Types Of Garden Rose – The many thousands of garden rose species and cultivars available all fall within one of the categories below.
Old garden roses
1. Gallica: Probably the oldest rose type. Usually forms small shrubs around 1.2 m (4 ft) high with strong, upright growth and many small bristly thorns. Flowers range from deep pink to purple and have a faint fragrance.
2. Damask: Also ancient but more elegant than the gallicas with open, arching branches, long elegant leaves and richly scented pink and purple flowers.
3. Alba: Closely related to the wild dog rose (Rosa canina). Large stately shrubs, once known as ‘tree roses’, with grey-green foliage and soft pink or white flowers.
4. Centifolia (Provence): Lax, open growth, big rounded leaves and globular flowers with a rich fragrance.
R. centifolia
5. China rose: Much lighter in growth than European roses, with thin stems and sparse foliage giving them a twiggy look.
6. Portland rose: Short, upright habit; beautiful, strongly scented flowers with the invaluable ability to repeat-flower.
7. Bourbon roses: Similar to Portland rose but more lax and taller.
Bourbon rose
8. Hybrid musk: Vigorous, repeat-flowering shrub with abundant foliage
and trusses of fragrant double flowers.
9. Hybrid perpetual: Vigorous, sometimes repeat-flowering; flowers borne singly or in threes in summer and fall.
10. Moss rose: Lax shrub with furry, moss-like growth on stems and calyx.
Flowers once only.
Noisette rose
11. Noisette rose: Repeat-flowering with large clusters of flowers and a
spicy scent.
12. Sernpervirens: Semi-evergreen climber with numerous flowers in
late summer.
13. Tea rose: Repeat-flowering shrubs and climbers with loose, usually
double, fragrant flowers.
Modern garden roses
1. Large-flowered bush (hybrid tea): Upright, repeat-flowering shrub with a single, large flower to a stem or in small clusters, summer to fall.
2. Cluster-flowered bush (floribunda): Upright, repeat-flowering shrub with
large sprays of flowers, summer to fall.
3. Dwarf cluster-flowered bush (patio rose): Similar to cluster-flowered bush but with smaller, neater habit.
Floribunda
4. Miniature rose: Tiny counterpart of large and cluster-flowered roses.
5. Ground-cover rose: Low-growing trailing or spreading rose.
6. Modern shrub rose: Varied group, ranging from low, mound-forming cultivars to spreading shrubs and giant, cluster-flowered bushes.
Ground-cover roses