Common Rose Species

E-Mail

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

Roses come in about 150 species and more than 20,000 varieties. But most roses that you find at a nursery fall into a few basic classes.

Hybrid tea: Introduced in 1867, this class is most common. The upright bushes, usually 3 to 5 feet tall, bloom from spring through frost with large blooms, usually one per cane. Olympiad is a popular hybrid tea.

Floribunda: This class is a cross between hybrid tea and polyantha roses. Shorter than hybrid teas (usually under 3 feet), the bushes produce large sprays of blooms like Passionate Kisses.

Grandiflora: Created in 1954, this class is a cross between floribunda and hybrid tea. On tall bushes, the blooms often form big clusters. About Face is a recent grandiflora winner.

Miniature: Like the name implies, these look like a mini-version of a full-grown tea rose on usually short, compact plants under 2 feet tall. The mini Baldo was named for local rosarian Baldo Villegas.

Shrub: A huge class that includes many easy-care landscape roses such as Knockout and Day Dream as well as English-style David Austin roses such as Mayflower.

Climber: These roses don't actually climb (they need to be tied to a trellis), but tall canes reach 8 to 15 feet or more. Such varieties as Soaring Spirit can cover walls with color. Some climbers (such as Climbing Peace) are closely related to a hybrid tea version.

Old garden roses: Varieties that were discovered or hybridized before 1867. This includes such species as alba, bourbon, damask and moss. Most bloom only once a year.