Hot Cocoa earns the American rose society's 2007 members' choice award
Contributed by the American Rose Society

The American Rose Society (ARS) named the floribunda, Hot Cocoa, the Members' Choice Award winner for 2007.

Each year the award winner is determined by ratings provided by ARS members nationwide who participate in the society's annual Roses in Review survey. Each rose is rated on bloom production, plant habit, disease resistance, and hardiness. Earning the ARS Members' Choice Award designates this rose as one of the most reliable and easiest to grow of the new garden roses.

Bred by Tom Carruth and introduced by Weeks Roses, Hot Cocoa is described on the Weeks Roses website as "Mysterious, indescribable, and elusive. There is just no other rose color quite like this. Pointed buds of deep rust unfurl to reveal a chocolate haze of velvety smoked tones that can take on a purple cast.

Set against a mass of glossy foliage, the ruffled fragrant flowers are mirrored by super- green leaves. Easy vigor and natural disease- resistance make it a must for every garden."

Hot Cocoa is a medium to tall, about 3- 5', floribunda with large, ruffled, double blooms with 25- 30 petals. The blooms come in small sprays and have a nice old rose fragrance.

Other past Members' Choice winners include the hybrid tea 'Gemini', the super shrub 'Knock Out', and the miniature rose 'Bee's Knees'.

The American Rose Society has been the premier organization devoted exclusively to the cultiva tion of roses in the United States for more than 114 years.

With approximately 18,000 members nationwide, the ARS supports 350 local societies offering rose- related activities and information at the community level.