How to Select a Rose

There are key factors to consider when gardening with roses.  Soil conditions, sun exposure and the style of your landscape all play a role; but most answers will be revealed if you ask yourself one simple question:  What do I want this rose to do?

It’s amazing how often we forget to assess what we want out of our plants – in fact, some have never even considered it!  We are all guilty of having plants in our yard simply because we walked by something at the garden center and liked it, or having weak knees for yellow-colored flowers (or whatever your particular affliction may be).  But consciously selecting a rose is an entirely different process.   How will it affect your emotions?  Do you want something showy or a subtle blend of color and texture?  Think about how roses can work for you to fill basic landscape needs such as hedges, screens or groundcovers.

It may be that you have a sunny spot in your yard and just want something blooming there.  In that case, the sky’s the limit, and you have hundreds of options.  But in most instances, there’s some kind of defining factor:  it’s too shady, you have limited space, you want roses with showy hips…before planting any rose, think carefully about where you want to plant it and the impact it will have on you and your garden.

A little pre-planning can go a long way toward enjoying your roses.  It is often the difference between just living with a rose and actually loving it.  Considering maintenance, the overall size and shape of the bush, and ways it can enhance your landscape will ensure the right choice for your garden.

Roses come in all shapes and sizes, from extraordinarily small miniatures to sprawling ramblers.  Matching the growth habit of the rose to the space you have available will enhance your garden without creating unnecessary maintenance headaches.  Above: varying sizes are demonstrated by Red Glory (tall hedge), Lavender Lassie (arbor) and Paul’s Himalayan Musk (climbing over 30 feet into a tree).

You may have heard the phrase “form follows function.”  This is true of roses as well.  Are you looking to create a focal point in your yard?  A tall, brightly-colored climbing rose on a pillar would be your choice.  Need to fill a large space quickly?  Use suckering varieties such as Gallicas and Rugosas that like to colonize.  Shrub roses, Floribundas and Polyanthas work better than Hybrid Teas en masse; these roses tend to be more disease resistant and can be planted in large groups to create blocks of color.

How you want to use your roses also impacts where they should be planted.  Large-blooming, fragrant varieties grown for bouquets should be placed adjacent to seating areas or patios where they can be easily enjoyed and accessed for cutting.  On the other hand, roses with prolific, smaller blooms (like Meidiland shrub roses) may look better from a distance where you can get the full visual impact of the bloom without being too close to the spent flowers to notice them.  Compact, prolific bloomers lend themselves naturally to container gardening, whereas nearly thornless roses are suitable adjacent to walkways or other maintenance areas where thorned varieties would ensnare the passerby.

The amount of time you are willing to spend on maintenance tasks like pruning, fertilizing or spraying may also guide your rose selection.  If summer deadheading is not your favorite task, consider some of the species roses or Old Garden Roses.  These may bloom only once a year, but once-blooming means once-pruning!  Once-bloomers or self-cleaning varieties (such as Knock Out or Carefree Delight) are also good choices for hard-to-reach areas in your garden where regular pruning would be a difficult task.

How you plan to use roses in the landscape will help narrow your selection. Clockwise from top:  floribundas and miniatures make great roses for containers; fragrant, large-flowered roses provide blooms for bouquets; bright colored climbers create a focal point in the garden; and disease-resistant shrub roses make good choices for hedges.

Not sure which rose you are looking for?  Consider the following selection criteria to choose the perfect rose for your garden:

Personal Taste

• Color
• Fragrance
• Bloom size

Maintenance

• Surrounding environment (what is planted adjacent to or below the rose)
• Access
• How much time do you want to spend pruning, fertilizing, or spraying?

Space Considerations

• Limited planting area?
• Filling a large landscape?

Special Situations

• Shade tolerant roses
• Container gardening
• Kid-friendly or nearly thornless roses
• Screening
• Growing roses organically
• Wildlife habitat

Landscaping Basics

• Designing with color (warm vs. cool tones, contrasting vs. complimentary colors)
• What look do I want? (formal, informal, cottage garden, woodland)
• Creating focal points/vistas
• Affects of bloom size and leaf texture on space
• Massing roses for color
• Specimen plantings
• Companion planting opportunities
• Background vs. foreground

Growth Habit

• Climbing or rambling
• Arching shrubs
• Stiffly upright
• Rounded bushes
• Mounded or spreading