Rio Samba Hybrid Tea Rose

Few roses receive nonstop raves from our customers. After all, Jackson & Perkins roses are shipped to all climates and conditions, to new gardeners as well as experienced rosarians. It cannot be expected that everyone will be pleased with any given variety. And yet, season after season, praise is heaped upon Rio Samba. This hybrid tea seems to have the resilience and flower power of a shrub rose, as well as the beauty and impeccable form of an exhibition variety.

A large measure of Rio Samba's charm is its flower colors, which change dramatically as the blooms mature. Fully double, 5 inches wide, packed with about 25 petals, and opening from long, pointed buds, these blooms unfurl a bright shade of golden-yellow, often with red edges. Over time, the red spreads down the petals, often acquiring deep pink or orange hues. A fully blooming shrub is truly a carnival of brilliant color—which is where Rio Samba gets its name, of course.

Rio Samba is a long-stemmed hybrid tea, but frequently the blooms arise in small clusters rather than singly. It's like a bouquet on every flowering stem, and because the buds in each cluster open at different times, you will often see very different colors on display in a single cluster of blooms!

We take a special pride in Rio Samba here at Jackson & Perkins because it was bred by our own master rosarian, Bill Warriner, with another of his brilliant creations, golden Sunbright®, as its pollen parent. (The seed parent was a seedling.) Warriner released Rio Samba in 1991, and two years later it won an All-America Rose Selection. It has increased steadily in popularity ever since, and as we say, it is a rose we can unreservedly recommend for any climate, condition, or level of gardening expertise. We are delighted to make it available to you this season, and urge you to find a place for it in the sunny border.