'Pretty Lady Rose' hybrid tea rose

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Roses are the ‘Diva’ of the flower world. Statistics say you want roses is your garden. One of the most often searched plant on the Web is the rose. Before you head out to garden centers to buy roses here’s an easy guide to rose classifications.

‘Rainbow Sorbet’ bred by Ping Lim is a Gorgeous Floribunda Rose | First of The Floribunda Rose Garden Roses Planted

Roses are a big investment, educate yourself on rose classifications and varieties available before you make an investment.

Rose Education Leads To Successful Rose Growing

Here are photos of each classification of rose so that you can familiarize yourself with what you may be looking for in the type rose you want to grow. Learn to recognize the differences and what to look for in the rose classification you want, then identify a color you like and you’re in business. You can read the tag on the rose all about the rose ‘variety Rose bushes are a big investment. Decide what you want to achieve with roses before you buy.

'Good As Gold' Hybrid Tea Rose. Bold, beautiful, double-dipped yellow burnished with a touch of golden red, its a heart stopper!
‘Good As Gold’ Hybrid Tea Rose. Bold, beautiful, double-dipped yellow burnished with a touch of golden red, its a heart stopper!

An Easy To Love |  Easy To Grow | Rose Garden

85% of folks say roses are their favorite flower. They want easy-to-grow roses. Rose breeders have listened to YOU! Each year there are better, minimal care roses available that you will have great success growing.

World Class Rose Growers

Weeks Roses, Meilland Roses, Kordes Roses, and Conard Pyle Star Roses are world class rose growers that I can vouch for. Some roses I list below have won at the Biltmore Rose Trials. You can also see videos on my Gaga’s Garden Facebook page. where I rate the roses growing in my garden. The rose included are for their:

Minimal Care Roses Rated On

  • disease resistance
  • ease of care
  • beauty
  • fragrance

Modern Rose Classifications

Hybrid Tea | America’s Favorite Rose

Pretty Lady Rose | Hybrid Tea
Pretty Lady Rose Hybrid Tea | bred by Christian Bedard
  • Hybrid tea roses are ideal for cut flowers and creating your own bouquets
  • A hybrid tea is easily identifiable by its large, shapely 30-50 petal blooms on long stems
  • Identifiable by a large bloom grown on a single stem

Weeks Roses 2nd in their The Downton Abbey Series | ‘Pretty Lady Rose’ New 2016 Description:

  • Dark even rose pink almost fuchsia
  • 4-5 “ Large old fashioned ruffled petals
  • The smell of peonies with a hint of spices  
'Francis Meilland' the Best Hybrid Tea named at the Biltmore International Rose Trials 2015
‘Francis Meilland’ hybrid tea rose, winner of Biltmore International Rose Trials ‘Pauline Merrell Award for Best Hybrid Tea Rose 2015’

‘Francis Meilland’ 1996 Description:

  • Color: Very large shell pink flowers
  • Winter hardy disease resistant
  • Winner of Biltmore International Rose Trials ‘Best Hybrid Tea’
  • Videoed and rated by me for the American Rose Society Web site
  • Strong fruity and citrusy fragrance

Grandiflora Roses

Queen Elizabeth In The Garden
Queen Elizabeth In The Garden

‘Queen Elizabeth’ First Grandiflora 1954 Description:

  • Pink 4” with large petals, and pointed buds
  • Moderate rose fragrance
  • ‘Best Established’ Rose at The 2015 Biltmore International Rose Trials, I was a rose judge 

Floribundas | Polyantha

  • Floribundas are known for large clusters of flowered trusses & rapid bloom cycles
  • They bear flowers in large clusters and trusses in a profusion of bloom 
  • This class is unrivaled for providing massive colorful lasting garden displays 
  • Floribundas are hardier, more easy care & reliable in wet weather than their HT counterparts
  • Polyanthas are smaller but very sturdy plants with large clusters of small masses of blooms
'Bolero' In The Heat of Summer In Illinois
‘Bolero’ In The Heat of Summer In Illinois

‘Bolero’ Description:

