LADYBUG: ALL-AMERICAN ROSE SELECTIONS OFFER FOUR NEW CHOICES

Rose growers eagerly await the month of June when the All-America Rose Selections are announced for the coming year. The four new roses for 1996 are Carefree Delight, Livin' Easy, St. Patrick and Mount Hood, bringing a kaleidoscope of colors into the rose garden. In order, they are an ivory white grandiflora, a pink landscape shrub, a green tint of a yellow hybrid tea and an apricot orange floribunda.

Carefree Delight is a landscape shrub rose with excellent disease resistance in carmine pink with a white center. Graceful canes bear clusters of up to 10 buds that open to masses of five-petaled, 2-inch flowers.

Livin' Easy is a constant blooming floribunda, producing ruffled apricot orange blooms with some 22 to 28 petals per flower. Glossy, bright green foliage and disease resistant are other pluses offered by this rose with stems of medium length for cutting.

St. Patrick sports novel chartreuse buds unfurling to reveal yellow-gold flowers. This vigorous hybrid tea has long, upright stems with gray-green foliage growing 3 to 4 feet in height.

Mount Hood is a grandiflora with good disease resistance, has ivory white, 3-inch flowers on deep, glossy green foliage. It grows upright to a height of 4 to 5 feet.

All four of these rose winners will be available next spring.

Flower Carpet Roses

Every now and then something comes along that sparks a double-take. So it is with the new Flower Carpet Roses that will be on the market come August. This new pink landscape rose is being introduced in an 8-inch pink pot to match its pink flowers.

According to Dan Davids, president of Flower Carpet Inc., this flower is a prolific bloomer, will flower in full sun or shade, is carefree requiring no spraying or fancy pruning, is resistant to black spot and mildew and will grow everywhere other roses grow.

This landscape rose (or ground cover) has made a sensational impression in Europe, New Zealand and Australia. It is said to be suitable for covering slopes, for containers, hanging baskets and as a tree rose. It is suited to all climate zones from Key West, Fla. to Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Flower Carpet was developed over a 25-year period by Werner Noack, a German rose breeder.

Fifty Years of the Peace Rose

In 1945, the war in Europe had ended. Out in San Francisco, the United Nations was being formed to foster lasting peace throughout the world. Each delegate received a unique new rose, named "Peace."

It was a rose that almost became a casualty of the war. Originally developed in the test gardens of Meilland, France's leading rose grower, only one small package of this new rose escaped to America aboard the last clipper to fly from occupied France to America.

Those few seedlings were propagated and produced roses unlike any ever seen before. American gardeners immediately fell in love with the gorgeous blooms and it has been America's most popular rose since.

In 1945 Peace was given its name in a special ceremony, and the following year it was given the prestigious All-America Rose Selection Award.

The rose that set standards for all other roses with huge, opulent blooms with delicious blends of colors, has had many others carrying its name, such as Chicago Peace.

Easy-Care Roses

It is easy to grow roses of beauty that do not need to be sprayed, primped or pampered, says the new handbook published by the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens in New York.

"Easy Care Roses: Low Maintenance Charmers" is full of practical information on growing roses without fuss or all the chemicals.

The handbook covers everything from how to choose the right rose for your garden and climate to its detailed care. Rose pruning is explained in easy-to-follow steps, and a separate chapter on chemical-free rose care tells how to enhance roses' ability to care for themselves and includes practical tips on preventing and controlling the top nine rose pests.

A new generation of rosarians from diverse climates around the country who are gardeners from large public gardens, nursery professionals, hybriders and homeowners, all offer their personal insights on growing roses and their favorites.

The handbook tells how to research cemeteries, old home places and even forgotten gardens for roses that have flourished for decades without any human care and how to propagate these old varieties from cuttings. The guide provides a glimpse of new trends that will shape the roses for years to come.

Easy Care Roses is available at bookstores, or by mail for $6.95 plus $3.75 for postage and handling from Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1000 Washington Ave., New York, NY 11225.

~Mary Blue is a resident of Cape Girardeau and an avid gardener.