By Dr. Leda Horticulture, O. R.
July, 2005
Dr. Leda gazes into her crystal ball and, surprise
surprise, sees many beautiful new roses in her future...
Here are five more of my favorite roses that will be
available for the 2006 rose season. Start your wish lists
early this year!
Rainbow Sorbet
This delicious new rose is hybridizer Ping Lim's
third AARS winner in five years, and it certainly looks
good enough to eat with a spoon.
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Rainbow Sorbet,
2006 AARS Winner. White and yellow with pink
and reddish edges (Floribunda) |
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Which reminds me of
a funny story. Many years ago, back when I worked at
a nursery, one of my duties was to write descriptive
signs for the roses on display. One day I decided to
perform an amusing little experiment: for one group
of roses, I wrote descriptions that evoked images of
food, using appetizing adjectives like delicious, creamy,
rich, frothy, scrumptious, and good enough to eat with
a spoon. For a different group of similar roses, I wrote
descriptions that were more sexual in nature, employing
such suggestive adjectives as sensuous, voluptuous, shapely,
erect, ravishing, and slutty. I'm not sure what it says
about rose shoppers (or about my writing abilities),
but within a week we sold twice as many of the foodie
roses as we did the sexy roses. Go figure.
Anyhow, back to 'Rainbow Sorbet.' It's already at
the top of my shopping list for 2006, and this is not just
because it's named after a wonderful dessert (a rose
by any other name would taste as sweet, right Romeo?),
or because it looks like such a nice cool refreshing
treat for a hot summer day. Or even because I've made
myself ravenously hungry with all this incessant food
writing. The fact is, I've been VERY impressed with
the reports I've heard from gardeners who've been test
growing 'Rainbow Sorbet.' They rave about its disease
resistance, its huge dramatic flowers, its long vase
life, its magnificent fragrance, and its excellent
rebloom. And, well, it is awfully pretty.
This all makes sense, since 'Rainbow Sorbet' is
a descendant of that tough and popular old workhorse
floribunda 'Playboy.' (You know, they're superb roses
and all, but 'Playboy' and 'Sexy Rexy' might want
to think about changing their names to something like
'Tiramisu,' or 'Creme Brulee,' or 'Blackened Ahi Tuna
Seared With Shiitake Glaze, Ginger, and Wasabi'.) Why
yes, thanks, now that you mention it I think I will have
seconds on the 'Rainbow Sorbet.'
Tahitian Sunset
Grab your passports, everybody, and fasten your
seat belts: Keith Zary's breathtaking exotic multi-hued
new AARS winner is taking us all on vacation! You might
not get an actual tan just from looking at 'Tahitian
Sunset,' but you could qualify for frequent-flyer
miles, it's so close to the real thing.
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Tahitian
Sunset, 2006 AARS Winner. Peachy apricot-pink
with glowing orange and sunny yellow highlights
(Hybrid Tea). |
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The flowers have a classic high-centered Hybrid
Tea form, measure up to a spectacular 6" in diameter
with a 30 petal count, are carried on strong long straight
16" stems for your flower arranging pleasure, and
have an intriguing fragrance. Test gardeners all
around the country have been reporting excellent
disease resistance.
'Tahitian Sunset' is hybridizer Keith Zary's ninth
winner of the prestigious All American Rose Selection
award, keeping him neck and neck with Tom Carruth as
the world's leading rose breeder. The competition between
these two giants is heating up, and that's bound to
be good news for rose lovers everywhere. Anyway, this
new rose is certainly calling my name.
Truly Yours
Blend of soft pink pastels (Hybrid Tea)
'Truly Yours' has been truly mine since last February,
and so far I've been truly pleased with its heroic
resistance in the face of its first brutal Louisiana
summer. It's a real trouper.
