The arrival of every New Year brings anticipation for the coming of spring and the rebirth of strikingly beautiful gardens throughout the country, but for rose lovers, the real excitement is for the new All- America Rose Selections™ (AARS™) 2006 Winners.

And this year, we have something to celebrate! For the first time in the history of the Pasadena Rose Parade, AARS winners will be featured on a float! Tune in on Monday, January 2nd promptly at 8:00 a.m. PT/11:00 a.m. ET to see Rainbow Sorbet™, Julia Child, Wild Blue Yonder™ and Tahitian Sunset™ make their broadcast debut on the on the lead float: the 50-foot-tall Bayer Advanced™ Jack and the Rose Stalk.

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 float, which will prominently featuring the 2006 AARS winners in its four corners. This is the first time a float will feature rose varieties that people can grow themselves versus cut flowers from abroad.

Additionally, HGTV will highlight AARS in their special "The Making of the Rose Parade." which will air January 1 at 11:00 am PT, and then again January 2 at 7:00 am PT and 10:00 am PT.

The 2006 winners are now available for public purchase in select catalogs and at retail garden stores nationwide. Please visit our website, www.rose.org for more details.

• Rainbow Sorbet™
• Julia Child
• Wild Blue Yonder™
• Tahitian Sunset™

Rainbow Sorbet is as cool and delicious as it sounds. Extremely rugged and winter hardy, this multicolored floribunda shrub rose produces blooms with mixed shades of bright yellow, orange and red that provide a stunning contrast to its glossy, dark green leaves. This vigorous plant grows to approximately 5’ in height, and in our test gardens across the country, it showed excellent disease resistance, especially for black spot. READ MORE

Personally chosen by the award-winning chef herself, this butter-gold colored floribunda combines old- fashioned style with the delicious fragrance of sweet licorice candy. Exhibiting excellent disease resistance for both mildew and black spot, Julia Child features a fully-petaled English-styled bloom on a compactly round plant that is medium-low in height. READ MORE

The first rose in this “lavender blend” color range to garner the AARS designation since 1984, Wild Blue Yonder is an upright, “shrubby bush” featuring large wavy petals that are deep wine-purple layered onto rich lavender. The sweet citrus and rose perfume exuding from this grandiflora, combined with its extraordinary color and resistance to disease, contribute to the overall uniqueness of Wild Blue Yonder. READ MORE

Tahitian Sunset is a little slice of paradise. Complex in color with a delightful anise fragrance, this hybrid tea produces tall elegant buds that spiral open to form blooms up to five inches in diameter. The blossoms on this upright plant start from high- centered orange-yellow buds that open fully to a peachy apricot-pink with yellow highlights framed by glossy emerald green foliage. In our test gardens, Tahitian Sunset exhibited a strong resistance to disease. READ MORE

Winter, The Best Time To Plan Your Spring Garden

Now is the perfect time to start thinking about planning your garden - at least on paper. You may not be able to dig up the dirt, but you can dig up some great catalogues. The 2006 All-America Rose Selections winners, hightlighted in this newsletter will add spice an beauty to your landscape.

Perusing through plant catalogues or garden books is a great way to pass long winter days and make the unspringlike weather seem more bearable. Check out the latest garden planning books, guides and computer software. Some recommended books include "Rose Gardening" and "Successful Rose Gardening".

From the most informal to formal gardens, planning is the most important step toward ensuring a fabulous display of roses. Start looking around your house or lawn for areas that lend themselves to beautiful rose displays. AARS offers its own ideas for designing gardens with different types of roses in various home settings, including rose beds, hedges, patios, walkways and driveways. READ MORE

Stay tuned to our website, www.rose.org, in the coming months for the introduction of our Regional Gardening Guide and new Frequently Asked Questions section. This year will bring new website content and tools to help you get the most out of your roses.