As exuberant and lighthearted as the song for which it is named, this All-America Rose Selections (AARS) 2011 award-winning floribunda is destined to bring a smile to your face and many, many beautiful roses into your garden and home. Even if you've never grown a rose before in your life, you can be successful with Walking on Sunshine. Find a place in the sunny border and welcome it home this season.
Walking on Sunshine sets masses and masses of 3-inch yellow roses in large clusters all summer long. The blooms arise in waves, keeping this shrub lovely for months. Sweetly scented with anise, the flowers have a lighter yellow reverse, and mature to a pastel shade of primrose, creating a nice many-toned look on a fully blooming plant. Simply wonderful!
This floribunda is also notable for its vigor. Some roses need a little coddling and extra care to get going, but not Walking on Sunshine. It reaches 4 feet high and 3 feet wide quite quickly, blooming heavily the very first season you plant it in the garden. Then it just continues to grow bushier and better-branched, especially if deadheaded promptly as the flowers fade and pruned back in late winter each year. (But if you're new to rose growing, skip the pruning. Walking on Sunshine will do just fine without it.)
The foliage is particularly healthy on this rose, which makes a huge difference to its performance in your garden. Roses are traditionally subject to many foliar diseases, from rust to powdery mildew to blackspot. This can make the foliage sparse and pretty unattractive by late summer. Walking on Sunshine, however, is resistant to rust and mildew, so stays healthy longer, prolonging the bloom season as well as looking great.
This award-winning rose is highly recommended by rose experts in all parts of the country. It fares particularly well in the hot, humid climates that many roses shun. Give it a try and find out just how easy rose growing can be.
NOTE: Tree and patio roses are hardy to Zone 6 regardless of the rose variety grafted to their tops.
