When Trialing Roses You Have To Be Ruthless

I have managed large public rose gardens. I worked for a nursery that grew over  a million and a half bud and bloom, container roses per year. I have been an (AARS) All American Rose Selection judge. I specified roses as a landscape designer. So when it came time to develop a new line of roses I knew that I had to be ruthless. I needed to create a testing system that separated the wheat from the chaff.

Fellows Riverside Gardens, Rose Garden in Youngstown, Ohio

When growing finished roses for a nursery, it because quite clear that the roses in two and three gallon pots had a limited shelf time. With each passing week foliar diseases became a greater problem, even though we sprayed them with fungicides once a week. The daily overhead watering and the tight spacing were ideal conditions for black spot and mildew. So when developing our new trialing program, container trails with overhead watering was the first step, except we would not use any fungicides.

Greehouse container trials with overhead watering and no fungicides

Ringo® Double Pink was a standout in our container trials

As a rose garden manager, it was clear that over time a rose garden, that is not rotated, accumulated a bank of fungal spores that would infect our clean, newly planted bushes. The first year the roses looked fine, but in year two the disease took hold. That is why I do no rotate our rose trial beds. That is why we look at them for three years in the garden before we make any decisions about which plants to introduce. And of course we never use fungicides.     

Drone view of our trial garden 

Oso Easy® Double Pink was a clear winner in our garden trials

We get trial roses from about five different breeders and every one goes through this process. The odds are most selections will be trashed after two years. Any plant that show disease is remove from the trail. Our goal is to throw them away as quickly as possible to make room for new selections. If I can find one rose variety out of a hundred that remains clean, looks good in the container and in the garden, flowers repeatedly and is better than what's on the market I am happy. Here are few of my favorites that have passed the test and made our catalog.

At Last® - The fragrant blooms just keep on coming 

At Last® rose combines all the romance of a fragrant, fully-petaled tea rose with the no-nonsense practicality and vigor of a landscape rose. Enjoy a non-stop display of large, sweetly perfumed orange blossoms from late spring through frost. Handsome, glossy foliage and a vigorous, rounded habit makes it ideal for use in the landscape or flower garden. Developed by Colin Horner of England.

Oso Easy® Double Pink creates a blanket of rich pink blooms

Oso Easy® Double Pink -  Excellent disease resistance and abundant, continuous blooms set this low mounded, ground covering rose apart from the crowd. Ten or more double flowers are produced per stem, creating a cheerful mass of rich pink all summer. Glossy, dark green leaves add to its appeal. Developed by Meilland International of France. It has gone on to win a Gold Medal in the Baden-Baden Rose trials, the ARS Best Shrub Rose in Ground Cover Form, and the Medaille d' Or in the Concours International trials in Nyon, France.   

Oso Easy Double Red has gone on to win over 10 trialing awards

Oso Easy® Double Red - A floriferous rose with tulip-like doubled blooms. Dark, disease-resistant foliage, and a sturdy, rounded habit. Flowers are held well above the foliage, providing a distinctive, showy look. Developed by Meilland International of France, this rose has already won ten awards including the 2020 Rose of the Year, the Bagatelle Rose Trials 1st Prix, Prize of the Public and Certificat de Mérite; Le Roeulx Rose Trials Gold Medal; Lyon Rose Trials 1st Prize and Prize for Rebloom and Disease Resistance; Monza Rose Trials City of Monza Prize and Gold Medal plus four others. This is a must grow landscape rose. 

Oso Easy Enfuego™ is a warm rose that changes colors

Oso Easy En Fuego® - A show stopping new rose with all the bright colors and fun of a Mexican fiesta. Super clean, glossy, dark green leaves are the backdrop for nonstop blooms and fiery hues of yellow, orange, and red. If ever there was an impulse plant, this is it! Hardy and heat tolerant, it has been a standout performer in both Michigan and Florida trials. Another great plant hybridized by Chris Warner of the UK.  

Oso Easy Ice Bay® has super dark green and pure white flowers 

Oso Easy Ice Bay® - “Simply beautiful” are the first words that will come to your mind when looking at this pure white rose. Incredibly effective in the landscape, its beauty lies in the simplicity of its flowers and their large silky petals. Hardy and heat tolerant, this rose keeps its beautiful dark leaves and bright flowers until the late autumn. While a single specimen of this special rose is enough to draw attention, it’s especially unforgettable as a mass planting.        

Oso Easy Peasy® is one of the very best, ground covereing landscape roses

The 2024 Rose Of The Year and the winner of the 2017 American Rose Society Award of Excellence in the No Spray division, this rugged beauty sends continuous sprays of vivid pink flowers from early summer through frost. Developed by the award winning rose breeder, David Charles Zlesak. It is Easy Peasy!

Ringo® Double Pink is perhaps the best Persica hybrid to date

Ringo® Double Pink - Ringo roses glam up the garden! Developed with the extraordinary talent of the UK’s Chris Warner, this series provides disease resistance, durability, long bloom times, and the novelty of colorful flowers that not only sport a bright ring in their center, but transform in tone as they age. Ringo Double Pink is a cheerful, pure pink rose with loads of semi-double flowers accented with bright yellow stamen surrounded by a distinctive wine-stained eye. More than just a pretty face, it is also very hardy, with glossy foliage that exhibits excellent black spot resistance. Winner of the First Class Certificate at the Hague Rose Trials.  

Rise Up Lilac Days® has a wonderful, intense fragance

Rise Up Lilac Days® - Breathe deep: the fragrance of this nearly thornless rambling climber is both alluring and enchanting. Waves of lovely lilac flowers arrive through the season in bouquet-like clusters. Perfect for scrambling up arches and fences. The romantic semi-doubled flowers continue right up to frost and its glossy, dark green foliage has shown superb black spot resistance. Great as a cut flower as you can see below. Developed by the extraordinary talent Chris Warner of England.  

The End - Thank you for visiting and tell a friend