Garden Roses, The Basics

For many centuries garden roses have been on of the gardeners favorite plants. Way back, during the time of the Roman Empire, many of the gardens of southern Rome featured an abundance of roses. Throughout history famous gardens have often featured roses and, during the seventeenth century, at Chateau de Malmaison, near Paris, France, Napoleon’s wife developed rather extensive rose gardens.

With such an old plant it is little wonder that roses have come to signify various meanings with different colors meaning vastly different things but most prominent has always been the romantic aspects of giving roses to a loved one. Every year, on Valentines day it would seem that virtually every male is almost obliged to buy his lover at least one red rose.

Roses are available in a massive range of colors and tones ranging from black to pure white. (black roses are actually not black at all, rather, they are the darkest shade of red possible). White roses may appear plain but they are one of the most useful colors available because white will go well with almost any other color available. If you create a border fully of roses you may find yourself overwhelmed by the shear choice available and while many opt to plant in one color others create fascinating contrasting color schemes.

With such a massive choice of rose color available the modern gardener is further spoilt for choice as there are also various distinctively different types of roses available today. Floribunda roses are incredibly popular and can be recognized by the fact that they will produce clusters of blooms. Hybrid Tea roses are rather different in that they only produce a single bloom per stem. Both Floribunda and Hybrid Tea types are amongst the most popular.

As an alternative to the usual HT and Floribunda types of rose you may be interested in the type known as “full standards”. Full standard look as though they are small bushes on a pole and are often seen in containers on decking and patios. They are created by grafting around three strong stems onto one long stem of around 1m in height. The effect is dramatic and such flowers are highly suitable for use as a focal point, even in the smallest of yards.

Climbing roses are incredibly useful as they can be used in a multitude of different ways. The most common use is to train them to grow up garden furniture and structures such as walls and fences however you can also train them to grow up and around larger trees and shrubs to great effect. Climbers can also be grown in containers but they will need support.

Finally a more unusual type of rose is the miniature rose. As miniature roses only grow to about 25-40cm they can only be used in certain circumstances as they are easily swamped by other larger and more vigorous plants. Usually miniature roses are used at the front of borders or in containers and they are available in a reasonable range of colors which include pinks, reds, lilacs, yellows and white.

Even if you only have a small space for a yard growing roses can be extremely rewarding, a beautiful garden and cut flowers whenever you want. However, to get the very best from your plants you will really need to investigate exactly how to care for roses a little further as there are a number of specific things to do to ensure that you have a strong healthy bush which produces masses of blooms year after year.