The only AARS rose winner for 2010

Terri Hiatt

In the Garden

Typically, two to four All-America Rose Selection winners are chosen each year. It’s a highly respected and sought-after award, which has been given annually since 1940.

In 70 years, there have been only seven times that just one rose has won. In 1951, no rose was chosen.

For 2010, the sole winner is “Easy Does It.”

Twenty-three test gardens nationwide are used to grow the potential winners, and the gardens represent all the various climates in this country.

The winning rose is supposed to do well in all of those climates, thereby suggesting the rose’s superior performance is undaunted by all weather conditions.

Recently, it was decided that all fungal spraying (for blackspot, mildew and rust) could no longer occur. It’s a great idea, especially for rose growers in climates like the Pacific Northwest who battle those diseases.

The caretakers of each garden are told to treat the roses as an average gardener would treat them, thereby limiting the coddling and spoiling that goes on when rose nuts grow roses.

I still believe the average rose gardener will go the extra mile — if the extra mile is clearly explained — because it’s worth it for the extra hundred blooms one experiences.

But that’s beside the point.

The performance parameters these AARS gardens must adhere to are perfect. The process takes two years to complete, because it’s harder to tell what the rose will ultimately do during the first year.

By the end of the second year, the results are much more dependable.

A potentially great rose may be slow to perform the first year but show how exceptional it is by the end of the second year.

A potentially mediocre rose may look very good the first year but may begin to acquire disease and show no increase in bloom production in the second year.

That’s why the two-year rule is a good one. I’ve followed it myself, except when I plan “Sterling Silver.” That rose only “visited” my rose bed for six months.

That was years ago. Today, I would never grow a rose that was so horribly rated.

Here’s a list of the characteristics a potential AARS winner is judged on: Novelty, form, color throughout the entire bloom process, aging quality, fragrance, repeat bloom quality, disease resistance, vigor, foliage, plant habit, stem cluster form and flowering effect.

Quite a list.

So we can assume that the only AARS winner for 2010 is worthy of a place in your garden, especially with the no-fungal spraying rule in effect during the two years it was observed.

“Easy Does It” is a lovely floribunda which produces clusters of blooms on one stem, as opposed to one bloom on one stem, which is the case with hybrid tea roses.

The apricot, mango, peachy pink and orange blooms have very pretty ruffled/scalloped flowers that emit a moderate fruity fragrance. The foliage is glossy green, which often suggests a rose with better disease resistance.

The amount of bloom it produces is generous, and with proper feeding, it should bloom from June to hard frost.

The rose is 3 to 4 feet tall, making it perfect for a mixed perennial border, a rose garden or a beautiful hedge.

If the container is the size of a half whiskey or wine barrel, “Easy Does It” would do beautifully. You can plant it in a wood, ceramic, terra cotta or plastic container.

By far, the most important consideration is the size of the container. It must be big enough to easily support the rose’s root system.

“Easy Does It” will be introduced and sold by Weeks Roses, a superior rose grower in California, and will be available at garden centers like Peninsula Gardens in Gig Harbor.

In the Garden columnist Terri Hiatt can be reached by e-mail at terrihiatt@hotmail.com.