Top Exhibition Roses of the Desert

By Robert B. Martin, Jr.
Former District Director, Pacific Southwest District, American Rose Society

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the newsletter of the Mesa-East Valley Rose Society and is reprinted with the kind permission of the author.

In the accompanying graphic I introduce a five-year summary of the top exhibition roses of the Desert.

As Editor of Rose Exhibitors’ Forum, I receive and compile the show results from throughout the country. For many years I have also compiled an annual five-year running summary of the top exhibition roses in Southern California, and recently I have taken over the compilation and reporting of the Top Exhibition Roses for the U.S., a long-standing feature published in the American Rose magazine. With my move to Arizona, I have learned that Arizona is, in many respects, quite different from California and other areas of the country. So I thought it might be useful to create a similar report that focuses on the top roses of our area.

What I have done is to review the show results for the past five years of all Arizona shows to record the royalty winners for both hybrid teas and miniature/mini-flora roses. I have also included the Las Vegas Valley show and other shows in which Arizona or desert-area exhibitors have won. In every case, I included only the roses grown by residents of Arizona and other desert areas in Las Vegas and California.

In tabulating points, I used the same system used for the annual compilation in the American Rose. Six points are awarded to a Queen, five for King and four for Princess. An additional three points are awarded to roses on the Court of Honor, as well as any roses staged in the principal challenge classes of the District and National shows.

In the hybrid teas, the top exhibition rose in the Desert is ‘St. Patrick’. Nationally, ‘St. Patrick’ is rated No. 6 over the last five years, while it is No. 5 in Southern California. The high amount of chlorophyll in its petals permits it to tolerate hot weather very well, which explains its high ranking. Another rose with this characteristic is the relatively new ‘Marilyn Monroe’, bred from ‘St. Patrick’, which ranks No. 8 in the Desert, compared to No. 10 in Southern California. Nationally it has yet to crack the top 25.

The No. 2 exhibition hybrid tea in the Desert is the incomparable ‘Gemini’, simply the best hybrid tea introduced in the last 25 years. ‘Gemini’ does well everywhere, ranking No. 2 in Southern California and No. 3 Nationally. It is also the winner of the 2005 “Member’s Choice” award from the American Rose Society, based on the responses to the 2005 Roses in Review Survey. Following ‘Gemini’ at No. 3 is ‘Veteran’s Honor’, a superb red show rose with classic high-centered form. ‘Veteran’s Honor’ is No. 3 in Southern California and No. 2 nationally. It will be observed that ‘Veteran’s Honor’ scored the highest number of Queens of Show in the survey, with five.

When I moved to Arizona, I was told that ‘Crystalline’ does not grow well here, but, as can be seen, it does grow well in the hands of exhibitors, finishing No. 4 in the survey. I grew this rose in Southern California where it takes time to get established and a lot of extra attention, especially to disbudding. So it is probably best left to the exhibitors and those who lavish attention on their roses.

‘Touch of Class’, once the Nation’s top exhibition rose, finished No. 6 in the survey. It has fallen out of favor in Southern California and has drifted to No. 8 Nationally, but is still doing well here.

The No. 7 rose in the survey is almost unique to the Desert, the orange-brown florist rose ‘Leonidas’. It shows up in neither the Southern California nor national survey, but here the ample sunshine and heat permits it to develop more as it does in the greenhouse, while the heat also keeps it disease-propensity at bay. Another florist rose that does well in the Desert is ‘Raphaela’, ranked No. 11.

Of note, ‘Moonstone’, the No. 1 exhibition hybrid tea in the nation and Southern California, is ranked only No. 17, probably because it has too many petals to develop as it does in cooler areas.

Moving up the list quickly is the mini-flora ‘Conundrum’ which won all three of its Queens in 2004, in addition to being awarded the best of class at the All-Arizona Banquet. Although this latter award is not recognized, the performance of ‘Conundrum’ in 2004 makes clear that it will be a strong presence on the show tables here. Two other recent mini-floras also make the list, including ‘Dr. John Dickman’, which Mike Jepsen has shown with success, and my own creation ‘Butter Cream’, which we have introduced to the Arizona show tables.

Most of the roses on these lists are excellent garden specimens, especially for those who like cut blooms of good form.