ARS National Convention May 12, 2014 Cliff Orent There’s More to Roses than Exhibition Form Hybrid Teas, And Miniatures!

Brought to you by the ARS Program Services Sub-Committee

Cliff’s Odyssey 2001 – Planted first rose – Started first Rose garden in Palm Springs with neighbor – Moved a few streets over and started my own rose garden

Palm Springs Rose Garden

Cliff’s Odyssey- continued 2004 – Ran out of Room in Palm Springs – Started Second Rose Growing Location in Rancho Mirage – Started to Import Roses

Rancho Mirage Roses

Cliff’s Odyssey- continued 2006 – Consolidated P.S. & R.M. to Morongo Valley in High Desert; Continued to import roses for commercialization through EuroDesert Roses; Display Garden <5,000 roses

Morongo Valley Roses

Cliff’s Odyssey- continued 2010 – Announced closing of EuroDesert Roses; Commenced winding down nursery and sale of plants from the garden 2012 – Moved back to low desert Established new rose garden Roses – Now down to 611 and will continue to decrease in number Out of rose nursery business completely

I’m sorry, but… No, I don’t have just one plant of such and such variety left that I could sell to you; and No, I’m not set up for propagation

New Low Desert Garden Cathedral City Cove - Before

New Low Desert Garden Cathedral City Cove - After

Side Garden - Before

Side Garden -After

I don’t spend as much time in the backyard garden as I did at first

How Were Roses Chosen for New Garden?  Emphasis on polyanthas (again)  Favorites from EuroDesert collection  Rare roses from Vintage, many originally ordered by EuroDesert  Focus on roses that do well in low desert heat  Very few large roses due to space constraints (most large roses removed this past winter)

Breakdown of current 611 roses OGR 67Micro Min 4 F/Cl F 88MinFl 16 HT/Cl HT152Pol/Cl Pol 157 Gr 14S (modern) 37 LCl 31HKor 4 Min/Cl Min 24HMsk 17

Further Breakdown – Of 67 OGRs: B/Cl B15HP25 Ch 3Misc OGR 1 D 2Moss 1 H Spn 1N 1 H Mult 3P 4 H Wich 3Sp 3 H Gig 1T/Cl T 4

Breakdown of 152 HTs Decorative HTs 83 HTs w/Exhibition Form69 And of the 69 HTs w/Exhibition Form, only about two dozen are recognized as Exhibition HTs

Breakdown of 24 Min/Cl Min 20 are Decorative Minis 4 Have Exhibition Form

A Different Type of Rose Exhibitor  You can be a relatively successful and content exhibitor without focusing on exhibition form HTs and Minis  Choose roses for your garden based upon what will do best in your climate and this will provide the best entries for rose shows

And show roses for reasons other than winning trophies Polyantha Entries

Polyantha Entries – Another Show

Polyanthas Establish Quickly (photo March 2013) Provide Color Even in Desert Summer

Polyanthas – Same Bed Nov 2013

Polyanthas – Same Bed April 2014

Groupings of Polyanthas – Dramatic Statement in the Garden

May Be Grown in Pots

Fine Through Snowy Winters

A few examples: Polyantha Spray Dowager Queen Victorian Award Genesis Award

Polyantha Trophies as reported in Rose Exhibitors’ Forum

Personal Experience with Polyantha Spray Classes 20 Trophies with 15 Varieties – no more than two with any given variety

Personal Experience with Polyantha Spray Classes-2 Only six out of the 15 varieties are on the REF Top 10 List (eight out of the 20 wins) My feeling is that the REF list of top performers is largely due to attributes of the specific roses, but also due to limited availability of polyantha varieties

Dowager/Genesis Trophies as reported by Rose Exhibitors’ Forum

Personal Experience with Dowager/Genesis Classes 20 Trophies with 12 Varieties – only three varieties won two times or more

Personal Experience with Dowager/Genesis Classes-2 Only three out of the 12 varieties are on the REF list of top performers (eight out of the 20 wins) Again, my feeling is that the REF List of top performers is due in part to attributes of the specific roses, but also due to limited availability of varieties eligible for these classes

Victorian Award as reported by Rose Exhibitors’ Forum

Personal Experience with Victorian Award Class 23 Trophies with 15 Varieties – only three varieties won two times or more

Personal Experience with Victorian Award Class-2 Only one out of the 15 varieties is on the REF list of top performers (six out of the 23 wins) My feeling is even stronger here that the REF List of top performers is due in part to attributes of the specific roses, but due even more to limited availability of varieties eligible for this class

And a comment from the REF:

Things to consider Go to rose shows and look for classes that don’t have all that many entries (but beware that those classes may disappear) There are limitations on the number of classes any rose show will have (space, energy, trophies+) – e.g., even the San Diego National Show failed to have Decorative HT, Classic HT or Single-petaled Floribunda Classes

Things to consider (2) Lobby your rose show committee to add classes of interest and offer to assist Check for other rose shows within reasonable driving distance (definition of reasonable is open for interpretation!)

