Bare-root roses will be at garden centers in January and they will include the new 2020 roses. We all know how hard it is to resist buying roses that no one else in your neighborhood is growing. But do you know how much work and how long it takes rose breeders to get these roses to market?
Hybridizers create new varieties of roses by taking the pollen from one rose and distributing it by hand onto a bloom of a different variety. Large companies like Weeks and David Austin Roses make about 75,000 to 100,000 individual crosses per year, which result in hundreds of thousands of seeds and seedlings. Only the best of the seedlings are grown, and they are continually evaluated over the next five years as they mature and grow. Once all the testing is done, the selected roses enter production. It takes another two years to build up enough quantities to release to the public.
Altogether, it takes eight to 10 years for these companies to finally bring three to six varieties that are good enough to be marketed to the nurseries for us to buy. Here are the roses that made it to the 2020 Selection.
Hybrid teas and grandifloras
Love at First Sight, introduced by Weeks Roses and hybridized by Christian Bédard, is a red hybrid tea rose with a light pink underside and glossy disease-resistant foliage. It is a medium-sized, vigorous rose with a mild, fruity fragrance.
State of Grace is a striking Bédard grandiflora with romantic old-rose blooms that are soft apricot-gold with a dark pink reverse.
Nakos Love Legacy, hybridized by Benjamin Williams, is a dark to medium pink hybrid tea with a strong tea fragrance and a spreading growth habit.
Stiletto, introduced by Star Roses, is a tall Meilland rose that has deep, strongly fragrant magenta blooms and dark green glossy foliage.
Floribundas
Bright & Shiny, introduced by the hybridizer of the Knock Out roses, William Radler, has apricot-orange suffused with yellowish pink blooms.
Eyeconic Plum Lemonade has an unusual light lavender-pink bloom with a large lavender eye. The plant is compact, grows on its own roots and is hybridized by Jim Sproul and introduced by Star Roses.
Pink Brick House is another compact disease-resistant Sproul rose with eye-catching fluorescent pink blooms.
Introduced by Weeks Roses, Burst of Joy is a vigorous and stunning Tom Carruth rose that has brilliant orange with yellow reverse blooms on a medium bush.
Another gorgeous floribunda by Carruth is Queen of Elegance, which has lavender-pink, old-fashioned multi-petaled blooms with a strong fragrance.
Kordes is introducing White Veranda, a compact 2-foot rose with pure white blooms grown on its own roots.
David Austin Roses
David Austin and Wuthering Heights fans are going to love Emily Brontë. It is an exceptionally beautiful rose that is soft pink with apricot-colored central petals. The blooms have a strong tea and old rose fragrance with hints of citrus.
The Mill on the Floss is a mid-pink Austin rose with deeply cupped and multi-petaled blooms and a medium-strong fruity fragrance.
Tottering-By-Gently has the simplicity of a single petal yellow rose but makes a spectacular display as the blooms grow en masse in big sprays.
Shrub roses
Looking for an unusual bloom with three colors on the plant all at once? The rose named Ringo has a bright golden yellow bloom with a red eye, transitioning to a soft yellow and finally to a unique pink center. This outstanding rebloomer is also disease resistant. It is hybridized by Christopher Warner and introduced by Proven Winners.
In Your Eyes is a vigorous and disease-resistant shrub rose hybridized by Carruth. It has an unusual yellow bloom with a burgundy eye and a moderate fruity fragrance. This rose has the bonus of being very attractive to bees.
Polyanthas
Oso Easy Peasy produces prolific mounds of magenta double blooms. It is a continuously blooming, highly disease resistant and easy to grow rose. It is hybridized by David Zlesak for Proven Winners.
Zlesak has three other polyantha roses introduced by Star Roses: Pretty Polly Lavender, Pretty Polly Pink and Pretty Polly White. All have excellent disease resistance and excellent flowering from spring to fall.
A climber, a miniflora and a groundcover
Vanderwarker is a vigorous climbing shrub that blooms in velvet dark red clusters. It is hybridized by Van Colton Williams.
Life’s Little Pleasures is a Bédard miniflora with masses of old-fashioned lavender-magenta flowers and a moderately fruity fragrance.
Carruth’s Sunset Happy Trails is a non-stop-blooming, vigorous ground cover rose with salmon fading to pink blooms.
Roses of Excellence
Patterned after similar trials in Europe and under the umbrella of the World Federation of Rose Societies, the Biltmore International Rose Trials gives breeders from around the world a place to trial and display their roses. These trials also give home gardeners information on what roses may be potential candidates for our own gardens. Each trial of 150 varieties from growers and breeders worldwide lasts two years, and a permanent jury judges the roses four times per year.
This year’s winners were: Best Hybrid Tea, Moonlight Romantica by Meilland Roses; Best Floribunda, Bliss Parfuma by Kordes Roses; Best Shrub and Most Outstanding Rose, Coral Knock Out by Radler; Best Climbing Rose, Cupid’s Kisses by Bédard; and the Best Disease Resistant Rose and the Rose With Best General Impression went to Sweet Hips introduced by Weeks Roses.
Perwich is a member of the San Diego Rose Society, a Consulting Rosarian and a Master Gardener with UC Cooperative Extension.
