Post category: Types

 

Bush roses, also called bedding roses, are upright bushes between 60 centimetres and 150 centimetres in height. Bush roses are grafted on to a vigorous rootstock at ground level by inserting a bud of the chosen variety. Bush roses are continuous flowering. They are often classified as hybrid teas – now correctly known as large-flowered roses – or floribundas – now called cluster-flowered roses.

 

Roses – the most popular flower

 

Shrub roses form a bushy shrub, generally between about 120 centimetres and 300 centimetres tall. Their growth habit is generally more vigorous and more ‘floppy’ than the bush roses and so they are wider.

There is a great range of shrub roses. Some are wild species, such as Rosa rugosa and Rosa rubrifolia; some are Old Roses, such as the moss rose and ‘Louise Odier’, and some are Modern Shrub Roses, such as ‘Nevada’ and ‘Frûhlingsgold’. Many shrub roses flower in a single flush. Some are continuous flowering.

 

Shrub rose: Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’

 

Climbing roses climb or scramble upwards if given support. They generally produce a mass of flowering shoots at the top of one or two main stems, which thicken with age. The stems are generally upright and stiff. Most climbing roses are continuous flowering and carry large flowers. Some are vigorous versions of bush roses.

Rambling roses also have a climbing habit but they are not as stiffly woody, and the stems are more flexible. The flowering shoots are carried on numerous stems that arise afresh from ground level each year, whereas climbers hardly ever produce new growth form ground level. Ramblers nearly all flower in a single flush of small flowers, mostly in early summer, some in late summer.

Miniature roses and patio are smaller than bush roses but very similar in all other respects. They range in height from 15 – 45 centimetres and are sometimes used as pot plants.