Twelve new garden roses honoured with Certificate of Excellence

Rosa Amourin.

The Dutch Culture Group for Roses and Rootstocks in association with Boskoop’s Royal Horticultural Society (KVBC) has awarded 12 garden roses with the coveted Certificate of Excellence.

Since 2017, Boskoop’s Royal Horticultural Society (KVBC) has been judging garden roses and awarding them the Certificate of Excellence.

Excellence Roses is a Dutch/Belgian mark of quality. To qualify for it, a rose must combine exceptional beauty, fragrance, and hip bearing with excellent health and reliability. Excellence Roses are also committed to sustainability, as they can be grown without using any crop protection products.

Each potential Excellence Rose is on trial for three years with rose trial gardens situated in Winschoten, Netherlands (rosarium Winschoten), Boskoop, Netherlands (Rosarium Boskoop), Lottum, Netherlands (Rozenhof Lottum), Merksplas, Belgium (show garden De Kleine Boerderij), and Mechelen, Belgium (Vrijbroekpark). In September 2024, Meise Botanical Garden in Belgium has been added as sixth trial ground.

Five roses of German rose breeder Kordes Roses International and five roses of Viva International from Belgium have been honoured with the coveted Certificate of Excellence. Tantau from Germany and Spek Rozen each took home one Certificate of Excellence.

Viva International received Excellence certificates for the compact growing climbing rose ‘Amourin’ (pictured above) featuring cream, semi-double blooms. The flowers have a strong fragrance. Masses for red-orange hips adorn this climbing rose in Autumn.

Rosa Parfumosa Dr Xavier Miller.

Viva International’s compact growing bush rose Parfumosa/Dr Xavier Miller (‘Vispumapa’), its  miniature rose Palsy-Walsy featuring star shaped, fragrant flowers, and climbing rose Persian Dawn (‘Viseureye’) in light pink also scooped up a Certificate of Excellence as did Sirona (‘Visboprim’), a prolifically flowering groudcover rose reaching between 40 to 110 cm in height. Sirona’s flowers change from light pink to white and have a coloured heart in white/yellow.

Rosa Palsy Walsy.

Rosa Persian Dawn.

Rosa Sirona.

German rose breeder Tantau earned Excellence recognition for its groundcover rose Caracho (‘Korbrumila’). It has a busy growth habit, stands 60-80cm tall and has semi-double blooms in hues of pink and red.

Rosa Caracho.

The Floridunda rose Coral Lions Rose (‘Korzwanlio’) is also a bred from Kordes and features fragrant, filled flowers in orange and pink. It reaches a height between 100 – 120 cm.

Rosa Coral Lions.

Certificate of Excellence winner Fraulien Maria (‘Korcarmsis’) is a floribunda rose with an upright growth habit. Its blooms are deep red and fully double. The rose is fragrant and reaches between 80 – 100 cm in height.

Rosa Fraulein Maria.

Another winning Floribunda rose from Kordes is See you in Pink (‘Korhulth002’), featuring compact, dark red blooms that change to light pink. The cultivar is lightly scented and self cleaning. In the autumn rounded hips addorn the 70 – 100 cm tall shrub.

Rosa See you in Pink.

Earning the fifth certificate is the 70-80cm tall Vulcano (‘Korcolipas’) a large flowered tea hybrid that changes from orange to crimson red.

Rosa Vulcano.

Rosen Tantau from Germany won a certificate for its Libertas rose (‘TAN99134’). Libertas is a climbing rose in vivid red reaching heights of up to 2.5 metres. It provides food for pollinators as blooms are semi double.

Rosa Libertas.

Dutch rose breeder Spek won a Certificate of Excellence for Voila (‘Spekboil’) a neatly growing  Floribundaroos with filled blooms in pink and red. Pear shaped hips appear in Autumn. Height between 60-70cm.

Rosa Voila.

No fewer than 23 new garden roses from international breeders will be planted for trialing in the Netherlands and Belgium for the upcoming season.

While Excellence Roses certification is essential when choosing a supplier, the end-consumer ultimately enjoys the benefits.

Excellence Roses is an initiative of the Culture Group for Roses and Rootstocks, with its secretariat running under the Dutch industry body Anthos.

To date, 88 garden rose varieties have been awarded Excellence certificates.