AGRS Best Performing Roses 2024: Here are Winners

Spread the love

By Jill Brooke

If you are lamenting how some of your roses didn’t grow well, you will love this story. 

The American Garden Rose Selections (AGRS™), the leading organization dedicated to promoting exceptional garden roses, just announced the winners of its highly anticipated 2024 AGRS garden rose selections. 

The winning roses embody all the characteristics that consumers desire in a garden plant: beauty, fragrance, disease resistance, and, of course, minimal maintenance. 

“These winning roses truly represent the epitome of beauty, fragrance, and resilience,” said Pat Shanley, Chairman of AGRS. “We are thrilled to recognize Sweet Mademoiselle, Sitting Pretty, and Sunset Horizon as this year’s AGRS winners. These outstanding varieties showcase the innovation and dedication of breeders in the
pursuit of creating exceptional garden roses.”

So keep this article for when you want to order or try new roses. And yes, these roses are now, well, sitting pretty. To get this award pretty much guarantees that of the thousands of roses bred in the world. Those in the know will want these roses for their gardens and stores. 

 

The 2024 AGRS winners are:

  • Sweet Mademoiselle™ – Introduced by Star® Roses and Plants, is a Regional Choice Winner in four regions – South Central, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest and Fragrance Award Winner.

  • Sitting Pretty™ – Introduced by Star Roses and Plants, is a Regional Choice Winner in four regions – South Central, Southeast, Southwest, and North Central.

  • Sunset Horizon™ – Introduced by Star Roses and Plants, is a Regional Choice Winner in four regions – South Central, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest.

The AGRS testing program recognizes roses that are easy to care for, disease-resistant, and suitable for different regions of the country. In addition, awards are given for fragrances to help guide consumers who desire roses for their fragrance.

All roses entered into the AGRS are tested for two years in six different geographical regions, each containing at least two test gardens. Additional characteristics that are evaluated include vigor, foliage proportion, plant habit, flowering effect, rebloom habit, bloom form, aging quality of blooms, fragrance, and hardiness. In order for a
variety to be granted an award, it must demonstrate superior performance in at least three (3) of the six (6) regions entered.

By recognizing and recommending the best garden-worthy rose varieties for the various regions of the United States through testing, the AGRS has the goal of providing objective and reliable information to the general public. 

Make sure you ask your local home and garden center to order these varieties. Or you can always access them on helpmefind.com.

Since my garden is very much a Jackson Pollack approach to gardening – color blocks of a variety of flowers – I so enjoy testing and buying these flowers each year. You will thank me.