AARS winning roses embody all of the characteristics today’s homeowners desire in a garden plant. Each AARS winning rose excelled in an extensive two-year trial program where it’s judged on everything from rose disease resistance to flower production, color and fragrance. These test are conducted in 23 gardens nationwide to represent all climate zones. Each garden is also given the care of an average home garden so these roses aren’t spoiled. If they can thrive during testing, they will most certainly thrive in your garden.
Selection Process
Each AARS test garden has a judging panel that participates in a bi-annual scoring process. In this “blind process,” judges do not know the breeder or introducer for the plants they’re grading, and they’re asked to submit scores by serial number. In test gardens, the roses are carefully evaluated on a number of criteria. In fact, the judges put many hours of observation into monitoring the performance of the top roses throughout the growing season. They grade each of the roses on the following characteristics:
- Novelty
- Form - of both buds and open blooms
- Color throughout the blooming cycle
- Aging quality
- Flowering effect
- Rose Fragrance
- Stem/cluster form
- Plant habit
- Vigor
- Foliage
- Rose Disease resistance
- Repeat bloom quality
Each winning rose bears the AARS red rose logo as a “seal of approval” that ensures gardeners that the plants will grow beyond expectations with little maintenance.
Rose Care
AARS Rose Selections for Previous Year | top of page |
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Rose Classifications
There are more than 300 different rose varieties growing throughout the world, with new varieties being added each year. We only carry about 160 of these different varieties, but we do have some varieties in each of these classifications.
Hybrid Tea Roses are the most popular of all the roses. They have long, narrow buds that open into large blooms with one blossom on each stem. They bloom throughout the growing season in a wide range of colors. These upright plants grow three feet or taller.
Floribunda Roses are great for low borders or for lining walkways. They are shorter than hybrid tea roses and often bloom more freely. Floribunda roses bear great quantities of flower clusters on medium length stems throughout the summer. They are among the easiest roses to grow and are excellent landscape plants.
Grandiflora Roses have the best qualities of both hybrid teas and floribundas. The upright bushes usually grow quite tall, reaching five to six feet. This makes them striking accent plants for the back of the flower border. The flowers are in clusters on long stems. They are hardy and bloom continuously throughout the growing season.
Miniature Roses are tiny versions of the other types of roses and generally grow less than two feet tall. The blossoms are smaller, but they are very attractive. Miniatures are hardy and are excellent for edgings or for mass plantings.
English Garden Rose 'David Austin' They have recently become very popular. They are hybrids from crossing old garden roses with modern bush roses. They are very fragrant and have a unique flower form that adds a new look to the garden. They generally grow 3 to 6 feet tall, are great for fencelines and hedges, and usually bloom repeatedly during the summer.
Antique Roses are some of the oldest varieties of roses that are still propagated. They make outstanding landscape shrubs that usually grow 4 to 6 feet tall. They are fragrant and provide something different for the yard.
Groundcover Roses are an alternative to the common plants used for groundcovers in the yard. They grow 1 to 3 feet tall and give some fast cover for slopes or large areas. They have spectacular blossoms in the late spring and some varieties will bloom repeatedly. They require very little maintenance.
Climbing Roses are not truly climbers because they do not attach themselves to surrounding objects. They have long arching canes that must be attached to supports such as trellises, arbors, posts, or fences. Many different colors and types of blooms are available as climbers. Large flower climbers have thick, stiff canes that get 10 or more feet long and bloom several times during the summer. Ramblers usually have long, thin canes with clusters of small flowers that bloom once in the late spring or early summer. Some will bloom again later in the year.
Shrub or Hedge Roses are broad, spreading roses that are hardy and require little maintenance. Varieties grow from 4 to 12 feet tall with numerous canes and thick foliage. This makes them ideal for informal hedges and background plantings. Flowers can be single or double and are borne at the ends of the canes or in branches along the canes. Some varieties flower once in the spring while others flower continuously. Shrub roses produce abundant rose hips after flowering.
Tree Roses can be any rose that has been grafted on a straight, sturdy trunk. Trunks may be one to two feet high for miniatures or three to four feet high for hybrid teas. All tree roses require careful pruning and special winter protection in our area.
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