Types of Rose
Species Roses
Known as Wild Roses, they have been growing in the wild for hundreds of thousands of years. Wild roses/species roses are the parents of and the origins of the Old Garden Roses and the Modern Garden Roses.
Old Garden Roses And Moss Roses
These are roses that were cultivated before 1867, the year when the first hybrid tea 'La France' was introduced. The main groups of Old Garden Roses, heirloom old garden roses, heritage bushes of roses, whatever you choose to call these antique old roses from the past, include the following rose types:
- Alba - Mostly white flowered, or pale pink roses that only bloom once. The foliage is a sage green colour.
- Bourbon - The very first roses that repeat bloomed. They were introduced on the 'Isle of Bourbon' in the Indian Ocean - where these roses got their name. Bourbon roses are very fragrant.
- Centifolia - Known as the 'Cabbage Roses', the flowers, looking like cabbages, usually have over 100 petals. These roses only bloom once.
- Damask - The flowers are intensely fragrant and come in white, pink or red colours. Some repeat-flower, some don't.
- Hybrid China - These roses are tender and not for cold climates north of zone 7. Most are repeat flowering.
- Hybrid Gallica - These roses are almost always without thorns. They flower once and the blooms are usually pink, red, or purple and have a strong rose fragrance.
- Hybrid Perpetual - Very fragrant pink or red roses that repeat flowers.
- Moss Rose - Mostly once-blooming fragrant roses that produce a sort of sticky moss-like growth on their flower stems and buds.
- Noisette Rose - Large, sort of sprawling rose plants that are best used as climbers. They have small clusters of fragrant flowers. These roses are cold-tender and best suited for warmer climates.
- Portland Rose - Roses that are very fragrant, usually pink blooms that are repeat- flowering.
- Tea Rose - These roses have canes with few thorns. The flowers come in light yellow, pink or white colours and are repeat-blooming. They grow best in zone 7 and the south.
Modern Garden Roses
These are the roses that were introduced after year 1867 and afterwards. The different types of roses known as Modern Garden Roses are also divided into subdivisions. These are the main types of rose for landscaping and home gardens. Most of them are repeat-flowering.
- Hybrid Tea - Long-stemmed flowers that are high-centred with usually one flower per stem. They bloom on upright, rather narrow plants, and flowers in flushes of every six weeks or so. This is the classic rose for cut flowers.
- Floribunda - Shrub roses with clusters of flowers with continuous blooms. The growth habit is bushy and full. Floribunda roses are usually hardier than hybrid teas.
- Grandiflora - These are tall and vigorous plants that produce flowers singly or in clusters. They are very similar to hybrid teas, except for their size.
- Polyantha - Small flowered roses in large clusters on small compact free- flowering rose bushes.
- Shrub Rose - This is a large group of various classes that vary widely in height and habit. This group include the English Roses by David Austin
Miniatures and Mini-Roses
These are scaled down versions of the larger Modern Garden Roses, ranging in height from 6 inches to 2 feet tall. Their flowers and leaves are proportionally diminutive.
Climbing Roses
A mixed group of roses with long arching canes that can be trained on a support such as arbours, trellises, fences, and walls. Some are repeat-flowering, some are not.
Prune your roses!
If you have not already pruned your roses there is still time to do it.
Pruning is fairly straightforward - think of it as "cutting back" rather than pruning - it will make the job simpler.
- First, cut out all the dead wood and remove any weak spindly growth
- Prune out at the base any stems that appear old and wizened, probably branches that have been left for several seasons and that are now past their usefulness!
- For bush roses shorten the remaining fresh, sound branches down to 4-9 inches.
- Shrub roses need not be cut back so severely - depending on the variety 15-24 inches.
- For climbing roses follow point 1 & 2 and shorten the remaining branches by 25-30%.
The best time to prune is as soon as winter is over - ideally sometime in February or early March. Pruning every year will bring out the best in your roses.
After pruning apply an application of suitable rose fertiliser.
