The Dick Clark Rose

I don't have a garden, but lately I can't get enough rose.  I even found a light rose oil that I use to keep my room smelling beautiful.  I also used some rose fabric on curtains I recently made.
I felt the need for some fresh rose inspiration and I always learn a lot by googleing, so I looked up rose.

I found www.rose.org.  It is the website for the All-American Rose Selections.  They are a non profit association that keeps 10 test gardens around the country for roses.  Their motto is: "Proven in our garden to flourish in yours."


For nearly 70 years, All-America Rose Selections' sole function has been to determine which new rose varieties can be recommended without equivocation to the public as rose varieties of top quality. To be chosen as an AARS Winner a rose must complete a two-year testing process in nationwide test gardens.






There is also a bit of rose history:

The first fossil records of the rose date back 35 million years. In 3000 B.C., in what is now Iraq, the Sumerians created the first written record of the rose. Sappho, in her 600 B.C. "Ode to the Rose," referred to this beauty as the queen of flowers, a reference still popular today. 

Jumping ahead to the 16th century, colonists brought the rose to North America, making it the longest cultivated European plant in this country. In 1798, Empress Josephine acquired her palace at Malmaison and created the most remarkable rose garden ever planted. It included every variety known at the time (about 250).

"Modern" rose hybrids date back to 1867, and by 1920 hybrid teas dominated the market. Today, shrub roses are increasingly popular as they provide the season long color roses are known for, while being very easy to grow.

All-America Rose Selections formed in 1938 to test new rose varieties to determine which, if any, could be recommended to the public.

One of the most popular roses of all time, "Peace," was smuggled to the United States from occupied France in 1945.

Pretty interesting.  I looked up the recent rose winners and found out in 2011 one of the winners was called Dick Clark.  What a nice way to remember him.  Of course it is also an amazing flower, the yellow to pink to almost red is a work of art.  Take a look:

"AARS winning roses embody all of the characteristics today’s homeowners desire in a garden plant. Each AARS winning rose excelled in an extensive two-year trial program where it’s judged on everything from rose disease resistance to flower production, color and fragrance."

Would you want to have a rose named after you?

What kind of rose would it be?

I love roses that are dark orange, basically a rust color.  But I think I am actually a grey rose.  I love grey, it can lean towards green or blue, even pink.  There are so many beautiful shades, I am sick with grey right now.  I would say blue-green is my favorite color, but I am not sure blue-green works on a rose. 

I will leave you with a final bit of rose inspiration in the form of a photo college:

The photos used are previous AARS winners and the originals can be found here.

I hope your weekend is rosy.