Hybrid Tea: Rio Samba

This Rose Will Amaze You...

with it's vigorous, disease-resistant and blooms with astonishing color!

I love roses that surprise me, even after years in my garden. When it comes to those with amazing color, one variety comes instantly to mind. Even its history is colorful. See if you can guess its name.

My favorite "surprise" rose was created in 1984 when Bill Warriner bred Sunbright (our 1984 Rose of the Year® winner) with an unnamed seedling. In 1987, after undergoing the brutal early evaluation period when literally thousands of new varieties are whittled down to the most promising 200-300, this seedling rose, number 84-23801, was finally deemed good enough for a trial in our Medford Test Garden, here in Oregon.

It didn't take long for 84-23801 to show its true colors, and I do mean colors with a capital C!

What set this rose apart from the start was its rainbow of hues -- all in a single bloom! The flowers went through a striking metamorphosis, beginning as beautiful yellow buds with a hint of red on their edges. As the blooms opened, yellow gave way to shades of gold, orange, and red, finishing a bright cherry red. The colors were so vibrant that our test seedling could be spotted clear across the garden. Visitors would ask me how many varieties had been grafted onto the plant, such was the effect of its multi-hued flowers.

Because our garden is open to the public, visitors are invited to select their favorites from among the test varieties. For two years running, they chose our Sunbright-seedling cross as their favorite rose. At that point we decided it would make an excellent candidate for the All-America Rose Selections trials (AARS). Our rose was given the AARS trial number of 89R205, planted in trial gardens throughout the United States and evaluated for two years.

In 1990, 84-23801 tied for first in our Test Garden with our rose, 89R205, in the AARS trials. What a coincidence! It was no surprise to me that 89R205 went on to become a 1993 AARS winner. Not only did it receive top marks for its beautiful unique blooms, it also was rated outstanding in vigor and disease resistance.

By now, you may have correctly guessed that the rose I am describing is Rio Samba. It is the last of a record 20 AARS winners created by Bill Warriner. And it is still one of my favorites.

Last year I had a little fun with Rio Samba. Every fall we have a company barbecue. Each department sets up a carnival-style booth with games of skill or chance, and plenty of prizes. The grand prize in our booth was a teak garden bench. To win it, we asked players to identify 5 roses in 5 bud vases. I tried to make it somewhat easy by selecting familiar varieties, such as Mr. Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. I did have a few tricks up my sleeve, though. One was Rio Samba in bud stage, just starting to open. The other was Rio Samba in fully open bloom. Out of 350 employees who tried their luck, only one correctly identified Rio Samba in both its bud and bloom stages. There were a lot of surprised people when the rose identities were announced, none more so than the winner of the teak bench!

I promise you'll never grow tired of this rose. Rio Samba is always full of surprises!