ROSE PARADE IN THE VALLEY'S FORGIVING CLIMATE, EVEN A NOVICE CAN TEND A FLOURISHING GARDEN.

Byline: Elizabeth Smilor Correspondent

You can choose a rose by its color, scent or name.

``Just don't plant a Barbara Bush next to a Barbra Streisand,'' jokes Chris Greenwood, public relations director and chief rosarian for Armstrong Garden Centers.

Politics aside, though, rose experts say a little knowledge about these beauties goes a long way. Now is the best time to make your purchases as well as prune those roses already planted on your property. And with proper selection, planting and care, roses will easily thrive in our hot, dry climate.

``A lot of people think roses are way too much work,'' says Tom Carruth, research director for Weeks Roses in Upland. ``If you make the right choice, it's one of the toughest hard- working plants for your garden.''

He should know. Carruth has developed many award-winning roses, including this year's Julia Child - a butter-gold-color floribunda with a licorice fragrance, and Wild Blue Yonder, a purple grandiflora with a spicy fragrance.

These roses were chosen by All-America Rose Selections (AARS), a nonprofit association of growers that gives prizes to roses that have been tested over a two-year period in various climates, explains Carruth. ``It's the Oscar of the rose world,'' he says.

The AARS Web site (www.rose.org) lists all the recent winners, and it's a great place to start when shopping for roses. Rose experts also say it's best to buy a Grade 1 rose, which is the premium-grade rose that most nurseries sell. Roses sold at home improvement or hardware stores are often Grade 1 1/2 or Grade 2. The grade is printed on the label.

``It's better to start with a quality rose,'' says Jo Ann Dillenbeck, a certified consulting rosarian for the American Rose Society (www.ars.org) who tends to 500 roses at her Mission Hills home.

Armstrong Garden Centers, which only carry Grade 1 roses, have introduced their own labeling system, which can help novices make their choices. It rates each rose based on 10 criteria, including factors such as fragrance and disease-resistance, says Greenwood. Explainer cards are available at each Armstrong nursery. There are stores in Sherman Oaks, Thousand Oaks and Glendale.

At this time of year, roses are also sold as bare roots. Bare root is the most inexpensive way to buy - and easiest way to plant - a rose. The term is a bit of a misnomer, however, since most nurseries now sell them in bags or pots to keep the roots moist. Sego Nursery in North Hollywood continues to sell genuine bare-root roses from a bin of moist sawdust. Their roses are available beginning this weekend.

Whether the roots are visible or not, gardeners can judge a plant by its canes. A good plant will have plump canes - at least the diameter of a pencil - and well-balanced cane distribution, says Greenwood.

``This year, you might see some speckling or mottling on the cane,'' he says. ``That's because last growing season (in Wasco, Calif.) they got 60 inches of rain. The growing season was shortened, and the plants might be scarred. The plants are fine.''

Once you know the quality of the rose, selection may be based on color, variety, scent and size. ``The mistake I made when I got started was that I bought the ones I'd read about or the colors I liked. I didn't pay attention to size and height,'' Dillenbeck says. It made for a rather haphazard garden, she notes, laughing.

Roses may serve as small border plants, large shrubs or climbing wall covers. Anyone at a garden nursery should be able to help in the selection. Gardeners may also contact a consulting rosarian like Dillenbeck through the American Rose Society, Carruth says.

He also suggests visiting a public garden to see mature roses. Some gardens, including Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge and the Tournament of Roses Wrigley Garden in Pasadena, receive the AARS award winners a year in advance so gardeners can see how they grow, he says. They will receive the 2007 winners next month, but the name placards are not placed with these roses until after the winners are announced in April, he explains.

``For a lot of people, seeing it is important,'' Carruth says. ``A lot of people don't realize what a broad spectrum of styles and sizes there are.''

For a rose enthusiast, choosing a new flower is the most difficult step. Caring for roses is easy, at least in our climate, says Dillenbeck, who recently led a free seminar at California State University, Northridge, on pruning techniques. CSUN has its own botanic garden, managed by Brian Houck.

Dillenbeck tends to her 500 roses from a wheelchair. She follows a simple regimen of pruning, deadheading, mulching and feeding throughout the year. She and the other experts say roses don't need to be sprayed with anything more than water to fend off aphids and diseases.

``Our heat makes roses more disease-free,'' she says. ``The Valley is really good. As soon as it warms up, diseases go away.''

A new rose should be planted this month in well-drained soil in a spot that gets at least six hours of sun a day and is not too crowded by other plants, says Carruth. Cover the new rose with an inch or two of mulch, and feed it a systemic fertilizer when new leaves appear in a month or two, says Dillenbeck.

She sprays her roses once a week with water, applies mulch again in July, and feeds them again in June and September with any rose fertilizer. ``The one thing I learned that helped the most was mulching,'' Dillenbeck says. ``I had hard soil when I started 10 years ago, and now it's beautiful - and all I've done is throw mulch down.''

Roses should be continuously deadheaded to encourage blooms but only pruned in January. Cut back existing roses by one-third to one-half their height this month, the experts advise.

``I don't think there's any flower like a rose. They come in so many shapes and fragrances,'' says Greenwood. ``They are easy to grow. They bloom all year. You get a lot of bang for your buck.''

CAPTION(S):

7 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Bloom town

Valley's the perfect place to grow roses

Photos.com

(2 -- color) TAHITIAN SUNSET

(3 -- color) RAINBOW SORBET

(4 -- color) JULIA CHILD

(5 -- color) Comedian Phyllis Diller has a new yellow grandiflora - cross between a floribunda and a hybrid tea - named for her.

Armstrong Garden Center

(6 -- color) Brian Houck is the manager of the Botanic Garden at California State University, Northridge, where a wide variety of roses are cultivated.

(7 -- color) Jo Ann Dillenbeck, a certified consulting rosarian for the American Rose Society, tends to 500 roses at her Mission Hills home.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) UPCOMING EVENTS (see text)

(2) ROSE TYPES (see text)

(3) PRUNING (see text)