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| The "Lost Rose Garden" |
We recently found out that this garden was an old AARS rose test garden, suspended in time from the 1970's when the nursery went out of business.
The neighbor, Bill, who lived behind the garden watered the roses for 48 years. He moved in 2017 and could no longer take care of it. We scrambled and with the help of volunteers and neighbors, the garden was watered that summer. Then we decided that no one would be able to continue this, so in 2017-2018 we moved the roses up to the front of the park in a temporary location, our "Rose Hospital".
What roses are in this garden? There are no labels. What was the AARS rose selection program? Do we have roses that are now lost to the nursery trade? How do we find out?
Some of the roses are quite pretty and have a wonderful fragrance.
First some background
We can be forgiven for not knowing the difference for ARS and AARS. It was confusing in the beginning as well and had to be explained to readers of the American Rose Magazine that AARS is a commercial label for "novelty" roses. (What do they consider a "novelty" rose? I detect someone looking down their nose at me as they say "novelty".)
ARS is American Rose Society.
AARS is All-America Rose Selections. I have heard it pronounced as "Double-A R S" by two people who should know.
AARS and ARS
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| American Rose Magazine,Mar-Apr. 1944 |
The AARS program was discontinued recently and the American Garden Rose Selections program took its place.
A Horticultural Mystery!
Roses in an AARS test garden would probably have been numbered, rather than named. That way no one could show a preference for one grower or be persuaded by a beautiful name. There was quite a hefty premium for having your rose selected. So you would expect secrecy.
Do we have the losers and winners for a certain year? What were they? Our AARS test roses have lost their numbers. Some roses have died. How many roses would have been in a rose trial? Where do you find the competitors? What year was this test garden created? Do we have some lost roses that were once considered good enough for the trial but are no longer grown? ARS has the list of winners. "Our Garden Gang" has a by-the-year list of winners. Where's an official list? Where do we look for the AARS test history with all the roses?
[A recent note found when looking for Etter information...the roses were from trials for 1958 to 1964. In Etter box... ]
Karin P. and I toted a bunch of the un-identified roses to the East Bay Rose Society on a day when Tom Bonfigli was doing a talk. He gave us some IDs and took one of our reds to propagate.
He identified one of our roses as 'Medallion', the winner for the 1973 AARS selection. Another two were identified as 'White Knight'. The others were unknown.
Are all our roses from the same test season? How long were roses grown before they were voted on? Would you rip out last years and plant this years? (We do know that the homeowner planted some of his own choices - 'Milestone' and 'Joseph's Coat' were two that we id'd by tag and nature.
One that we call "Big Yella" has deep yellow fragrant blooms. Another has petals with all the colors - white, yellow, orange, red, magenta.
AARS History
Jackson & Perkins has a page "What is the AARS?" and they say "In the summer of 1938, W. Ray Hastings, the prime organizer of "All-America Selections," contacted Charles Perkins, President of Jackson & Perkins Company, to create a testing program for roses. On January 8, 1939, a meeting of 17 of the largest and most respected rose firms was held in Chicago. This group approved a set of by-laws and rules & regulations that established the organized existence of All-America Rose Selections, Inc. The first trials began that year in AARS Test Gardens nationwide, and the first 4 AARS winners were introduced in 1940." The 'Peace' rose was the only AARS winner in 1946.
The American Association of Nurserymen annual meeting is where the AARS meetings were held. Apparently if you missed the AARS meeting, you were out of the trials. (BR) Their journals are not online yet, but are available in the library.
Next steps
Stay tuned.
Karin P. and I toted a bunch of the un-identified roses to the East Bay Rose Society on a day when Tom Bonfigli was doing a talk. He gave us some IDs and took one of our reds to propagate.
He identified one of our roses as 'Medallion', the winner for the 1973 AARS selection. Another two were identified as 'White Knight'. The others were unknown.
Are all our roses from the same test season? How long were roses grown before they were voted on? Would you rip out last years and plant this years? (We do know that the homeowner planted some of his own choices - 'Milestone' and 'Joseph's Coat' were two that we id'd by tag and nature.
One that we call "Big Yella" has deep yellow fragrant blooms. Another has petals with all the colors - white, yellow, orange, red, magenta.
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| Weeks Roses Catalog 1945 |
AARS History
Jackson & Perkins has a page "What is the AARS?" and they say "In the summer of 1938, W. Ray Hastings, the prime organizer of "All-America Selections," contacted Charles Perkins, President of Jackson & Perkins Company, to create a testing program for roses. On January 8, 1939, a meeting of 17 of the largest and most respected rose firms was held in Chicago. This group approved a set of by-laws and rules & regulations that established the organized existence of All-America Rose Selections, Inc. The first trials began that year in AARS Test Gardens nationwide, and the first 4 AARS winners were introduced in 1940." The 'Peace' rose was the only AARS winner in 1946.
The American Association of Nurserymen annual meeting is where the AARS meetings were held. Apparently if you missed the AARS meeting, you were out of the trials. (BR) Their journals are not online yet, but are available in the library.
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| 5 AARS Novelties from Weeks |
Next steps
- Visit the library and look at the American Association of Nurserymen journals for 1960-1970.
- Look for official records. I spoke to someone recently who knows the person who might have the records for the 1960's-1970's. So far nothing has come up (2-2020)
Stay tuned.
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