Rose bushes: choose them wisely

Today we will see together how to choose a rose bush.

With more than 40,000 varieties, choosing the right rose bush is really not easy. However, this plant remains very popular in gardens, probably because it is one of the most floriferous. Some rose bushes bloom from early summer until frost. It is also a plant that delivers very great diversity both at the level of flower color of what with shape : climbers, shrubs, ground covers… With such a wide choice, it is not easy to find your way in a garden center when purchasing.

To help you, I will explain it to you in detail the different categories of rose bushes.

Bush rose with large flowers

This is the rose bush you need if you want make bouquets of flowers : the very large flowers are located at the end of the stem. These are the ones you find at florists.

The shape of the plant resembles a fairly low bush (maximum height 1.20 m depending on the variety). These rose bushes can be used in clumps or isolated (alone, not associated with other plants) in order to highlight them and have easy access to cut the flowers.

These varieties are comebacksthis means that by regularly cutting faded flowers, new ones appear. This allows you to have multiple successive blooms on the same plant. These roses are thick fragrant.

Bush rose with grouped flowers

The rose bush itself looks very similar to the previous one. However, it stands out for its flowering: this time, the smaller roses are grouped together at the end of the stem offering a mass effect. Like the previous ones, if you gradually cut off the faded flowers, new buds will appear which will make the flowering last until frost.

These rose bushes come from the polyanthas and floribunda varieties.

Climbing rose

These rose bushes, thanks to their branches (long and flexible stems), are to be installed on a trellis or pergola.

We can distinguish two categories:

• THE non-reblooming climbing roses. Remember, this means they will only give one spectacular bloom in the summer. Their flowers are rather small and numerous, reminiscent of those of the bush rose with grouped flowers. Due to this unique flowering, they are found less and less in stores.
• THE repeat climbing roses they come from bush rose varieties with large flowers and grouped flowers. Be careful though, unlike the bushes, only the first flowering is truly abundant.

Shrub/landscape rose

They are distinguished from bush roses in one way. much denser vegetationAND low maintenance (easier pruning), small, grouped flowers, abundant, very often reblooming, and for recent creations, one greater resistance to disease.

They fit perfectly into flowerbeds with other plants and we can distinguish three forms: erect (1 to 2 m high), shrubby cover (like a crybaby) e ground covers which will be wider than tall, perfect for covering an embankment.

Rose bush stem

Stem roses come from the previously mentioned varieties (bushes or shrubs) grafted onto a stem of variable height.

Same thing for weeping rose bushes on the stem who use varieties of climbing roses.

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All I have to do is tell you about miniature rose bushes. These dwarf varieties are mainly used in planters or containersbut they also fit very well in rock gardens. They have repeated flowering.

As you may have noticed, I have not mentioned specific strain names and this is optional. With the astronomical number of rose bushes in existence, giving names would have made little sense, because you certainly wouldn’t have found them in the shops.

Voila how you should go about purchasing your rose bushes : At home, determine where you want to plant them. Thanks to this article, choose the type of rose bush that is best for you. You can already think about the color of the bloom you want. So go to a garden center and choose the variety that meets your criteria!

For more information, visit the Société Française des Roses website.

And you, are you crazy about rose bushes?

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