With their captivating fragrances, artistically folded petals and alluring colours, it’s no surprise that roses are consistently voted the nation’s favourite flower.
How to care for your roses
Roses are remarkably easy to take care of as long as you remember that they’re greedy feeders and thirsty drinkers. A balanced diet helps keep pests and diseases at bay, and enables the production of copious, intricate blooms. Prune established roses in late winter/early spring and follow with a thick layer of organic matter around the plants to lock in moisture over the summer months. During prolonged periods of drought, give your roses a thorough soaking at least once a week.
Want to create a rose garden but don't know where to start? Check out our best rose garden ideas
Best garden roses
For Your Eyes Only
The charm of this floribunda rose is in its profusion of single blooms, which adorn the plant in various shades of apricot, salmon, pink and peach. Each flower has a distinctive darker blotch in the centre and golden yellow stamens that lure in pollinators.
Scabrosa
Huge red hips follow the large, deep-pink blooms of this Peter Beales shrub rose in late summer/autumn. This is a versatile, older rose variety that copes well in shade, poorer soils and is robust enough to use as a hedge. £24.95
Buy from classicroses.co.uk
Flower Carpet Amber
A useful ground cover rose that will stretch across the area it’s planted in. Rich amber flowers mature to softer tones of blush peach from July to September. It’s disease resistant and very easy to look after.
- Buy from Waitrose Garden
- Buy from crocus.co.uk
Gertrude Jekyll
A sensational, repeat-flowering English shrub rose bred by David Austin. An abundance of lipstick-pink, highly scented blooms erupt from a medium-sized shrub in early summer and are followed by further flushes over the following months.
Buy from davidaustinroses.co.uk
Rosa Banksiae Lutea
Like most rambling roses, this provides a showstopping, once-a-year performance. It’s a vigorous and thornless rambler that would grace a large pergola or grow through a mature tree. During May it’s smothered with a profusion of soft, yellow double flowers.
Starlight Symphony
Make the most of the verticals in your garden by including a climbing rose that flowers repeatedly. Starlight Symphony, from Harkness Roses, produces large clusters
of white, fragranced blooms that can be appreciated at
eye level.
Buy from roses.co.uk
Photos: RHS, Getty Images, Crocus.co.uk
