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Contact:
Alexandra Withrow
Ruder Finn/San Francisco
(415) 249-6776
withrowa@ruderfinn.com
2006 ALL-AMERICA ROSE SELECTIONS WINNERS MAKE HISTORIC DEBUT
ON LEAD FLOAT IN THE 117th ROSE PARADE
See World’s Best New Roses for 2006 in Rose Parade
Beginning at 8 a.m. PST on Jan. 2, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 19, 2005 – For the first time in Rose Parade history, All-America Rose Selections™’ (AARS™) award-winning roses will be featured in the Rose Parade and can be seen on this year’s lead float, the 50-foot-tall Bayer Advanced™ Jack and the Rose Stalk.
Considered the world’s toughest rose trial, the AARS annually recognizes outstanding new roses with one of the most coveted awards in horticulture. The four 2006 AARS winners that will debut on the Bayer Advanced float are Julia Child, Rainbow Sorbet™, Tahitian Sunset™ and Wild Blue Yonder.™ They are among fewer than 200 unique roses recognized by AARS since 1938, and only 34 in the last ten years. Now – after excelling during two years of testing against 15 criteria including ease of maintenance and disease resistance – the 2006 winners are available for public purchase in select catalogs and at retail garden stores nationwide. Visit www.rose.org for more information.
Bayer Advanced is interpreting the “It’s Magical” theme of the 2006 Rose Parade by recreating the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale on its lead float, and is prominently featuring the 2006 AARS winners. This is a milestone for the AARS and rose fans nationwide, as it’s the first time that a float features rose varieties that people can grow themselves versus cut flowers from abroad.
"We’ve been honored to have won an award in the Rose Parade every year since we first entered it in 2001,” says Bayer Advanced marketing vice president Mark Schneid. “But we’re most excited about our Jack and the Rose Stalk float because it’s unique. It’s our own magical interpretation of the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale with a historic first: the AARS winners. Clearly the best roses for 2006."
“Only the world’s very best roses can meet the standards of the All-America Rose Selections, and we’ve had a lot of fun getting these beautiful plants to bloom in the middle of winter so that all of America can celebrate their debut,” said AARS president Steve Hutton. “We are very excited to see our 2006 winners involved in something as magnificent and exciting as the annual Rose Parade.”
- Julia Child is a floribunda that was personally chosen by the award-winning chef herself. Exhibiting excellent disease resistance, this butter-gold colored rose features the fragrance of licorice candy.
- Extremely rugged and winter hardy, Rainbow Sorbet is a multicolored floribunda shrub rose that shows a strong resistance to black spot.
- Tahitian Sunset is a vigorous plant that produces 14-16 inch stems, and flowers with about 30 petals to create blooms up to five inches in diameter. It is complex in color with a delightful licorice fragrance.
- The first rose in this color range to garner the AARS designation since 1984, Wild Blue Yonder is a vigorous ‘shrubby’ bush with velvety warm wine-purple blooms and a strong spicy rose perfume.
To be sure you’re buying the best roses available, look for the AARS rose logo, on both the 2006 winners and other AARS-approved roses. For images, please visit www.rose.org.
About All-America Rose Selections (www.rose.org)
All-America Rose Selections is a nonprofit 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, disease resistance and beauty of roses for American home gardens. Today, the AARS testing program is one of the most successful and highly regarded of its kind in the world, having brought to the forefront such roses as Peace, Mister Lincoln, Knock Out, and Bonica. |
