How does a rose become an All-America winner?

The winners emerge after two years (three years for climbers) of strenuous review in 27 test gardens throughout the country that receive care normally provided by an average home gardener.

“We have gardens in every temperature zone,” notes AARS President Phil Edmunds, “because it’s important that our award-winning roses perform well in any climate. Often a rose will be great in the Sun Belt, for instance, but falter in the north. The testing program requires across-the-board excellence, assuring the consumer of a vigorous plant wherever they are located.”

The judges are usually horticulture experts or supervisors of large public gardens. They grade the roses each spring and fall. Roses are judged on 15 characteristics, including novelty, form, color, flowering effect, fragrance, vigor, disease resistance and repeat bloom.

“You will have years of enjoyment from the 2003 AARS winners,” Edmunds concludes. “Look for the AARS tags, and you know you have a winner.”