Arctic Blue Rose Named Among 2025 Winning Roses
Arctic Blue rose is one variety honored by the American Rose Trials for Sustainability in 2025.
The American Rose Trials for Sustainability (ARTS) aims to identify new rose cultivars that are as naturally healthy as they are exceptionally beautiful. Roses have to prove themselves over a two-year trial in which they receive no pesticides or fertilizer, no pruning except for the removal of dead wood in winter and only enough supplemental water to meet the inch-per-week amount that even drought-tolerant plants need in their first year or two in a garden.
The ARTS trials take place at public gardens and universities across the US, with each site testing the same cultivars for two years. The plants are regularly scored on the quality of their foliage, flowering and growth habit. The high-scoring roses within a region are designated as Local Artists (award winners) for that region. Roses identified as Local Artists in four or more regions are deemed Master Roses. ARTS adheres to the Koppen climate system, which divides the United States into nine regions based on air temperature, precipitation and humidity, and aims to have two test sites in each region.
In 2025, ARTS named the following roses Local Artists. You can learn about each on the ARTS website: Easy to Please, Pretty Polly Lavender, Sunset Horizon, True Bloom True Friendship and Arctic Blue.
More about Arctic Blue rose
Class: Floribunda
Flowers: The double petals are warm pink fading to lavender blue on their top side and cream-colored on their reverse. Moderate citrus fragrance.
Size and habit: Arctic Blue grows four to six feet tall and three to four feet wide.
Awarded in: Koppen region Csa (Mediterranean). Hardy in USDA Zones 5–9.
Enter for a chance to win Arctic Blue for your garden:
