Types of Roses Explained | Nature Hills Nursery

There’s an amazing, dizzying, and incredible array of Roses out there! So many it may be difficult to narrow down which one you want! If only we had the room and an army of landscapers, we’d not have to choose!

But if you have to choose just one (or just a few) Nature Hills is here to the rescue! Here are the many different types of Roses and how they each have an advantage over the others for your specific garden needs!

Wonderful Rose Varieties Explained
Elegant Hybrid Tea Roses
Floriferous Floribunda Roses
Grand Grandiflora Roses
Versatile Landscaping and Shrub Roses
Grow Vertical With Climbing Roses
Sweet and Petite Miniature Rose Bushes
Low-Growing Garden Gems - Groundcover Roses
Go Big With Tree-Form Roses!
Nearly Infinite Choices!
Detailed Rose Care and Support

Wonderful Rose Varieties Explained

What exactly do all these Rose varieties mean for your landscape? Where is best for each type to grow? Nature Hills is here to explain the difference between each of these fantastic types of Rose bushes!

Elegant Hybrid Tea Roses

The fragrant, full, and posh English Rose garden beauty of Hybrid Tea Roses displays elegant single-borne blooms on long stems that just beg to be snipped for bouquets! Often taller shrubs, you can enjoy the beauty and smell of these spiraling buds that open into high-centered blooms from pointed buds. Often fragrant and continued reblooming, these large flowered shrubs feature high petal counts and a wondrous array of colors.

The notoriety of Hybrid Tea Roses has also been enhanced by the practice of naming Rose plants after famous people. In addition to the Amelia Earhart hybrid rose plant, you’ll find roses named after Betty White, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dolly Parton, Princess Diana, and other flamboyant personalities.

Hybrid Tea Roses in the Landscape

Must-haves for the Cut flower garden
Taller Garden Specimens
Rose Garden standards
Lovely in containers and planters
High petal count and repeat bloom
Solitary, large flower borne atop a long stem

Floriferous Floribunda Roses

Floribunda Roses are a hybrid cross between Multiflora (aka Polyantha Roses) and Hybrid Tea Roses. Revered for their long-lasting flowers and extended season of bloom, these Roses keep their Multiflora roots by forming clusters of multiple flowers at a time!

Often fragrant, this variety is fantastic in the cutting garden, as lower growing garden accents and available in a striking array of colors, Floribunda Rose bushes are easy to grow and bloom from late spring until frost in fall!

Floribundas in the Landscape

Flowers held in clusters
Bloom late spring through fall
Borders and Edging
Low-Hedges and Backdrops
Striking Mass Plantings
Extended Season Color

Grand Grandiflora Roses

Grandiflora Rose bushes are a cross between a Floribunda and Hybrid Tea Roses, keeping the full flower clusters of the Floribunda side of the family, but having the Tea Rose long stems and big flouncy blooms! Fantastic in bouquets as they are consistent rebloomers, Grandiflora Roses come in a wide range of sizes, colors, forms and scents. Often hardier in cold than Hybrid Teas, these are fantastic for bursts of garden color and as focal points in the landscape.

Grandifloras in the Landscape

Garden Accents and Focal Points
Versatile Additions - Wide Range of Size Options
Reblooming
Hardy Roots
Large, Full Flowers held in Clusters

Versatile Landscaping and Shrub Roses

The workhorses of the Rose family, Landscape and Shrub Roses act as living hedges and large-scale garden displays. Including the formidable Rugosa Rose, Landscaping Roses fill large areas and form thickets that birds adore.

Fantastic nectar and pollen-laden resources for bees and butterflies, Shrub Roses are gorgeous leafy backdrops, often have fall Rose hips, and are fantastic for hedging and privacy anywhere in the sun!

