GARDENER'S READING ROOM
The Art of Gardening
Trees and Shrubs

Roses for 2010

One of the favorite parts of my job is going through the beautiful rose catalogs and ordering those types that will be continuous bloomers and relatively disease and insect free in our climate. The growers come up with so many amazing colors, blossom types, and fragrances each year that I try to extricate the "best of the best" and bring them to Sky each season.

I am very excited about the roses that customers will be seeing in our rose field in 2010. Old favorites such as 'Mister Lincoln' will be rubbing branches with some spectacular new introductions such as 'Easy Does It', the only 2010 AARS winner. A hybrid tea rose with ruffled, orangey-apricot petals and a fruity fragrance, it also possesses a high rate of disease resistance and glossy, green leaves. The Jackson and Perkins 2010 Rose of the Year is 'Sedona', an orange-coral hybrid tea with a strong pear fragrance. A great Weeks introduction is the amazing caramel-orange, fruit-scented floribunda 'Pumpkin Patch'. A non-fading vivid orange climber introduced this year is Star Roses 'Orange Crush', a double-flowered beauty that reaches up to 12' and re-blooms all summer.

Easy Does It		Pumpkin Patch

Ch-Ching

Not into the oranges this year? How about 'Ch-Ching', a sport of the 2007 AARS winner 'Strike It Rich'? Its rich, lemony-yellow color and strong, spicy fragrance coupled with red stems and glossy, green leaves will make it a stand-out in any garden. The 2010 Floribunda of the Year is Jackson and Perkins' 'Monkey Business', a bright yellow sport of the wonderful rose 'Outrageous'. With a licorice scent and clusters of high-centered blooms it will make a fantastic cutting rose.

	Singin' the Blues

Not to be outdone and possibly leaving the best for last are the pink/purple introductions from all of our growers. 'Sweet Intoxication', an amazingly fragrant sport of 'Melody Parfumée', is a rich magenta color with glossy foliage and a nice, columnar growth habit. From the Star grower Bill Radler, who developed the Knock Out series, we have 'CanCan', a climber with dark pink blossoms and a cream center. 'CanCan' is a continuous re-bloomer and highly disease resistant. 'Singin' the Blues', another strong performer from Star, is a true lavender floribunda with a strong, citrus fragrance and open aspect to the blossom. One of the cutest roses I've seen in a long time is the Jackson and Perkins new shrub introduction called 'Bubblicious', a creamy pink and white with a mounding habit and glossy leaves. It makes a perfect hedge rose.

Unfortunately my time has run out, making it imperative that you come and visit Sky Nursery this spring and check out our field of 2,000 roses: hybrid tea, climber, David Austin, shrub, rugosa or ground cover, we will have them all!

By Deborah Boyer
Skylights Spring 2010, Vol 25, No. 1

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