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SAN FRANCISCO – Only a select few roses grow to be champions.
Every year, the All-America Rose Selection Committee (AARS) evaluates entrants for 15 critical traits-including fragrance, hardiness, disease-resistance, flowering effect and ease of maintenance-to select its winners for 2006. For 67 years the AARS has been recognizing outstanding new roses with the most coveted award in the horticultural field.
For two years, 46 different rose varieties from around the world have been undergoing thorough and stringent review in 20 test gardens in varying climates across the country, from Michigan, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, to Georgia, California and Oregon These gardens provide similar conditions and challenges inherent in most American gardens in order to provide a comprehensive test environment. This year four roses have emerged as Winners. AARS is proud to honor Julia Child, Rainbow Sorbet™, Tahitian Sunset™, and Wild Blue Yonder™ as the very best new roses of the 2006 growing season.
These remarkable winning roses will brighten up any garden and capture the hearts and minds of rose lovers everywhere. "Only the very best can meet the standards of the All-America Rose Selections," said AARS President Charlie Anderson. "We are truly awed by this year's winners, and by the creativity of the introducers who breed such exciting and inspiring varieties. The rose-growing community across the country has a lot to look forward to next year."
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JULIA CHILD. Julia Child is a floribunda 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-flowering plant.
This rose has a rounded habit and excellent disease resistance, raising the bar for any English-style rose. Julia Child also features a sweet licorice perfume that exudes from each fully-petaled flower, as well as a butter-gold color that's perfectly suited to any landscape.
Julia Child was hybridized by Tom Carruth and is introduced by Weeks Roses of Upland, Calif.
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RAINBOW SORBET. Rainbow Sorbet is as cool and delicious as it sounds. This multicolor floribunda harkens back to the popular variety Playboy from which it is a descendant.
More rugged and winter hardy, Rainbow Sorbet shows a resistance to black spot similar to many shrub roses on the market. With a symphony of bright color uninterrupted throughout the season, Rainbow Sorbet can be used either as a powerful accent or as a bold border for those who like to make a statement in their garden.
Rainbow Sorbet was developed by Ping Lim of Bailey Nurseries and is being introduced by The Conard Pyle Co. of West Grove, Penn.
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TAHITIAN SUNSET. Tahitian Sunset offers a little slice of paradise. This brightly-hued hybrid tea 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 flowers with about 30 petals to create blooms up to six 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.
Tahitian Sunset is hybridized by Keith W. Zary and is being introduced by Jackson & Perkins of Medford, Ore.
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WILD BLUE YONDER. Wild Blue Yonder offers a journey into uncharted territory. This lavender blend is the first 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 'shrubby' bush, its abundant, deep-green leaves provide the perfect accent to the extraordinarily novel color.
Hybridized by Tom Carruth, Wild Blue Yonder is being introduced by Weeks Roses of Upland, Calif.
Julia Child, Rainbow Sorbet, Tahitian Sunset and Wild Blue Yonder will be available for the 2006 planting season through select catalogs and at retail garden stores nationwide.
AARS winning roses are judged on 15 key gardening characteristics including disease resistance, hardiness, color, form, flowering effect, fragrance, vigor and novelty. Winners must perform exceptionally well over a two-year period in 20 test gardens throughout the United States.