Landscape Shrub Roses in the Landscape

Backdrop and Hedge Roses
Larger-Sized Mounding and Thicket-Forming Barrier Plantings
Landscape Definition and Structure
Very Rugged, Durable and Easy to Grow
Free Flowering and Pollinator-Friendly
Great in Containers and Perfect for Rows, Groupings and En Masse

Grow Vertical With Climbing Roses

Fast-growing and with long, flexible, sturdy canes, the Climbing Rose is available in a wide range of colors, sizes, and forms! Either upright or rambling, Climbing Roses are able to grow from 8 to 20 feet tall and can be easily trained to grow on a trellis, drape over an arbor, romantically clamber over a pagoda, or create vertical walls throughout the garden! They can even be left to cascade and ramble over the ground as groundcover and en masse filler. Climbing Roses are easy to grow and typically flower on old canes first, and the new flowers are formed on new growth in summer. They will need to be attached to structures to keep them in place.

Climbing Roses in the Landscape

Acrobatic Climbers or Rambling Groundcover
Strong Flexible Canes Easily Train onto any Structure
Wide Range of Sizes, Styles and colors
Vertical Garden Interest
Includes Grandiflora, Hybrid Tea, Floribunda and Landscape Rose in Climbing Form

Sweet and Petite Miniature Rose Bushes

Pint-sized versions of the other above Rose bushes, Miniature Roses may be small, but they have just as much impact on the garden when it comes to color and variety! Perfect in containers and planters, anyone with or without a yard can still enjoy Roses! Small-scale landscaping at its best, balcony and Container Gardeners in a wide range of growing zones can experience the beauty of a Rose bush in a fraction of the space.

Ideal as edging and front-of-the-border accents, en masse plantings of these versatile, mini flowering shrubs fill your landscape with drifts of reblooming color! From single-borne to clusters, the often perfumed little blooms are darling little pops of color and great gift plants!

Miniature Roses in the Landscape

Small-Scale Blooms are Big on Impact
Containers, Planters and Balconies
Lovely In Drifts, as Edging and Groupings
Fantastic Gift Plants
Dizzying Array of Colors and Sizes

Low-Growing Garden Gems - Groundcover Roses

Another form of Hardy Landscape Roses, hardworking and low-growing Groundcover Roses are the living mulch and finishing touches for your landscape! Often spreading much wider than they grow tall, but brimming in clusters of blooms from late spring until frost, these types of Rose bushes require the least amount of maintenance and fuss.

Available in an equally dizzying array of colors and forms, from single to double, scented to unscented, Groundcover Rose bushes fill large swaths of area in lush greenery and drifts of colorful flowers! Often with remarkable disease resistance and cold/heat hardiness, we’re sure there’s a Groundcover Rose to match and enhance your landscape in our inventory.

Groundcover Roses in the Landscape

Low-Growing Garden Bed Definition, Edging & En Masse Color
Vibrant and Free-Flowering Spring to Fall
Very Tough, Hardy and Disease Resistant
Low Maintenance
Great as Spillers and Fillers in the Landscape and in Container Gardens!
Perfect for Low Hedges, In Rows, Groupings, and as Facer Plants

Go Big With Tree-Form Roses!

Super special Rose Trees feature everything you love about Roses, and then elevated! The same big, bold, beautiful blooms you love - only now held up higher for your inspection and closer to the nose to enjoy their fragrance! Go ahead and gaze at these eye-level Roses of all types listed above. From Miniature Rose Trees to Grandiflora Rose Trees, we’re sure there is a Tree Form Rose to match your favorite Rose shrub!

Expertly grafted atop a 2-3 foot tall standard Rose trunk that is straight, sturdy, and elegant! Over time, your beautiful Rose Tree will grow into a showy specimen. No one walks past a Tree Rose without stopping to take a long look! Container and planter ready, your Patio Garden can have a crowning jewel, the front porch or front garden gain a boost of amazing curb appeal, and back seating areas gain fragrant conversation pieces!