  • White, large blooms with 100 petals
  • Old rose and spicy fragrance
  • Bushy and about 3 feet tall
'Julia Child' by Weeks Roses featured this shot of 'Julia Child' in The American Rose Society 2014 Calendar
‘Julia Child’ by Weeks Roses featured this shot of ‘Julia Child’ in The American Rose Society 2014 Calendar

‘Julia Child’ Description:

  • One of the top selling roses in the world
  • Butter/gold yellow in color, medium very full 3-4” blooms
  • Strong licorice fragrance
'Easy Does It' In The Illinois Garden
‘Easy Does It’ In The Illinois Garden

‘Easy Does It’ Description:

  • Gorgeous Mango Peach
  • Ever blooming with a moderate fragrance
  • Disease resistant, one of my all time favorites! 

For Hedge and Borders | Shrub Rose| English Roses

  • Shrub roses grow  in a sprawling direction from 5 to 15 feet in every direction based on your climate and growing condition
  • The unique group of English roses hybridized by David Austin Roses belong to this class of shrub roses.
  • Recurrent bloomers, often have wonderful fragrance of Old Garden Roses
Close-Up of 'Watercolors Home Run' Shrub Rose
Close-Up of ‘Watercolors Home Run’ Shrub Rose

‘Water Colors Home Run’ by Weeks Roses Description:

  • 3 colors showy flame red | yellow gold pink blush | Hot Pink
  • Medium height and bloom size
  • Winter hardy and disease resistant

‘Bonica’ Beautiful prolific ever blooming shrub Description:

Bonica, Shrub rose always the first to bloom in the spring in my Texas rose garden
Bonica, Shrub rose always the first to bloom in the spring in my Texas rose garden
  • ‘Bonica’ Inducted into the World Federation of Rose Societies Rose Hall of Fame in 2003
  • Prolific, blooms in flushes throughout the season.
  • Prolific, flush, medium to large, cluster-flowered (26-40 petals) stems of blooms cluster-flowered shrub
'Drift® Chamboeuf'
‘Drift® Chamboeuf’

‘Drift®’ Groundcover Roses by Star Roses and Plants

  • 8 colors from White Drift Rose to Red Drift Rose
  • Blooms 1 ½” -3” bushes about 2 feet tall spreading
  • Winter hardy, disease resistant, and easy to grow’
Named for the founding figure of the Industrial Revolution
‘Abraham Darby’ a David Austin Rose amed for the founding figure of the Industrial Revolution

‘Abraham Darby’ Description: David Austin Shrub

  • David Austin Shrub rose
  • Very large, rounded, cup-shaped flower with up to 70 petals
  • Vigorous and hardy in all areas
  • Fruity fragrance

Large Flowered Climbers | Climbing Roses

  • Dominated by their growth habit with long arching canes
  • Ability to climb over fences, walls, trellises arbors and pergolas
  • Climbers offer a wide range of flower colors, forms, & shapes with canes from 10-14 feet tall.
'Above and Beyond' Roses in Bloom in the Rose Garden
‘Above and Beyond’ Roses in Bloom

‘Above and Beyond’ Description:

  • The old classic ‘Westerland’ raised modernized with 21st century ‘best-off-best’ qualities!
  • Salmon-orange blend, repeat blooming, 10-14 feet
  • Old fashioned, 3 ½”-4” blooms, fruity fragrance
Bee on Fourth of July Climbing Rose Bush
Bee on Fourth of July Climbing Rose Bush
  • ‘4th of July’ Description:
     
    • Gorgeous Red striped and bright white
    • 10-14 feet canes
    • Fresh cut apple and & sweet rose fragrance

Miniature or miniflora roses

  • Ideal for containers and small space gardens, hardy due to being grown on own root
  • Great for edging, rockeries, indoor gardens
  • Minifloras are a new class introduced by ARS in 1999 for the size between miniature roses & floribundas
'All a Twitter'
‘All a Twitter’

‘All a’ Twitter’ Description:

  • Twinkling brilliant orange
  • Tall, medium size blooms
  • Winter hardy

*Roses require 6-8 hours of full sun. They will bloom with 4 hours of full sun but they have more foliage and less blooms.