‘Hot Cocoa’ a hardy floribunda rose from Weeks Roses bears deep rust–colored buds which open to smoky chocolate-orange blooms that appear lighter in hot weather darker in cool weather. The plant was an All-America Rose Selections winner in 2003.

Claire Curran

Roses, in a way, have come full circle. Early kinds ― the ones nature produced without our help ― were tough characters with healthy foliage, and many with fragrant blooms. But we weren’t satisfied with them. We wanted flowers that were bigger, had more petals, or came in different colors or shapes. Hybridizers put their energies into achieving these goals, and they succeeded.

As a result of this focus on flowers, roses lost other assets. Fragrance all but disappeared. Rose plants lost their round, bushy shape. Their vigor declined, and they grew increasingly susceptible to diseases such as black spot, rust, and mildew. To overcome these diseases, gardeners sprayed.

Most gardeners now don’t have time for such tedious chores, or aren’t willing to use so many chemicals. So hybridizers have changed focus.

“Our top priority is disease-resistant foliage,” says Weeks Roses hybridizer Tom Carruth. “We don’t even wait for bloom. If seedlings get mildew, out they go.”

These days you can have it all.