Rose Trees in the Landscape

Captivating Specimens
Container Accents & Garden Focal Points
Expertly Grafted Rose Bushes On Top of 2-3 foot tall Rose Standard Trunks
Floribunda, Miniature, Grandiflora, Shrub, and Hybrid Teas on Tall Straight Stems
Curb Appeal, Conversation Pieces, and Supreme Visual Interest

Nearly Infinite Choices!

Need help narrowing down your options? Check out these more Rose options to help you fill a specific garden requirement! There is an old-fashioned garden antique, hardy native Rose, or effortless-to-grow Modern Rose out there for you!

Maybe you are looking for the most Fragrant Roses Nature Hills has to offer, or perhaps the most deer-resistant Roses that feature fragrance and thorns that can even keep deer at bay. Though when desperate, Deer will have a nibble at the new growth.

Narrow your search first by Plant Hardiness Zone, and further fine-tune it based on height, color, and sun needs! Check out these Roses that bloom in partial shade or Roses that are incredibly cold-hardy! There are Roses that bloom in the hottest climates as well! Can’t decide on one color? Check out multi-colored Roses!

Looking for a specific brand? Nature Hills Nursery is proud to offer Easy Elegance® Roses, Drift® and Knock Out® Rose bushes, Proven Winners® and First Editions® brand Roses! Plus a large selection of Nature Hills’ Choice Rose blooms for you to choose from!

Detailed Rose Care and Support

The Nature Hills #ProPlantTips Garden blog has tons of information available to you so you can learn how to give your new prized Rose bush the very best of care! From finding the right Rose fertilizer to support these blooming machines. To the right methods of Pruning Roses. Since Roses are deciduous shrubs, you need to know all about winterizing your Roses and un-wintering Roses in spring!

Do you still need help with your Rose bush? Our helpful and knowledgeable customer service and sales department is here to help you grow the perfect Rose bush for your garden!

Nature Hills is committed to partnering with expert growers, and providing quality plant material and mature rootstock to guarantee the Rose you receive is of the highest quality! Plant breeders and Rosarians are constantly developing new and exciting varieties of Rose bushes to suit every possible garden niche out there!

So check back often to see what the future holds for Rose bushes and fill your garden with these elegant plants that have captivated humanity for centuries!

Happy Planting!

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of roses are there?

There are eight main types of roses, each serving different landscape purposes: Hybrid Tea roses produce elegant single blooms on long stems perfect for cutting, while Floribunda roses offer clusters of flowers for continuous color. Grandiflora roses combine the best of both with large blooms in clusters, and Shrub roses provide versatile, low-maintenance options for mixed borders. Climbing roses reach 8-20 feet for vertical interest, Miniature roses stay under 2 feet for containers, Groundcover roses spread wide for erosion control, and Tree-form roses create formal focal points. Choose based on your space, maintenance preferences, and whether you want cut flowers or landscape impact.

Are there different types of roses?

Yes, there are numerous distinct types of roses, each suited for different garden purposes. The main categories include Hybrid Tea roses (elegant single blooms on long stems), Floribunda roses (clusters of flowers), Grandiflora roses (combining traits of both), plus Shrub roses, Climbing roses, Miniature roses, Groundcover roses, and Tree-form roses. Each type offers unique characteristics in terms of bloom size, growth habit, fragrance, and landscape function. Choose Hybrid Tea roses for cut flowers, Climbing roses for vertical interest, or Shrub roses for low-maintenance landscaping based on your specific garden goals.

Are roses?

Roses are woody perennial flowering shrubs belonging to the genus Rosa, available in multiple growth forms from miniature bushes to climbing varieties reaching 20+ feet. Most modern roses are hardy in USDA zones 3-10 depending on variety, with hybrid teas, floribundas, and shrub roses being the most popular categories for home gardens. They produce fragrant blooms from late spring through fall with proper care, requiring 6+ hours of direct sunlight daily. Choose hybrid teas for cut flowers, floribundas for continuous color, or shrub roses for low-maintenance landscaping based on your specific garden needs.

