Meet the New Rose Next Door: ‘Uptown Girl’
Roger’s Gardens Rose of the Year 2023
Selecting a celebrated rose variety for Roger’s Gardens Rose of the Year is no easy feat. This honorable title requires a rose to be beautiful yet precocious, breathtaking but hardy. It must be bold, colorful, and agreeable all while being disease resistant, easy to care for, and well suited to our unique Southern California climate. The rose must have a persuasive story, and must be able to tell that story through its stately appearance in the garden.
When we came across Uptown Girl, we knew we had found our match.
Uptown Girl is a new 2023 introduction that offers the strikingly classy yet fun nature one would expect from such an aptly named rose. Its delightful coral and peach hues come from its parentage ‘About Face’, while its other parent, ‘Cinco de Mayo’, adds just the right dusky touch of subdued elegance to the flower center. This crossing was made by Tom Carruth, one of the best-known rose breeders at work today, and this parentage gives Uptown Girl the ideal genetic blend to be a prolific, resistant, and breathtaking rose. Tom Carruth ran a widely respected breeding program at Weeks Roses for many decades, producing over 150 cultivars and 11 All-America Rose Selection winners, with the goal of producing roses that were increasingly easy to grow while maintaining productivity and beauty. At the hand of such a talented breeder, there is no doubt that Uptown Girl is soon to be the newest rose in many front yard gardens.
As a rose buyer for Roger’s Gardens, I can certainly speak of the joys of growing a new rose variety for the first time. Each year, our breeders share with us new select cultivars, some not even named yet. Growing a new rose brings an unparalleled sense of anticipation and excitement as each early bloom is a newly discovered treasure. As the characteristics of a rose flower can vary widely depending on location, climate, and other conditions, the new rose in your backyard may be the first perfect version of itself in a unique environment beyond the trial fields. As it is the first year that Uptown Girl has been released to the public, we are hoping to share this same sense of joy and discovery with our gardeners. This is the first year that Uptown Girl is spreading its blooms across the country, and its full range of beauty is yet to be discovered.
Although Uptown Girl’s full potential is yet to be explored, we are certain it will be an excellent rose for your garden. As a well-bred grandiflora, Uptown Girl’s blooms will be plentiful and consistent. The flowers are heavily petaled and quartered, giving this introduction a classic appearance hearkening to traditional English roses. As the aromatic cherry on top, Uptown Girl also has an exciting fruity fragrance that is intriguing without overwhelming the senses.
As a relatively compact shrub rose with very strong disease resistance, Uptown Girl is an excellent selection for the novice gardener looking to get into roses, or for the experienced gardener looking for an exciting new variety to easily integrate into their existing plantings. Uptown Girl is well-suited for border plantings, containers, and mass plantings and will thrive wherever there is ample sunshine and well-drained soil. This rose will pair beautifully with other boldly colored varieties like ‘State of Grace’ or our fan-favorite, ‘Disneyland’. Conversely, you can let ‘Uptown Girl’ be the deserving center of the show by pairing with other ashier toned roses like ‘Koko Loco’ or ‘Distant Drums’.
This promising young cultivar is fresh on the garden scene and is already ‘flying off the shelves’ here at Roger’s Gardens. You can hand-pick your own special rose in-store, or order online and have our talented team order your rose plant fresh from our growing fields. With its balanced bold colors and old-fashioned poise, ‘Uptown Girl’ is sure to be a hit in your garden, and your neighbors will soon be asking, “Who is that new rose next door?”