Hot Cocoa

Where to plant. 'brown' themed borders, containers on a terrace, formal groups of 3–5 bushes; lovely paired with Honey Dijon, a dramatic pair of 'hot cocoa and honey mustard'; ideal for themed 'bar' or 'café' flower beds.

Climate. Down to −23 °C — in Ukraine with moderate cover in the northern and central regions; in the south, no cover needed.

Care. Classic floribunda — prune in spring by ⅓; its outstanding resistance almost eliminates the need for fungicides; removing spent blooms encourages new flushes.

Name. 'Hot Cocoa' — English for 'hot chocolate'. The name is a tribute to a warm chocolate drink: the petals resemble the rich chocolate-orange colour of cocoa with milk, with a smoky tint, like 'steam above a cup'. In export markets it is sold as 'Kiwi' or 'Nubya'.

Breeding. Bred by Tom Carruth, Weeks Roses, USA, in 2002; commercial introduction in 2003. Code WEKpaltlez, patent US PP15,155. Parentage: ('Playboy' × 'Altissimo') × 'Livin' Easy' (HARwelcome, Harkness 1990, AARS 1996). Tom Carruth is one of the most influential American breeders of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries; he created dozens of AARS-varieties for Weeks, and later became director of the Tournament of Roses Wrigley Gardens in Huntington, California.

Significance. AARS 2003 — All-America Rose Selections, the main US award for garden varieties. Hot Cocoa is the benchmark of the 'fashionable brown' varieties of the 2000s, which opened a new commercial category of roses in unusual colours. In our catalogue it belongs to a group with Honey Dijon (Sproul/Weeks 2005), Guinness (NL, ~2011), Cappuccino (Tantau Evers 2005) and Distant Drums (Buck 1985). Hot Cocoa is the parent of 3 well-known Carruth/Weeks varieties: 'About Face' (WEKosupalz, 2003, a bicolour Grandiflora, AARS 2005), 'Coffee Bean' (WEKmemolneflit, 2006, a miniature chocolate rose) and 'Coretta Scott King' (WEKkocopuhi, 2012, a hybrid tea). This makes Hot Cocoa a true founder of Weeks' modern chocolate line.