foliage. The warm yellow fl owers are produced on medium length stems. Pointed and full buds open up to a medium-size, 3½-inch Julia Child rose. diameter fl ower with over 35 petals and old-fashioned, very full form. Rainbow Sorbet™ This hybrid by Ping Lim (Bailey Nurseries) and being introduced by The Conard-Pyle Company/Star Roses of West Grove, PA*, is as cool and delicious as it sounds. This multicolor fl oribunda harkens back to the popular variety ‘Playboy’ from which it is a descendant. More rugged and winter hardy, it shows a remarkable resistance to black spot. The fl owers are mixed shades of bright yellow, orange and red that fi nish nicely into light yellow and pink. A symphony of bright color uninterrupted through the season, it is perfect as a single bold accent or as a border for those who like to make a statement in their garden. Unfortunately, it has no noticeable fragrance. Upright shrubs to 5 feet have dark green, glossy foliage. Pointed buds develop into cup-like medium-sized fl owers Rainbow Sorbet rose. with 15-18 petals. *Bailey Nurseries is interested only in roses that will survive our miserable winters without protection. Rainbow Sorbet did not survive in Minnesota, so Bailey sold all rights to this rose to Conard-Pyle (Star Roses). Tahitian Sunset™ This hybrid tea rose hybridized by Keith W. Zary and introduced by Jackson & Perkins of Medford, OR offers a little slice of paradise. It features splendid blossoms starting from high-centered, orange-yellow buds that open fully to a peachy apricot-pink with yellow highlights. The vigorous plant produces 14-16 inch stems and fl owers with about 30 petals to create blooms up to fi ve inches in diameter. With its complex color, delightful licorice fragrance and semi-glossy foliage, this perfectly formed rose makes a strong focal point in any garden. The upright, well-branched plants have dark green foliage and good disease resistance. Pointed ovoid buds open to large, brightly-hued, high centered fl owers up to 5” in diameter with 25-30 petals. The color is apricot with Tahitian Sunset rose. yellow coloration at the base of the petals which age with interesting darker pink tones as they are exposed to sunlight. Wild Blue Yonder™ This exotic rose hybridized by Tom Carruth and introduced by Weeks Roses of Upland, CA offers a journey into uncharted territory. The lavender blend is the fi rst rose in this color range to garner the AARS designation since 1984. Every large wavy petal is a velvety warm wine-purple layered onto rich lavender, making Wild Blue Yonder a unique rose to behold. Each lovely blossom exudes the perfume of sweet citrus and rose. A vigorous, upright ‘shrubby’ bush, its abundant, deep-green leaves provide the perfect accent to the extraordinarily novel color of the fl owers that bloom in clusters. The pointed, full and fl at buds open to almost camellia-like fl owers, up to 4½” in diameter with 25 to 30 petals. The deep reddish- purple blossoms become even deeper in color in cooler temperatures. This is a rose for those who loves mauve or fragrant roses and dreams about blue roses. Wild Blue Yonder rose. – From the All-America Rose Selections website and other sources Additional Information: All-America Rose Selections – download brochures and fact sheets on these and previous years’ winners at www.rose.org/.