Bob and I just returned from a wonderful two weeks in North Truro, MA…it was heavenly down on Cape Cod. Summer lingers there as it is a peninsula in the summer-warmed Atlantic Ocean, close to the Gulf Stream. We saw lots of wonderful things…pods of humpback whales with their spouts visible without binoculars, harbor seals, a huge sunfish, and one very large shark fin. The weather was beautiful and it was easy to forget all the responsibilities at home and at the Rose Garden at Elizabeth Park. I love the shrub roses most. The nice thing about staying for a couple of weeks is that by the time we need to return home, I am always ready. I’m a home-body at heart, and I miss Rahjah and Missie (our kitties) and my roses at home.

So, here we are…time to return to reality!! Part of what I do during the year as a Consulting/Master Rosarian and as Representative for Elizabeth Park is to travel around to speak to groups. I get to meet lots of wonderful people doing this and have made friends with countless members of garden clubs and other gatherings over the years. Rose gardening is a pretty gigantic subject, so I always ask what folks would like to hear about. Most folks just want the basics (I call it Roses 101), but some garden clubs invite me back for a repeat performance. Usually they have something on their agenda thet they are interested in; like the South Windsor Garden Club. They want a program on Sustainable Roses for one of their meetings and have asked me to return and present a picture show.

Rose Shrubs

Elizabeth Park, as America’s oldest municipal rose garden, has everything that you would think of that would go with that title… including lots of disease that’s imbedded in the soil over our 100 plus years. We do spray, but by the time Fall arrives and the weather gets a little more damp, disease always shows up. That’s why I headed over with my camera on a lovely day last week, looking for the most disease-resistant roses and shrub roses in the garden. They all smiled at me for their portraits.

Some of them you would expect to look great, if you are a rose grower. Of course, the ‘Knock Outs’ all looked just fine, as did the ‘Easy Elegance’ varieties…’Centennial,’ ‘Funny Face,’ ‘Macy’s Pride,’ ‘Yellow Submarine,’ etc. Others also looked pretty good. ‘Julia Child’ is a beautiful, fragrant yellow floribunda…she looks super! So does ‘Cinco de Mayo.’ And, ‘Home Run.’ Hybridizers have been working hard over a number of years to create roses that are easier for us to grow without spraying.

The All American Rose Selection

The All America Rose Selection (AARS) used to have test gardens all over the United States…I believe before the whole thing fell apart a couple of years ago, there were 23 nationwide. They decided in 2010 that they no longer wanted these test gardens sprayed with any fungicide to see how these cultivars would make out. With the hundreds of roses entered in the program, it was always hard to win the top prize, even with spraying.

In order to win that AARS award, the rose must do exceptionally in all parts of the country. With the no-spray regulation, it became even more difficult. AARS finished up this year, and is fading into the sunset. But, the last two award winners won big for disease resistance and are side-by-side in the north east section of the rose garden at the park, and when I got to them last Thursday, I couldn’t believe my eyes! Both these cultivars came from Conard Pyle/Star Roses and they are just amazing. You will need them in your garden!

The Winner!

This year’s winner is ‘Sunshine Daydreams.’ It is a lovely, tall grandiflora with really beautiful blossom form. The blooms are slow to spiral open and are a gorgeous bright yellow that fades to cream on the edges of the petals. The foliage is medium green and very glossy…and these bushes have been in bloom virtually all summer. There are still many buds left to take us through until the ground freezes. What a lovely display! There is a wee bit of black spot at the bases of some of the plants, but that is not unusual given the time of year. All roses (and most other plants) can get a little in the fall.

The 2013 AARS winner is a spectacular hybrid tea (that’s right! A hybrid tea, most of which are famous for susceptibility to fungal infections) that is a soft, baby-pink color. The blooms are very large and there are plenty of petals. The plants are really tall for the first year (we planted them this spring), and the foliage is dark green and glossy. The rose’s name is ‘Francis Meilland,’ named for the man who smuggled the ‘Peace’ rose out of France in 1945. The best thing about this gorgeous rose is that it is strongly and sweetly fragrant! Usually, fragrant shrub roses are black spot magnets, but all 20 roses in the bed are squeaky clean.

All this is really good news for all of us! We have been thankful for the shrub roses that are easy care, but now we can add some hybrid teas with fragrance to the list. Oh, Happy Day! I hope this is the wave of the future!