ROSES Surprise Mom with blooms all summer

Gift-givers have many choices, especially in color.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Roses make the perfect gift for Mother's Day -- May 11.
There are three new roses you may want to consider as gifts for that special day.
Jackson & amp; Perkins introduces two roses in honor of former President Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy.
Ronald's rose is a hybrid tea with red petals with a white reverse. As the blooms unfurl, the red deepens and the blooms finish with a deep-blue edge with white underneath.
Nancy's rose, also a hybrid tea, has large, 5-inch blooms in deep apricot.
The two roses join the list of other commemorative J & amp;P roses: John F. Kennedy, Mr. Lincoln, Billy Graham, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Cesar Chavez, and Diana, Princess of Wales.
Ten percent of the sales of the Reagan roses benefit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
The company also offers its second Habitat for Humanity Rose, an orange-apricot floribunda. The plant grows 4 feet tall and produces a light-sweet fragrance and 4-inch blooms. Ten percent of the sales go to the organization.
The roses are available through the J & amp;P catalog and online site; call (800) 292-4769 or visit www.jacksonandperkins.com.
2003 winners
This year's All-American Rose Selections also make memorable Mother's Day gifts. Winners for 2003 are:
UCherry Parfait with swirls of white petals with a broad red edge.
UWhisper, the first white hybrid tea to win the award since 1980.
UEureka, an old-fashioned flower form with clusters in shades of yellow, apricot and gold.
UHot Cocoa with deep-rust buds that unfurl to reveal a chocolate haze of velvety, smoked tones that take on a purple cast.
If you would like to plant roses to celebrate peace and our military veterans, look for Veterans' Honor in red; Purple Heart in a wine-red color; Honor in white; Love & amp; Peace in a soft yellow blushing to pink; Glowing Peace in orange; and Peace in lemony-yellow edged in pink.
If you want small-growing roses, look for disease-resistant groundcover roses in the Flower Carpet series, or miniature roses that are easily grown in containers.
Many of the David Austin roses provide pleasant scents. Charles Darwin smells like floral tea and lemon scent. Jude the Obscure offers scents of guava and sweet white wine.
All these roses are available at garden centers nationwide.
Roses need full sun for best flowering. They also require soil with good drainage and adequate air space between plants. For more information on growing roses, visit the American Rose Society at www.ars.org.
When you shop for roses, give yourself a gift through the advice of an old saying: Stop and take time to smell them.