What’s Your Favorite Rose? 470 million results from Google search Variations are endless Favorite climber (OGR, species, mini, etc.) Favorite fragrant rose Favorite exhibition rose Favorite red rose (substitute any other color) Favorite disease resistant Favorite rose this season, month, week

Your “Favorite Rose” How many of you have just one favorite rose? What’s that based on? Garden performance? Rose show performance? Who gave it to you? It’s name or other association? How often has your choice changed?

The EuroDesert “All-Stars” Question frequently asked : What’s your favorite imported rose? Has led to a number of attempts to come up with a “Top 10” list, overall or by type With some time and distance to reflect, this has led to a list of EuroDesert “All-Stars” If you grow any of these, please chime in with your personal experience

The EuroDesert All-Stars-2 The following EuroDesert “All Stars” are in no particular order and the choices were subjective and based mostly upon performance in the high and/or low desert Over 1,000 varieties imported and over 600 offered commercially There were many, many more “stars” and some could have inadvertently been left off this list of All-Stars

‘Broceliande’ Red blend hybrid tea from Adam (France), 2001; strong fragrance, healthy, glossy foliage Won Best Decorative Hybrid Tea (Kathy Strong, LARS 2010

‘Broceliande’ - 2

Broceliande - 3

‘Carole Bouquet’ (‘Martina Mondadori’) Fragrant light pink HT from Adam (France) 2001 Won: Decorative HT Class

‘Yann Arthus-Bertrand’ Orange-pink shrub from Meilland (France) int 2007 – coppery pink with yellow stamens, single; ADR winner (Germany) Won Best Modern Shrub (twice)

‘Manhattan Blue’ Mauve floribunda from Tantau (Germany) int 2006; reddish mauve, yellow stamens Won Floribunda Spray Court (twice)

‘Mrs Robinson’ Pink blend single-petaled floribunda – Orent, 2005 Winner of multiple trophies including Best Seedling at Pacific SW District Rose Show 2005, Best Floribunda Single-Petaled Bloom, Best Floribunda Spray Names for Ramona Robinson, late friend and rose mentor

‘Mrs Robinson’ - 2

‘Mrs Robinson’ - 3

‘Mrs Robinson’ - 4

‘Sweet Dream’ Apricot blend Miniflora from Fryers (U.K.), 1988 not low & bushy in our climate! Awards: RHS - Rose of the Year – UK, 1988 James Mason Gold Medal, RNRS, 1998, Award of Garden Merit (RHS/RNRS), 1993, Belfast Certif. of Merit, 1990

‘Sweet Dream’ - 2 Won Floribunda Spray King (before reclassified as Miniflora)

‘P.S. I Love You’ White hybrid musk – Orent, 2009 – seedling of Darlow’s Enigma – flowers slightly larger and more long-lasting Won Best Seedling at ARS Denver National Rose Show And Best Classic Shrub, Judges Class (Exhibited by Hal Reynolds)

P.S. I Love You - 2

‘Dinky’ Deep pink hybrid musk from Ann Velle-Boudolf (Belgium), int 2002 Numerous awards: Silver Medal, Kortrijk, 2002, Gold Medal, Le Roeulx, 2003, Award of Honor, Germany Rosenfruende, 2003, Gold Medal, Baden-Baden, 2003, Certificate, Paris, 2003, Gold Medal, Geneve, 2004, Gold Medal, Lyon, 2005

‘Dinky’ - 2

‘Trump Card’ Pink blend hybrid tea – Orent, 2007, sport of Rosie O’Donnell; terrific rebloom, outstanding garden rose

‘Trump Card’ - 2

‘Super Elfin’ (‘Strombergerzauber’) Orange-red climber, Hetzel (Germany) int 1997; glossy, dark green foliage Won Best Judges’ Entry (Hal Reynolds) Very versatile – can be used in several ways

‘Super Elfin’ (‘Strombergerzauber’ ) - 2 On fence

‘Super Elfin’ (‘Strombergerzauber’ ) - 3 On obelisk

‘Super Elfin’ (‘Strombergerzauber’ ) - 4 On pergola

‘Devotion’ Apricot blend hybrid tea from Ilsink (Netherlands), int 2003 Winner of Bagatelle (Paris) First Prize, 2002 Won Best Decorative Hybrid Tea

And many, many more All-Stars! Heinrich Blanc Ibiza Hetzel ClimberInterplant Floribunda

And just a few more Tenacious Lawinia McGredy Floribunda Tantau Climber

The following were not included in the presentation at the San Diego National Convention due to time constraints, but surely belong in the group of EuroDesert “All-Stars.”

DiabloBaptiste Lafaye Interplant Shrub Puyravaud Polyantha

Bukavu Grand-Duc Henri Lens Hybrid MuskLens Floribunda

Heavenly Pink Indigoletta Lens Hybrid Musk Van de Laak Climber

Iris Webb Kleine Eva Warner Floribunda Hetzel Polyantha

Peter Pan Petite Francoise Warner Mini Gravereaux Polyantha

Sneprinsesse (Snow White) Werner von Blon Grootendorst polyantha Hetzel Shrub Photo by Baldo Villegas

And the Seven Dwarfs de Ruiter Polyanthas Happy Doc Sleepy Sneezy Grumpy Bashful Dopey