LSU AGCENTER ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURE E-NEWS & TRIAL GARDEN NOTES MID-/LATE JANUARY 2015

LSU AgCenter
                                             Ornamental Horticulture
                                             E-News & Trial Garden Notes
                                             Mid-/Late January 2015
Nursery, Landscape & Garden Center Updates
Compiled by Allen Owings, Professor (Horticulture), Hammond Research Station, LSU AgCenter
Edited by Rick Bogren, Professor (Communications), LSU AgCenter
Phone 985-543-4125; Email aowings@agcenter.lsu.edu; www.lsuagcenter.com/hammond

Landscape News Articles (from Allen Owings and Rick Bogren)
Tree Planting / Arbor Day - January 9
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/news_archive/2015/January/headline_news/Celebrate-
Arbor-Day-in-La-on-Jan-16-.htm

Gardenia Problems in the Landscape – January 16
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/news_archive/2015/January/headline_news/Gardenias-
need-proper-care-in-the-landscape-.htm

Rose News and Notes for the
New Year (from Allen
Owings)
        New Varieties from
     Kordes Roses to Consider

Kordes is one of the largest and one
of the oldest rose-breeding
companies in the world. These roses
are being sold and introduced more
and more in the United States. The
company does not use fungicides in
rose development and evaluations.
Many of the Kordes roses in the United States are being marketed via NewFlora.
Disease resistance in hybrid teas, sustainability in rose growing and growing “own-root”
modern roses can be achieved with some of these varieties. Well-known older Kordes
varieties that we have successfully grow in Louisiana many years include Shreveport
and Iceberg.

A few hybrid tea and floribunda roses from Kordes that are being grown by Jim Mills,
K&M Rose Nursery, Buckatunna, Mississippi, include:

    Beverly – hybrid tea. Pink flowers with fragrance. High centered bud form. Award
     winning rose.

    Grand Amore – hybrid tea. Red flowers. Award-winning rose.

    Pink Enchantment (aka Souv. de Baden-Baden) – hybrid tea. Flowers are
     creamy pink. The outer petals fade upon opening. Moderate fragrance. Upright
     growth.

    Sunny Sky – hybrid tea. Large-flowering yellow with good disease resistance.
     Light fragrance.

    Wedding Bells – hybrid tea. Two-toned pink with large fragrant flowers. Good
     foliage.

    Winter Sun – hybrid tea (pictured, above right). Has flowers that are pale yellow
     and fade to white. Blooms as double and high-centered. Moderate flower
     fragrance. Medium growth habit.

    Poseidon – floribunda. Lavender flowers. Very full. Upright grower.

    Summer Sun- a floribunda. Has high-centered buds. Flowers open to a semi-
     double form colored in salmon with a creamy yellow reverse. Good disease
     resistance. Fragrant bloom.

Some of these varieties are being evaluated in LSU AgCenter rose variety trials at the
Hammond Research Station in Hammond and at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at
Burden in Baton Rouge.

Kordes Rose Varieties Being Planted for Evaluation at the
                      LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden

      Wedding Bells                                  Heart Song
      Sunny Sky                                      Polar Express
      Summer Romance                                 Tutu
      Savannah                                       Ruby Ice
      Pink Enchantment                               Beverly
      Plum Perfect                                   Rose of Hope
      Purple Rain                                    Dark Desire
      Fiji                                           First Crush

                           American Garden Rose Selections

American Garden Rose Selections (AGRS) began rose trials in 2013. This program
replaced All-America Rose Selections (last winner named in 2014). The initial regional
award winners in this program will be announced spring 2015 and will be AGRS
regional winners for 2016. AGRS embodies a model using the Germany ADR
(Allgemeine Deutsche Rosenneuheitenprüfung) rose trials. This method includes
disease resistance, hardiness, attractiveness and habit (sustainability and marketing).
Roses are not treated with any chemical pesticides in the evaluations. United States
regional winners will include the Northeast, Southeast, North Central, South Central,
Northwest and Southwest. The LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden is one of 12
initial AGRS trial sites in the country. The motto of this new program is “bringing you
great roses you can grow where you live.” See more information on ARGS trials at
www.americangardenroseselections.com

