Ahead of Valentine’s Day, The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) announced the results of its first-ever red rose trial with recommendations for four red roses that have received the prestigious RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM).

The three-year project, which took place at RHS Garden Wisley tested 60 red rose varieties, examining their performance in terms of an abundance of beautiful blooms, form, fragrance, health and resistance to disease – to find the best options for gardeners and those who want to gift red roses that are, perhaps like their love, long-lasting.

The four new plants Rosa LOVESTRUCK, Rosa WB YEATS, Rosa ETERNITY and Rosa CAYENNE (subject to availability) outperformed other roses in garden conditions that included recent terrible weather of snow, storms, extremely high rainfall and drought. These four star performers joined two other roses (Rosa Moment in Time and R.Red Finesse) that renewed their previously awarded AGMs – and whilst also being tested for performance with minimised interventions such as reducing watering, food and sprays.

Rosalyn Marshall, Trials Project Manager “Red roses are the iconic symbol of Valentine’s Day and love and as such are incredibly popular in gardens across the UK. The roses that have been recommended with the RHS Award of Garden Merit are resilient, producing an abundance of eye-catching flowers and maintaining their health and vigour.

To test varieties for sustainability the RHS Trials team replicated what people do in their own gardens and reduced watering, food and sprays. The final selection demonstrated better results for the shrubbier roses rather than the more traditional stem varieties.

Rosalyn continued: “We’re glad to be able to recommend lower-maintenance and more sustainable and resilient plants. We hope this is good news for gardeners who want to save water, use less feed and of course have less fussy roses to tend!”

The RHS Award of Garden Merit is made on the comparison of trialled varieties and judged by a panel of experts, including nurserymen, specialist growers and horticulturalists.

Results of the trial can be found at: https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/trials-awards/plant-trial-results/red-roses