For centuries it’s been a symbol for love and beauty. As early as the Antiquities it was considered a luxury item: the upper classes perfumed themselves with rose oil and drank wine garnished with a petal. Today, roses are in demand not only as cut flowers, but as one of the most popular flowering plants in the garden.
Stepping through a fragrant rose arbor inspires awe to this very day. The combination of beautiful, exquisitely aromatic blossoms and thorned stems makes for a thrilling contradiction, one that we encounter as children in fairytales like Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty.
Multifaceted and Robust
Dark red, purple and orange, pastel pink, green, yellow and white – roses come in a grand assortment of colors. There are currently about 30,000 types of roses – a plethora all but unmatched by other flowering garden plants. These days, it’s the traditional types of roses that are most in fashion, varieties like the lushly petaled classic rose. Some of these rose types are, however, susceptible to diseases; if you’re a gardener who wants to avoid using pesticides at all costs, opt for the newer types, instead. These are no less enticing in terms of appearance and fragrance, the main difference being that they’re bred with an additional emphasis on good health and robustness.
Climbing, Bush, or Compact
The rose you choose depends on personal taste, location, and desired growth habit.
- Climbing roses are best suited for growing up walls, pergolas, or arbors. They send out long shoots – a trait that they share with rambling roses. The latter, however, have substantially weaker branches that need a support to grow well. An ideal combination is a rambling rose at the base of an old fruit tree. The rose will thrive here and you’ll end up with a lovely natural progression from fruit- to flower-blossoms.
- Tea roses have large, full, perfectly formed flowers with a single, sturdy stem that is easily cut for bouquets.
- Bush roses grow compactly and send out many flowers, as do their smaller cousins, the dwarf roses.
- If you’re landscaping an embankment or slope, try using small shrub roses as a ground cover. These will also do well in containers on the balcony or patio.
This time of year is great for finding blossoming roses for sale in containers, simplifying your search for that perfect color.