Point Scoring

For an experienced judge, a rose doesn't have to be analyzed in parts; it's the overall appearance that matters.  For the benefit of others, however, or in case of a close call among fellow judges, a point-scoring system suggested by the American Rose Society assigns numerical values to the elements being evaluated.  There is a total possible score of one hundred, with the following assignments:

Form	25 points

Color	20 points

Substance	15 points

Stem and foliage	20 points

Balance and proportion	10 points

Size	10 points

Let's look at these elements one by one.

Form (25 points)

This is the most important element.  Forms of rose blooms are classified as formal or decorative, and each is judged by different standards.

Formal hybrid teas are thought to reach perfection somewhere be-tween the half- to three-quarter-open stage.  When viewing the bloom from the top, a judge will want to see, first, a well-defined, pointed center with surrounding petals unfurling in symmetrical balance.  Depending upon the petalage count for each variety, further standards dictate how many rows of petals should surround the center.

These rules insure that specimens have reached a sufficient degree of openness to reveal their centers, those pinpoint landmarks around which petals unfurl.  Judges must be convinced that the perfect center does, in fact, exist.  Unless it's apparent, there's no basis for evaluating form.

While blooms are developing, the bud stage occurs when sepals are down and the petals have begun to unfurl.  Sometimes what will eventually be the center is apparent; more often not.  Buds offer no assurance of a center, and petals could be camouflaging a center you won't later be able to find with a road map.  A bud is not a bloom and should never be exhibited except as part of a stage-of-bloom display.

Judges can't touch blooms, but they can pick up the bottles or bud vases in which the specimens are displayed to view them from different angles.  Using the neck of the container as pivotal point, blooms are also viewed from the side to look for symmetry from that angle and to compare the height of the center to the rest of the bloom.

Informal, or decorative, blooms differ primarily in the center they display.  These blossoms are often ruffled or cupped, with a center that is actually sunken, although still displaying a point.  The difference between these and the formal types is most evident when blooms are viewed from the side, since decorative centers rarely rise above the rest of the bloom.  Occasionally, because of particularly good growing or weather conditions, a decorative variety can produce a bloom that has true formal exhibition form, including a high, pointed center.  Seeing this occur, the judge then has a new standard, and later blooms for that variety will be subject to comparison with it.

One such decorative hybrid tea almost became a Queen for me.  Pat Martin, who started me in this madness, gave me a bush of Pink Peace because it was her favorite rose.  She liked pink, which this rose certainly is, and she liked fragrance, which Pink Peace certainly has.  (It's also one of the few modern roses that closes its petals at night.)  The one I entered in a show on this particular day looked like a huge fragrant cabbage, but with form.  The bloom was easily eight inches across and had a stem to go with it.  No one could ignore it, especially not the judges, who quickly ordered a blue ribbon hung around the neck of its container.  After it was declared the winner in its section, it was moved to the "Queen's Table," the holding ground for regal selection.

I was "clerking" in this particular show--it's not a bad idea to be a gofer and note-taker for judges, since they talk all the time and you can learn a lot.  The pinks weren't in the section my judges were picking apart, but when we finished our assigned area, I saw the Pink Peace up there with the other blue-ribbon beauties.  It was bigger than anything in sight, and I knew if the judges got close enough to it, the aroma might sway them even though fragrance isn't a legitimate factor.

It didn't win, but it retained the first prize from its section.  My entry of Electron, a rose considered exemplary for exhibition form, languished in third place in the same color division.

Color (20 points)

Three components make up color:  hue, chroma, and brightness.  Hue is what distinguishes one color from another.  Chroma determines how pure and intense the color is, and brightness is synonymous with clarity.  In the judge's mind is a picture of the ideal overall color for all rose varieties.  Growing conditions, weather, and refrigeration can all markedly alter color and either improve or detract from possible color-point allocation.

Unevenness of color, such as one finds in those varieties that characteristically have green or white petal streaks, results in penalties.  Fortunately for the exhibitor, flaws usually occur in the outer row of petals, which can be unobtrusively removed without damaging over-all symmetry and form.

Hybridizers of new roses select the color classification from seventeen color classes established by the American Rose Society:

1. White or near white		

2. Medium yellow			

3. Deep yellow			

4. Yellow blend			

5. Apricot blend			

6. Orange and orange blend	

7. Orange-red			

8. Light pink			

9. Medium pink

10. Pink blend

11. Deep pink
12. Medium red

13. Dark red

14. Red blend

15. Mauve

16. Russet

17. Mauve blend

Substance (15 points)

This is what makes red roses look velvety or pastels look opales-cent.  It's petal texture.  Rose blossoms with good substance have firm, crisp petals with enough moisture and starch to insure good keeping qualities.  Blooms usually begin losing substance at the edges of outer petals.  The moisture loss is evidenced in a "creeping" effect, a change from translucency to a dull, crinkled look.

Since a rose that is losing substance will also lose color to some degree, this element counts for more than its fifteen points would suggest.

Stem and Foliage (20 points)

Stems have to be reasonably straight and of a length complimentary to the bloom.  Foliage must be typical of the variety and should be undamaged, with no evidence of disease or spray residue.  Show rules state that thorns cannot be removed from the portion of stem above the bud vase, but you must often remove thorns from lower sections just to get the stem into the container.

Rose leaflets come in sets of three, five, seven, or nine, with smaller clusters at the top portions of the stem and larger clusters farther down.  When a judge holds a specimen so that he can look down on the bloom, he should see a symmetrical, generally circular frame of foliage that sets off the bloom.

Balance and Proportion (10 points)

Here the overall appearance of the entry is assessed for how well all the elements come together.  Element harmony is the key.  If a bloom is large, it must have a relatively long stem and abundant foliage.  Smaller blooms require shorter stems and sparser foliage so they aren't overwhelmed.  If a huge bloom is perched upon a short stem, or a small bloom upon a long one, balance and proportion will be off.

Size (10 points)

Judges resorting to point scoring would give seven to eight points for an average-size bloom from a given variety.  The extra points are reserved for larger-than-usual blooms.  And the bigger the better; all other things being equal, the larger blooms will always win out.