10 things you need to know about growing roses

Roses ‘do’ smell like they used to

Let’s quickly settle a few things. The well-worn phrase ‘roses don’t smell like they used to’ is definitely not true (I hear it almost as much as the well-worn proclamation that suggest Wagon Wheels have shrunk over the past two generations). For starters, a lot of very highly-scented old roses are still available today.

One example of many is the sumptuously-scented, magenta-flowered old rose, ‘Rose de Rescht’. It was first introduced in 1840 – the same year as the first postage stamp – and will probably still be pumping out delicious summer scent when AI robots are running the country. There are also many modern varieties of rose that are highly scented, as well as exceptionally healthy, too. Pink shrub rose ‘Maid Marian’ has the sweetest scent I’ve ever breathed in, while hot pink bush ‘Buxom Beauty’ just gets pipped into second.

• Discover some of the top roses for scent

Summer snipping

Don’t be shy about cutting back roses in the middle of the growing season if they are spoiling the shape of the plant. They have the habit of throwing up a random long shoot that grows twice as tall as all the others and often taller than the variety typically gets. Use secateurs to chop these leggy stems back to just above a leaf, cutting just below the length of the other stems.

The novelty factor

Not only are there many colours of rose but also many quirky two-tone colour effects, stripy flowers and highly unusual shades. ‘Hot Chocolate’ is a wonderful warm mix of glowing reddish brown and orange and is scented and healthy too. To add a stripy splash to the garden try orange and yellow-striped bush ‘Oranges and Lemons’, or the purple and white-striped climbing rose ‘Oh Wow’ which also has very prominent yellow stamens. For a dramatic two tone effect ‘Nostalgia’ has real stand-out blooms, with the buttonhole-shaped flowers cream in the middle before fading out to white, then edged with strawberry red.

The oldest rose you can grow

If you’re a sucker for a bit of history, the oldest rose you are likely to find to buy is Rosa gallica ‘Officinalis’, also known as the Rose of Lancaster or the apothecary’s rose, which dates back to the 13th century. Its highly fragrant flowers were said to help heal wounds and cure ailments.

The perfect partners

Although they are so often seen growing in blocks in parks, roses are very sociable plants that are more than happy to mingle with those from a different background. The key to getting the perfect rose partner is to look at the conditions that roses love: clay soil and full sun.

This opens the door to some beautiful combinations with plants such as free-flowering perennial wallflower Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’, grasses such as Stipa tenuissima and Phalaria ‘Feesey’, Sisyrinchium striatum, rudbeckias and hardy geraniums such as ‘Rozanne’, which keeps flowering all summer.

The quest for a ‘blue’ rose

Which is more unnatural, a blue rose or a blue Smartie? The efforts of rose breeders to make a true blue rose have so far been in vain but there are some good garden plants that have come from this so far elusive pursuit. ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ is a dusky magenta with scented, semi-double flowers. ‘Blue for You’ is similar in shade and very free-flowering or as a wild card try ‘Veilchenblau’, a rambling rose which shows off hundreds of small cupped blooms in one big flush in early summer.

A star is born

Each year, one new variety of rose is named Rose of the Year, based on the verdict of judges who access new varieties of rose over a two-year trial. Rose of the Year 2023 is ‘Peach Melba’, a climber with beautiful frilled blooms that positively glow with shades of soft pink and apricot.

Hip hip, hooray!

If you leave some of the flowers on your roses, by autumn they'll start turning into hips. Rose hips are incredibly nutritious, containing very high levels of Vitamin C (more than oranges) and lycopene, which may work like an antioxidant and help to alleviate inflammation. But do leave some for garden birds to snack on, too!

• Best roses for hips

The thrifty way to grow more roses

Buying bare-root roses in winter (roses sold without a pot) works out much cheaper than buying roses in pots, and planting towards the end of winter helps the roses settle into the soil so they are more resilient to drought in their first summer. If you can be patient, walk round nurseries, garden centres and open gardens to see which flowers, scents and sizes of rose you like, then make a note of the names and buy them bare-root in the winter.

Picking resistant roses

Roses are easy to grow without chemicals, provided that you grow a good, healthy variety. Sadly, a lot of the ‘classic’ roses that have been around for a long time, such as climber ‘Zephirine Drouhin’, and bush roses such as ‘Peace’ do not have the resistance to disease that a lot of more modern varieties, or some species roses do. Exceptionally healthy roses include yellow shrub rose ‘Vanessa Bell’, apricot shrub ‘The Lady Gardener’, or compact magenta climbing rose ‘Gloriana’.

• Trouble-free roses to grow