Or if it doesn't have long, elegant stems to cut, it's not a rose. From our survey of several Sacramento area nurseries, this year's hottest-selling roses are six hybrid teas, two floribundas, one David Austin English rose and one climber. Hybrid tea roses, with their long stems and elegant flowers, are charmers both in the garden and in the vase as a cut flower. Some nurseries reported sales for hybrid teas as high as 85 percent of total rose sales. The frenzied rush for David Austin English roses, fragrant old roses bred with repeat-blooming hybrids, appears to have cooled, although Sacramentans continue to buy the perfumed roses.
Fragrance is still high on the list and reds are always popular.
Geography sometimes influences a rose's popularity. Exclusivity also limits mainstream appeal of a few roses. Owner Michael Fisher says the new hybrid tea is only available locally at his Sacramento nursery. A handful of the old-line hybrid teas maintain their popularity year after year. Nurseries buy them in large quantities and often sell out by the end of the season.