ENGLISH ROSES
A traditional garden favourite, there’s a rose to suit all tastes and conditions
An English garden classic, roses have a unique beauty and fragrance. They also offer excellent value for money, as they are long-lived and many repeat flower, blooming from early May until the first frosts. All that any rose needs is sunshine, feeding, pruning and well-drained soil.
With centuries of tradition and breeding to draw upon, roses have become incredibly versatile, with something to suit virtually every garden situation. The blooms vary from modest singles to extravagant multi-petalled flowers, and come in different sizes and forms, ranging from miniature ones for containers to rampant climbers. But, the largest and most varied group are shrub roses, which includes English roses, rugosas, hybrid teas and floribundas.
ENGLISH ROSES
David Austin has been breeding English roses for 60 years (see above right) to create strong, disease-resistant plants with impressive blooms and a stunning fragrance. Their graceful, shrubby habits make them ideal for mixed borders and large containers. They also mingle happily in herbaceous borders, flowering abundantly throughout the season.
RUGOSA ROSES
Rugosas are mostly thorny shrubs with plentiful flowers that are often followed by hips. They’re ideal for creating dense hedging. Few roses are so uncomplaining and disease-free – they even thrive by the sea. Many have large, wide open flowers that are loved by bees.
HYBRID TEAS AND FLORIBUNDA ROSES
These modern roses are suitable for dedicated beds or adding points of interest among herbaceous planting. Hybrid teas have the quintessential ‘bud rose’ silhouette, and make good cut flowers. Floribundas tend to be smaller and bushier than hybrid teas and, as their name suggests, flower abundantly, bearing masses of dense clusters of flowers.
CLIMBING AND RAMBLING ROSES
Happy to clamber up walls, fences, trellis and arches, climbing roses add height to a garden, with a canopy of glossy foliage and flowers. Confusingly, roses that climb are referred to as both ‘climbers’ and ‘ramblers’, but there are distinct differences. Rambling roses such as ‘Dorothy Perkins’ or ‘Albertine’ are vigorous, flowering with great abandon just once a year, whereas climbing roses such as ‘Maid of Kent’ tend to bear larger flowers, and most either flower on-and-off throughout the summer, or have two seasons.
MINIATURE ROSES
Providing they are properly fed and watered, miniature roses grow well in pots. Varieties such as the charming ‘Pink Tiara’ or ‘Violet Cloud’ may be compact, but they flower profusely and are easy to grow. Planting roses in containers means you can enjoy their fragrance in areas of the garden where they might not otherwise grow.
GROUND COVER ROSES
Increasingly popular in recent years, these roses are free-flowering and excellent for edging drives or paths. There are many to choose from, but among the prettiest are pink ‘Surrey’ or ‘White Flower Carpet’, which repeat flowers well into the autumn.
STANDARD ROSES
These are bush varieties, such as ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ or ‘Harlow Carr’, that are grown on a 1m-high stem to give added height. Standards make superb centrepieces, either among lower-growing roses and lavender, in small courtyards, or above bulbs and perennials. Traditionally, standards are planted in two rows at each side of a garden path, or at the centre of a bed in a dedicated rose garden.