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ALL-AMERICA ROSE SELECTIONS UNVEILS WORLD’S BEST NEW ROSES FOR 2007
Three Striking Beauties Emerge From Toughest Rose Trial on Planet
SAN FRANCISCO, APRIL 19, 2006 – Far from the red carpets and flashbulbs of Tinsel Town, there is an award that honors outstanding performance and brings world fame; however this award is not for actors, it’s for roses. For the past 68 years, the All-America Rose Selections™ (AARS™, www.rose.org) has annually recognized outstanding new roses with one of the most coveted awards in horticulture. AARS is proud to announce the newest members of this elite group: the 2007 award-winners Rainbow Knock Out®, Moondance™ and Strike It Rich™.
The 2007 Winners excelled during two years of rigorous testing against 15 criteria including ease of maintenance and disease resistance. The “AARS Winner” distinction ensures that the rose will perform the best for gardeners nationwide. Every year, rose hybridizers submit top performing roses for two years of review in 23 test gardens in varying climates across the country, which provide similar conditions and challenges inherent in most American gardens. Of the many roses that are tested, only a select few are crowned winners every year.
“This comprehensive testing program guarantees that only the most outstanding roses receive the ‘Winners’ designation, “ said AARS president Steve Hutton. “We’re especially proud of our 2007 winners. They’ll thrive in traditional gardens as well as containers, and people will be thrilled with their intense color, fragrance and disease resistance.”
Rainbow Knock Out
Even more floriferous and disease-resistant than its famous parent, Rainbow Knock Out is a bushy and compact landscape shrub rose with short stems bearing glossy, dark green leaves. Its blooms are single-form flowers that start out as pointed buds and appear abundantly throughout the growing season. The delicate five-petaled flowers are two inches in diameter and are a deep coral-pink color with a yellow center finishing nicely to light coral.
Rainbow Knock Out will have a nice display of blooms late into the season for a lovely fall bloom, and while it does not exhibit a strong fragrance, the petals emit a delicate sweetbriar scent. Suitable for container growing in small spaces, this rose is the prefect accent to any garden. It is also winter hardy to zone 4 and is fully resistant to black spot, mildew and rust.
Rainbow Knock Out is hybridized by William Radler and is introduced by The Conard Pyle Co. of West Grove, Penn.
Moondance
As ethereal and lovely as its name implies, Moondance is a floribunda characterized by large trusses of creamy white, beautifully formed flowers contrasted by very glossy dark green foliage. Upright and well branched, it is an extremely vigorous and tall plant with stems that are typically 14-18 inches long. Rose buds are pointed and oval-shaped in form leading to high-centered flowers, which open flat to about 3˝ -inches in diameter and consist of approximately 25 petals each.
Moondance has an exceptionally delightful spicy fragrance for a white floribunda. In addition, its impressive long stems can also be arranged into an elegant bouquet for displaying in the home. Moondance is highly resistant to black spot, mildew and rust.
Moondance is hybridized by Keith Zary and introduced by Jackson & Perkins of Medford, Ore.
Strike It Rich
A modern version of the classic 1950 AARS award-winner Sutter’s Gold, Strike It Rich resembles its famous ancestor with strong spicy fragrance and elegant buds of deep golden-yellow swirled with ruby red. Yet this contemporary cousin is much easier to grow because of its great disease-resistance and strong natural vigor. This true grandiflora bears loads of long-stemmed blossoms offset by very dark green leaves and unusual deep red stems.
A medium-tall upright bush, Strike It Rich boasts clusters of voluptuous double and informal flowers that are up to 5-inches in diameter with approximately 30 petals each. The flowers are long-lived and retain their blend of gold, orange and red tones to the very end. The blooms are stunning in a bouquet or in the landscape.
Strike It Rich is hybridized by Tom Carruth and introduced by Weeks Roses of Upland, CA.
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 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.
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