As we anxiously await the arrival of spring, many of us are no doubt contemplating what new roses to add to our gardens this coming year.  If you are relying on the descriptions contained in the various catalogs, you may be in for a surprise.  I have yet to read a description in a catalog that said anything negative about a plant.  So where can we get accurate information about what new varieties to consider?  By sharing our experience with one another. 

The following is my attempt to review just how well some of our newer varieties performed for us during the 2009 growing season.  When evaluating roses, we feel you should give a plant time to get established.  Therefore, we evaluate our newer rose varieties over a three year time span before we make a final judgment. 

Artic Circle – is a beautiful creamy white hybrid tea with a distinctive pink edge.  Hybridized by Eddie Edwards, the blooms are large and have a nice high spiraled center.  This variety is growing nicely in our garden on both Fortuniana and Multiflora rootstock. 

Big Red – is a nice medium red hybrid tea from Eddie Edwards.  Having grown this variety for 3 years, we like the size of the blooms which also have nice exhibition form.  The blooms are very similar to those of Let Freedom Ring, however the bush is not quite as vigorous.

Blackout – is a very dark red hybrid tea from Eddie Edwards.  Our 2nd year Fortuniana plant has grown and bloomed well.  While the blooms have lots of substance, they tend to be a little flat and too small for exhibition.  We’ll watch for at least one more year.

Bolivar – is a new pink blend floribunda hybridized by Bob Martin.  I moved this plant to Multiflora rootstock in hopes that the plant vigor would improve.  However, so far it has continued to have weak stems that will not hold the large blooms. 

Bugatti  - is a dark mauve hybrid tea.  Our 1st year plant on Fortuniana rootstock was a little slow to get started.  The blooms seem to have nice size and exhibition form.  Only time will tell about this variety for us.

Dayna Sawyer - is a lovely creamy white blushed with pink hybrid tea from Eddie Edwards.  Our 1st year plant on Fortuniana rootstock grew and bloomed well.  The blooms have decent size and good form, but may be a little short on petals. 

Desperado – has eye-catching red blend blooms with coloration very similar to Double Delight, especially in cooler weather.  This hybrid tea from Eddie Edwards has good bloom size and exhibition form.  Our Fortuniana rootstock plants are of medium height.  The only negatives about this variety are lack of fragrance and bloom production, as the plant is a little slow to repeat.

Dream Come True – is an AARS award winning yellow blend grandiflora hybridized by Dr. John Pottschmidt.  This variety just does not like our hot climate so we will be discarding.

Easy Does It - is a 2010 AARS floribunda from Harkness family in England.  The ruffled blooms have attractive peachy pink  color.  This variety is a sport of Livin’ Easy.  The plant is a vigorous grower and bloomer.  It also has good disease resistance.

Falling In Love – was hybridized by Tom Carruth of Weeks Roses.  The delicate light pink blooms of this hybrid tea have nice size and exhibition form.  This variety appears to grow well on about any rootstock.  Wish it had a few less thorns.  

Great Rosarians of the World - is a hybrid tea from Eddie Edwards.  Classified as an apricot blend, our blooms tend to be a mixture of light and dark yellow.  The ruffled blooms have nice size and are best when fully open.  Not yet sure about exhibition potential.

Here’s Charlie – is a pink blend hybrid tea from Eddie Edwards.  After 3 years, we are finally ready to shovel prune this variety, as it just will not grow for us.  While we were occasionally teased with a nice vibrant pink bloom, they were just to few and far between. 

Here’s Gert - is a coral pink hybrid tea that Eddie Edwards named in honor of his mother.  Our Fortuniana rootstock plants grow and produce lots of nice sized blooms with generally good form.  This is a nice variety.

Here’s Sam – is a large luminous pink hybrid tea from Eddie Edwards that he named for his father.  The blooms are somewhat similar to those of Hot Princess.  The trick with this variety is to get a long stem proportionate to the bloom size, as our Fortuniana plant is slow to grow.  I plan to try this variety on Multiflora rootstock to see if I can get it to grow better.

Hey Paula – is registered by hybridizer Eddie Edwards as a yellow blend hybrid tea.  One of the parents of this variety is Gemini, which is one of our favorite roses.  We had such great expectations for this rose which have sadly not come true for us.  Our sprawling plant has weak stems and small creamy white with a pink edge blooms.  We’ll probably discard this variety.

Impulse - is a brilliant orange hybrid tea from the florist industry.  After a slow start, our maiden plant produced some very nice blooms with good form and size.  We are looking forward to seeing how this variety improves in its 2nd season with us.

King Kong – is an apricot blend hybrid tea from the cut flower industry.  Most of our blooms have been a muddy white and very small.  We have heard many good things about this rose from other rosarians, but our plant has just not produced well.  In hopes that we just got a bad plant, we will probably replace our existing plant with another of the same variety.