Are roses evergreen or deciduous?

Most roses are deciduous shrubs that lose their leaves in fall and enter dormancy during winter months in zones 3-9. However, in warmer climates like zones 9-11, some rose varieties may retain foliage year-round and act as semi-evergreen plants. The deciduous nature allows roses to survive freezing temperatures by going dormant from late fall through early spring. Plan your garden design knowing that roses will provide structure and blooms during growing season but will be bare stems in winter.

However, I can help you generate 6 practical, gardening-focused FAQ questions for an article titled "What are the Different Types of Roses?" that would complement real content about rose varieties:

Here are 6 practical FAQ questions for "What are the Different Types of Roses?": Q: Which rose types are best for beginner gardeners? A: Shrub roses and knockout roses are ideal for beginners because they require minimal pruning and offer excellent disease resistance. These varieties bloom repeatedly from spring through fall in zones 5-9 and tolerate various soil conditions. They typically reach 3-4 feet tall and wide, making them perfect for foundation plantings. Start with these hardy varieties to build confidence before trying more demanding hybrid teas. Q: What's the difference between hybrid tea roses and garden roses? A: Hybrid tea roses produce classic single blooms on long stems, perfect for cutting, but require regular pruning and disease management. Garden roses (including shrub and landscape roses) grow in a bushier form with clusters of smaller blooms and need less maintenance. Hybrid teas typically reach 4-

Are rose bushes deciduous?

Yes, most rose bushes are deciduous, meaning they drop their leaves in fall and enter dormancy during winter months. In zones 3-7, roses typically lose their foliage after the first hard frost, while in warmer zones 8-10, some varieties may retain leaves longer or behave as semi-evergreen. During dormancy, roses redirect energy to their root systems to survive cold temperatures. Plan your rose garden maintenance around this natural cycle by pruning in late winter before new growth begins.

Are roses vines?

Most roses are shrubs, not vines, though climbing roses can grow 8-20 feet tall and require support structures like trellises or arbors. True vines have tendrils or aerial roots for attachment, while climbing roses use long canes with thorns to scramble upward. Shrub roses, hybrid teas, floribundas, and miniatures all grow as self-supporting bushes typically 2-8 feet tall. Choose climbing varieties if you want vertical coverage, or select shrub types for traditional landscaping applications.

Are there pink roses?

Yes, pink roses are widely available across all major rose types, from classic Hybrid Tea varieties to Floribunda and Shrub roses. Pink cultivars thrive in USDA zones 3-10 depending on the specific variety, with most performing best in zones 5-9. Popular pink options include 'Queen Elizabeth' Grandiflora, 'Pink Knockout' shrub rose, and 'Mister Lincoln's' pink sport varieties. Choose pink roses based on your garden's size and purpose - Hybrid Teas for cut flowers, Floribundas for mass color, or shrub roses for low-maintenance landscapes.

What is a knock out rose bush?

Knock Out roses are a trademarked series of disease-resistant shrub roses that bloom continuously from spring through fall in zones 5-9. These compact bushes typically reach 3-4 feet tall and wide, producing clusters of single or semi-double flowers in colors ranging from red to pink to yellow. They require minimal pruning and are virtually maintenance-free compared to traditional roses, making them excellent for beginner gardeners. Plant them in full sun with good air circulation for best disease resistance and flowering performance.

What is a knockout rose?

Knockout roses are a popular series of disease-resistant shrub roses that bloom continuously from spring through fall in zones 5-10. These low-maintenance roses typically grow 3-4 feet tall and wide, producing clusters of single or semi-double flowers without requiring deadheading or frequent spraying for black spot and powdery mildew. They're ideal for mass plantings, mixed borders, or anywhere you want reliable color with minimal care. Plant them in full sun with good air circulation for best performance and blooming.