Testing Roses

Conard Pyle Company is famous for its Star Roses. They work closely with the Meilland International rose breeders in France on introducing new roses to the world. I requested the best No-Spray roses they had for trial in South Florida. They sent 8 roses for testing which have been potted up and growing by now. I will discuss the 2012 releases for this blog.

The Drift series of roses are small front of the bed type plants that grow about 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide. They sent ‘Apricot Drift’ and ‘Sweet Drift’ to represent this hopefully trouble free group of roses. Disease resistance is touted as excellent. Repeat bloom comes from the miniature roses and disease resistance from ground cover roses. Blooms are 1/1/2 inches across and blooms continuous. Glossy foliage is another attribute. ‘Apricot Drift’ blooms fade to some pink. ‘Sweet Drift’ blooms open medium pink and fade to light pink.

‘Tequila Gold’ has 3/1/2 inches wide gold blooms with above average disease resistance. Bright green foliage is attractive. Continuous bloom is another benefit on a Floribunda/landscape shrub reaching 5feet by 5 feet.  The plant is great on the west coast but may need extra attention on the east coast.

‘Sunshine Daydream’ is an AARS 2012 winner. The rose grows to 6 feet in height and 5 feet in width. The flowers average 3/1/2 inches wide and with double blooms that fall cleanly from the shrub. This plant grows on its own roots.  Blooms open light yellow and fade to creamy yellow.