This striking new Tom Carruth introduction has unbelievably
huge, monstrously big flowers and exceptionally large
leaves that somehow manage to perch gracefully on a
sweet, compact bushy little plant. The fragrance is
on the light side, but definitely pleasing, in a tantalizing,
alluring, come-closer way. The various shades of pink
in 'Truly Yours' tend to be in the salmon to watermelon
range (yes, I'm still thinking about lunch), with an
old fashioned charm to them. They definitely want to
be the center of attention in bouquets, and are especially
lovely with sky blue Delphiniums, pale green Hydrangeas,
and an assortment of spiky purple Salvias.
Soaring Spirits
Devoted and astute readers may recall that early
last summer a
huge pecan tree fell over on my house, crushing
a fence and lethally pruning several climbers in the
process. It was a tragic and heartbreaking event when
it occurred, but six months later when rose planting
time rolled around, tears evaporated, grief vanished,
and spirits soared as I stood staring at the wide new
gap along my rebuilt fence. Because that gap that meant
I had had room to plant at least two new climbing roses!
Since there don't seem to be any roses yet named 'Evaporating
Tears' or 'Vanishing Grief,' I decided to go with Tom
Carruth's pretty new climber, 'Soaring Spirits.'
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| Soaring Spirits. Striped
yellow and pink, ruffled (Climbing Rose). |
'Soaring Spirits' is a cross between two very healthy,
reliable, and prolific climbing roses, 'Berries 'n'
Cream' and 'Fourth of July,' so I figured I couldn't
go wrong with the beautiful new offspring. And so far
I'm delighted. The newly-planted climber has already
taken off like gang-busters, optimistically sending
out lots of long, strong, show-offy canes in all directions.
These canes are much longer (some have already reached
an impressive 10'-12'!) and more flexible than the
typical growth of parent 'Fourth of July' or grandparent
'Altissimo,' which both tend to be bushier and more
stiffly upright. 'Soaring Spirits' has been very cooperative
and easy to train along the fence, and quick to send
up lateral shoots.
Although the growth habit differs, the ruffled yellow
and pink striped flowers on 'Soaring Spirits' remind
me quite a bit of 'Fourth of July': the same size,
the same 5-8 petal count, the same enormous clusters,
the same cheerful bright yellow burst of stamens, the
same variable striping pattern that fluctuates with
temperature (the pink stripes seem to dominate in hotter
weather). And, the same generous repeat bloom.
I haven't noticed much fragrance, but since 'Soaring
Spirits' is such a healthy, showy, vigorous beauty,
already covering a good portion of the bare fence only
six months after I planted it, I'm more than happy
with its splendid performance.
Valentine's Day
Pure velvet RED! (Miniflora Climber)
Luckily this romantic little mini-climber doesn't
take up much space, since its neighbor 'Soaring Spirits'
is already hogging so much of my fence. 'Valentine's
Day' is perfect for filling in smaller spaces (and
would be great in containers), but it's by no means
a demure rose. In fact, I'd say it has a bit of a Napoleon
complex. It's not just red, it's RED! It's a
rose that screams, "Notice me! Fall in love with me!
Obsess over me! Buy me diamonds and send me boxes of
chocolate and expensive French lingerie!" And believe
me, you'll seriously consider doing so.
The long-lasting RED! flowers bloom in large
clusters, and are very quick to rebloom. And the rich
velvety RED! stays that way, right up until
the bitter end, not fading to drab shades of murky
purple or burnt black like so many fickle red roses
tend to do.
Plant 'Valentine's Day' in a large urn on a balcony
with blue violets growing at its feet, and you just
might be inspired to compose a love poem. Or at the
very least, to finish that sexy box of chocolate truffles
you sent it last week.
The buds open a bit darker with cheerful
bright sunny gold overtones (reminiscent of 'Graham
Thomas'), then gradually soften to the delightful creamy
pastel butter color that makes my mouth water. This shade
of yellow goes so well with everything, even pinks, but
has always been a major challenge to achieve in the garden.
Until now I've only been able to provide little bursts
with early spring daffodils, or an occasional maverick
sunflower that was supposed to be white but turns out
to be this wonderful color. I'm elated to finally have
it available as a year-round addition to my garden palette.
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