May 6, 2018

Altman Plants Introduces New Rose Series

Altman Plants, Vista, California has introduced a new series of roses that are now available as bare root or liners.

Six years ago, Altman Plants co-founder Ken Altman put the company on a mission to open more minds to the living richness of roses. True Bloom, a new series of roses from one of the largest commercial growers in the U.S., is the culmination of careful research and nurturing development.

The company’s rose breeding program, led by noted rosarian Ping Lim, started crossing plants in 2012. Since then, his team has crossed 30,000 roses annually from 2,000 combinations, generating 300,000 seeds each year, making Altman Plants one of the largest breeders of garden roses.

The company is now preparing to bring to market the program’s first six varieties, all of which embody those easy-care, true-rose truths. The True Bloom series is intended to foster a new perception about roses: that they can be as simple to grow and care for as they are beautiful.

During this process of discovery, the breeding program developed a new class of roses: the Hybrid Tea Shrub. For now, the first six True Bloom varieties are largely unknown to the general public, but they are far from unfamiliar to rosarians and other passionate rose watchers in and around the trade.

The varieties of True Bloom’s first class include ‘True Gratitude’, ‘True Passion’, ‘True Friendship’, ‘True Integrity’, ‘True Inspiration’ and ‘True Sincerity’.

Several have already earned prestigious honors:
• ‘True Gratitude’ (PPAF) (aka Flying Kiss): the Gilded Age Award for Best Climber, Biltmore International Rose Trials, 2015
• ‘True Passion’ (PPAF) (aka Double 10): the Pauline Merrell Award for Best Hybrid Tea, Biltmore International Rose Trials, 2016; and it’s an A.R.T.S. Master Rose for 2018, American Rose Trials for Sustainability
• ‘True Friendship’ (PPAF) (aka Goldmine): Gold Medal – Floribunda, Rose Hills International Rose Trials, 2016
• ‘Lion King’ (PPAF): the Edith Wharton Award for Best Floribunda, Biltmore International Rose Trials, 2017

For more information on the True Bloom series, please visit true-bloom.com.

You can learn more about how Altman Plant’s and Plug Connection are bringing this new series to market in the March 2018 issue of GPN’s Big Grower.