ARS National ConventionMay 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
• 2012 -2014 Established new rose garden - 750 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 67 Micro Min 4
F/Cl F 88 MinFl 16
HT/Cl HT 152 Pol/Cl Pol 157
Gr 14 S (modern) 37
LCl 31 HKor 4
Min/Cl Min 24 HMsk 17
Further Breakdown – Of 67 OGRs:
B/Cl B 15 HP 25
Ch 3 Misc OGR 1
D 2 Moss 1
H Spn 1 N 1
H Mult 3 P 4
H Wich 3 Sp 3
H Gig 1 T/Cl T 4
Breakdown of 152 HTs
Decorative HTs 83
HTs w/Exhibition Form 69
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 2011-2013as 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 2011-2013as 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 2011-2013as 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 Climber Interplant 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.”
Diablo Baptiste Lafaye
Interplant Shrub Puyravaud Polyantha
Bukavu Grand-Duc Henri
Lens Hybrid Musk Lens 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