                        American Rose Trials for Sustainability

Another ongoing national rose trial evaluation began in spring 2014. This program has a
goal to identify, through regional evaluation and testing under low-input conditions, the
most disease- and pest-resistant, hardiest and best garden-worthy rose cultivars and to
provide objective, accurate and reliable information about the cultivars tested for each
region to industry and the public. The methodology used will establish and maintain an
environmentally responsible testing model that incorporates current research-proven
landscape management techniques for the evaluation of rose cultivars for regional
suitability in the United States for landscape use under minimal input conditions. The
testing model shall be expanded as scientific advancements in the area of
environmentally responsible landscape management become relevant. The LSU
AgCenter Hammond Research Station will be added as an ARTS rose trial site in 2015.
See more information on ARTS trials at www.americanrosetrialsforsustainability.org.

                                    ARS Gulf District Rose of the Year for 2015

                          The American Rose Society has begun a Rose of the Year
                          program. The inaugural winner is the Louisiana Super Plant
                          and Earth Kind rose Belinda’s Dream.

                          This rose is one of the best roses for Louisiana landscapes.
                          Belinda’s Dream has an attractive shrubby growth habit and
                          excellent disease resistance. Bushes reach heights of 5-6

feet with an equal spread, but they can be easily maintained at 4 feet.

The flowers are medium-pink and fully double with the form of hybrid tea roses. The
fragrant blooms are larger than most landscape roses and produced spring through fall.

Belinda's Dream is an excellent low-maintenance, easy-care landscape rose with large
hybrid-tea flowers. It provides the best of the best of both rose worlds . . . easy care and
beauty!

Growing Information: spring/summer/fall flowering shrub, full sun, grows 5’ tall by 4’
wide, space 4’ apart at planting.

                     Greenheart Farms / Kordes – Eleganza Roses

The Eleganza collection of hybrid tea roses is being described as a breeding
breakthrough. These varieties are said to combine tea rose blooms with disease
resistance. The roses from Greenheart Farms / Kordes Roses in this collection are
grown “own root.” An initial four varieties are included – Wedding Bells, Beverly and
Winter Sun (all described above) along with Fiji (bright cherry red).

ARS Members’ Choice Rose for 2015

The January/February issue of the
American Rose Magazine announced
the 2015 ARS Member's Choice Rose –
‘Dick Clark. This variety is also an All-
America Rose Selection from 2011. Here
is a description of this great grandiflora
rose from Edmund Roses. (Dick Clark is
a great plant for Louisiana. It finished
third in the 2015 ARS Gulf District rose
of the year voting).

No two flowers are exactly alike on this
changeable chameleon of a rose. Black-
red buds spiral open to show off swirls of
cream edged with vibrant cherry pink. As
the sun strikes the classically formed
blooms, they begin to blush with
burgundy hues, finally finishing deep,
dark red. The beautiful blooms are held
on long cutting stems and displayed
against super-shiny green foliage for an
eye-popping combo. Easy to grow, broadly rounded, bushy plants have great vigor and
disease resistance. Flower size: 4-5 inches. Fragrance: Moderate cinnamon spice.
Introduced by Weeks Roses. Hybridizer: Carruth/Bedard, 2011.

Louisiana Super Plants – 2015 (from Allen Owings)

Daylilies from Westfarms Nursery in Franklinton, Louisiana Added to
Southern Living Plant Collection (from Allen Owings)

More on plants in the Southern Living Plant Collection is available at
www.southernlivingplants.com.

LSU AgCenter Plant Diagnostic Clinic

LSU AgCenter Soil Testing and Plant Analysis Lab