The 5 Best Performing Roses – Winners of AGRS 2023

By Jill Brooke

The annual American Garden Rose Selections (AGRS) winners have been announced and here they are!  

For two long years in six different regions, roses are tested for vigor, foliage proportion, plant habit, flowering effect, rebloom habit, bloom form, aging quality of blooms, fragrance, and hardiness and must demonstrate superior performances. 

So if you are thinking of what roses to plant, consider these beauties.

 “The AGRS™ testing program recognizes roses that are easy to care for, disease-resistant, and suitable for different regions of the country,” says AGRS Chair, Pat Shanley. “In addition, awards are given for fragrance to help guide consumers who desire roses for their scent.”

Be sure to ask your nurseries for these roses since they are rarely mass-produced. Of course once they win this prestigious award, these flowers are on people’s radars. Definitely worth asking your nursery to order them or go online.

The 2023 AGRS™ winners are:

• Brick House® Pink – Introduced by Star Roses® and Plants
  Regional Choice Award in 3 regions – North Central, Northwest, and Southwest.

• Brindabella™ Pink Princess – Introduced by Suntory in partnership with Dig Plant Company
  Regional Choice Award Winner in 3 regions – South Central, Southeast, Southwest, Fragrance Award Winner

• Magnolia Memories – Introduced by Antique Rose Emporium
  Fragrance Award Winner

• OSO Easy® Urban Legend® – Introduced by Spring Meadow Nursery
  Regional Choice Award Winner in 5 regions – Northeast, North Central, Southeast, South Central, and Southwest.
• Petite Knock Out® – Introduced by Star Roses® and Plants
  Regional Choice Award in 3 regions –Northwest, South Central, Southeast

Glad to see that the Petite Knock-Out was a winner. For people with smaller spaces or apartment dwellings, this plant is ideal. You get the magic of roses in a more contained form.

If you do order any of these flowers online, remember that they haven’t been nurtured in the same way a plant is already adapting to a local region at your local nursery. So be patient. I bought AGRS winner Sweet Spirit in 2021 and now it is bursting with flowers as promised. But the first year, it wasn’t as prolific. Plants need to adapt to your soil and home. But flowers teach us both patience and love. Because after the wait, the joy, oh the joy, you will get by the beauty of what is considered the most prized flower in the world.

 

Jill Brooke is a former CNN correspondent, Post columnist and editor-in-chief of Avenue and Travel Savvy magazine. She is an author and the editorial director of FPD and a contributing editor to Florists Review magazine.