American Garden Rose Selections™ was established to recognize and recommend the best garden-worthy rose varieties for the various regions of the United States through testing. The goal is to provide objective and reliable information to rose gardeners. AGRS™ is a true national rose trial in the United States that tests the same roses in gardens […]
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Resplendent – shining brilliantly: characterized by a glowing splendor. What a definition! And you can bet that any rose that has that description is one you want to consider for your garden. Welcome to the world of hybrid rugosa roses. Rugosa species are native to northern China, Korea, Japan and the far north Pacific Rim
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Good things often come in small packages and that’s true of miniature roses. These little jewels have the great attributes of their full-sized counterparts on a petite scale. Ranging in height from 15 to 30 inches with well-proportioned stems, leaves, and blossoms, most are grown on their own roots and are hardy in our climate.
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You’ve heard the term shrub, and you know what a rose is, but what in the world is a shrub rose? Aren’t shrubs those plants that you grow as hedges to screen you from your neighbor? Or some type of woody plant? Sunset’s Western Garden Book describes shrubs as “woody plants that live for many
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In the introduction to his book, Climbing Roses, noted rosarian Stephen Scanniello says, “Climbing roses are the acrobats and aerialists of the rose garden, the carefree plants that tumble over fences, scale walls and trellises, fling themselves over arches, and swing aloft on ropes and chains.” What an apt description of this large group of
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The beautiful and interesting polyantha roses are a kind of rosarian’s secret. They’re probably not as well-known as other classes of roses, mostly because there are not that many that are classified as polyanthas. While it may be a rather small class of roses, it includes some highly rated varieties that have survived over a
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English roses? Do roses really have nationalities? Certainly there are species roses that originate from a particular area or region of the world, like Rosa chinensis from China. But hybridized roses? Not really. So where does the term “English Rose” come from and what does it include? There is no formal designation by the American
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“A rose is a rose is a rose” is lovely poetry and evokes visions of wonderful blooms. Today, when most people think of a rose, they have a vision of a hybrid tea, roses they see in a florist shop or spilling out of a vase. Their classic high-centered beauty epitomizes the rose, and as
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You may have heard the term old garden rose, but what exactly does that mean? The category of Old Roses (OGR) can be confusing. The working definition of OGRs are classes of roses that were known before 1867. The category of Old Garden Roses was created in 1867 when the first hybrid tea rose ‘La
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Rose of the World; th’ embroidered Tuscany;The scented Cabbage, and the Damacene;Sweet Briar, lovelier name the eglantine;But above all the MuskWith classic names, Thisbe, Penelope,Whose nectarous load grows heavier with the duskAnd like a grape too sweetly muscadine.V Sackville-West, The Garden, 1946 I couldn’t agree more with the noted gardener Vita Sackville-West. Let me introduce
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