A trial with no tribulations

Before you can just stroll into the garden centre and buy a rose, it must be trialled for health and garden worthiness, and its blooms assessed for colour, beauty and scent.

This June I was lucky enough to have been invited, along with other members of the Garden Media Guild,  to visit behind the scenes at Rochfords International Rose Trials to see just what it takes to find the best new roses for our gardens. We even became judges for the day, assessing roses in the current trial, Trial 5 year 3.

Located on at Rochfords wholesale nursery near Hertford, the trials were set up in 2018, as founder Paul Rocheford explained to us over a welcome cup of coffee.  This was following the closure of the RNRS in St Albans, one of whose main remits was trialling new seedling roses.

Just one of many trials held around the world, Rochfords International Rose Trials are open to all rose breeders, amateur and professional alike.  Trials run for three years and the current trials feature roses from Europe and the UK and as far afield as Canada. Next year’s trial will include roses from South Korea – a lack of correct import paperwork prevented them from being entered this year (one senses that a lot of paperwork is involved in the moving of plants between countries).

Out with the old

Head gardener and rosarian Kerry Austen oversees the trials, which this year has 98 varieties under assessment. She told us how important it was to refresh the rose varieties that are available to gardeners – visit a garden centre and it’s always ‘the same old roses you see’, she says.  It’s time for some change!

The trials, which are run on a not-for-profit basis and free of charge for all breeders, provide a particularly important service for amateur breeders, who don’t necessarily have time and facilities to develop their plants. These trials also give them the opportunity to showcase their work alongside professional breeders. Among the breeders taking part in last year’s trial (Trial 4) were big names such as Dickson Roses, Kordes Rosen, Meilland and Peter Beales, alongside less well-known breeders (to me at least) such as David Bryant and Calvin Horner.

Breeders submit a minimum of 5 plants with the seedling roses arriving bareroot in November/December.  All are planted in the ground at the same time and to the same depth.  The roses can be on their own rootstocks or grafted (most are grafted onto R. laxa).

All’s fair in love and roses

The trials are a model of independence and fairness and each fledgling rose is given exactly the same treatment, planted using microrhyzzal fungi (Rootgrow) and given a slow release fertiliser (like Osmocote), which Kerry finds easier and more practical than a multi-application fertiliser like Growmore. As I don’t tend to use slow release fertilisers in my own garden the ensuing discussion on the merits and otherwise of each approach was a timely reminder to me to give my own roses a feed – they’ve flowered very well this year and I would like them to carry one in the same vein!

In the first year of trials roses are judged in September, in the second and third years they are judged three times: in June, July and August.  The winners are announced in September. Unlike, say, the rose trials at RHS Wisley (in which Kerry is also involved), the Rochfords trials are not scientific: roses are here trialled for health, flower, overall effect and fragrance.

The roses are not given any other inputs and nor are they treated for pests and diseases: although they are in the hands of an expert rosarian, they are cared for in much the same way as roses in the average garden. This gives a good idea of their ‘garden worthiness’.

Instead of names – those will come later once they are released on the market – each rose is given a unique number.  This means that all roses are anonymous and can be judged fairly with no unconscious bias towards any particular breeder.

How to judge roses

Before we started judging, Kerry gave us some pointers of what to look for.  Floriferousness (difficult to say!) is highly important, and Kerry reminded us to take note of spent flower heads as well as ones currently in flower.  ‘Dying nicely’ is another prerequisite of a successful modern rose, so ugly, rotting balls of petals are a no-no.  We were also told to look out for overall appearance (would it look nice in a garden setting was the question to ask), and glossy, green leaves (a sign of health and disease resistance), and to mark fragrance on a score of 1-5.  Disappointingly, many of the roses under our scrutiny were distinctly lacking in scent – although not an overriding concern, that could be a potential problem for them when they go to market.  ‘Smelling is selling’ when it comes to roses!

 

The process of judging was fascinating, demanding a blend of focus and critical concentration as well as gut feeling.  Roses are a plant that evoke a strong emotional response – one of my personal criteria was ‘would I want to grow this rose in my garden’.  I can’t wait to find out in September which roses did well – and whether any of the roses I particularly liked are among their number.

Once the scores are received there are collated and checked by a small panel led by a chair of Judges.

In a new development, Gold Award winning roses at Rochfords International Rose Trials will now automatically receive the coveted RHS Award of Garden Merit. Part of Kerry’s work with the RHS rose trials involves reviewing the existing list of AGM roses; thanks in part to climate change some rose cultivars are no long worthy of the award. These under performers will be weeded out and their place can be taken by the best new varieties with what it takes to thrive and survive in the modern British garden. Rochfords hope that this will encourage more breeders to use their trials and bring new varieties to market. A win win for rose lovers and rose breeders and raisers.

Take part

Rochfords judging panels represents a wide spectrum of knowledge, with both amateur rose fans and experienced horticulturalists being invited to take part. Sadly I live too far from Herdfordshire to be a regular rose judge, but Rochfords welcome enquiries from anyone who would like to get involved. If you love roses, what are you waiting for?