Love Me Tender - was hybridized by John Sheldon.  The well formed blooms of this hybrid tea have a deep mauve center fading to white on the edges.  The rose grows and blooms well, but the blooms probably lack size to be good for exhibition.  Still a nice rose, especially for all the Elvis fans.

Lovely Layla - has a nice soft creamy white to light yellow bloom with a pink edge.  Hybridized by Eddie Edwards, our 1st year plant grew well and produced some nice sized blooms.  Time will tell about exhibition potential.

 Marlon’s Day – is a white sport of Moonstone found by Fred Wright of North Carolina.  This hybrid tea is growing well on both Fortuniana and Multiflora rootstock.  The blooms are outstanding with good size and form.  This is a ‘must have” rose!

Miss B. Wright – is another medium pink hybrid tea from Eddie Edwards.  So far we are having trouble getting this variety to grow.  We continue to hear good things about this rose so we will keep trying for another season.

Miss Kitty - is a sport of Cajun Moon found by Kitty Belendez.  Classified as a hybrid tea, our 1st year plant on Multiflora rootstock grew well and produced some very nice pure white blooms with good form. 

Miss Olene - is a hybrid tea with creamy white blooms that have a soft pink edge.  Hybridized by Eddie Edwards, our 1st year plant grew well and bloomed well.  We are hoping that the bloom size improves a little with age.

Moon Over Miami - is a wonderful new white hybrid tea from Eddie Edwards.  Our 1st year plant has us very excited about  the potential of this rose.  The big blooms have clean white color with very good form and substance.  Great white roses are worth their weight in gold and this might just be a great one!

Over the Moon - is a new apricot blend hybrid tea available from Weeks Roses.  If you like Just Joey, you will probably like this rose as it has very similar coloration.  Our 1st year plant produced some nice blooms with good form.  Bloom size has been a little small so far.

Paradise Found - is a new red blend hybrid tea from the Meilland family.  The blooms have a good deep pink to ivory color.  Our 1st year plant grew well.  Time will tell.

Parole (Buxom Beauty) – is a deep pink hybrid tea from Kordes.  Our Fortuniana rootstock plant produces very large and eye-catching blooms, but the stems are generally a little short.  We’re hoping the plant vigor will improve with age.

Pink Promise - is a 2009 AARS winner from Coiner.  This hybrid tea has beautiful soft light pink blooms with good size and form.  Our 1st year plant grew like a horse for us.  So far this has proven to be a very nice variety.

Polo Queen – is a sport of Cajun Moon classified as a pink blend hybrid tea.  Found by Cal Hayes of California, the  blooms are almost pure white and generally have good form.  However, the blooms are just too small for us.   

Pumpkin Patch - is a new caramel orange floribunda from Christian Bedard of Weeks Roses.  Our 1st year plant produced some very nice blooms on a compact plant.  This will be a variety that folks will either like or hate the color.  We like it.

Rock & Roll – is a striking red blend grandiflora from Tom Carruth of Weeks Roses.  The eye-catching blooms are dark red with white strips.  The blooms are a little too small for exhibition, but still a very nice addition to the garden.  

Stephen Rulo - is classified as a russet grandiflora.  Our first year maiden was a little slow to get started, but by fall we saw some very nice deep mauve to lavender blooms with good form.  We are looking forward to seeing how this variety improves with age.   

Susan Barry – has nice deep pink blooms with a hint of red on the edge.  Hybridized by Eddie Edwards, this hybrid tea is very slow to repeat bloom for us.  This variety appears to not like hot weather.  However, in cooler temperatures, the blooms have good size and form for exhibition.

Sweet Promise - is an orange-pink hybrid tea from Meilland.  The deep salmon blooms have lots of petals, but the form is too open for exhibition except as an open bloom.  This variety does have a very nice fragrance.

Tabatha – is a pink blend hybrid tea from Eddie Edwards.  The blooms have nice color and form, however they are a little small for exhibition.  At minimum, this is a good garden variety as it grows and blooms well.

The Wright Brothers – was hybridized by Eddie Edwards and named for Fred and Jack Wright, two brothers from North Carolina who are outstanding rose exhibitors.  This hybrid tea produces exhibition form blooms that are a creamy white with deep pink edges.  The bush grows and blooms well, but is prone to blackspot and mildew.  If you can keep it disease free, you will be rewarded.

Winner’s Circle – is a dark red climber from William Radler.  Advertised as a climbing Knock Out, we are growing this variety as a large shrub.  The blooms are indeed very similar to Knock Out but perhaps have a little more of a true red color.  So far this variety has not impressed us as it is slow to repeat and is not very vigorous.