Types of roses — 12 varieties for every garden

Types of roses: 12 varieties for every garden style + climate

Roses are the most-planted ornamental shrub in the US and the UK, yet the labels at the garden center — "hybrid tea", "shrub rose", "climber", "English rose" — confuse almost every first-time buyer. There are roughly a dozen functional types you will meet in retail, and once you understand the differences between them, you can pick a rose for any garden style, climate, or wall in about thirty seconds. This guide covers the 12 main types of roses with the ID cues, fragrance notes, and the award programs (AGRS in the US, ADR in Europe, RHS Award of Garden Merit in the UK) that flag the strongest performers.

Pick the right rose for your light: Photograph your bed in Growli and we measure the hours of direct sun — then rank the rose types most likely to thrive there.

How we group the 12 types

Three traits drive nearly every care decision for roses: bloom habit (single blooms vs clusters), plant form (bush, climber, shrub, ground-cover, miniature), and bloom heritage (modern hybrid vs old garden vs species).

1. Modern bush roses — bred for repeat bloom on compact bushes: hybrid tea, floribunda, grandiflora.
2. Climbers and ramblers — long flexible canes trained against walls, pergolas, fences.
3. Shrubs and David Austin English roses — informal, rounded shrubs that flower for months.
4. Miniature and ground-cover — under 2 ft tall for borders, containers, low-maintenance landscapes.
5. Old garden roses and species roses — pre-1867 heritage classes plus wild ancestors.

Most US garden centers stock the first three groups heavily; specialty growers (David Austin, Heirloom Roses, Sequoia Nursery, Peter Beales in the UK) carry the rest.

Modern bush roses

1. Hybrid tea — Rosa x hybrida

The classic florist rose. One large, high-centered bloom per long stem, with 30–50 petals that open from a pointed bud to a goblet shape. This is the rose that appears in vases, weddings, and corsages. Popular cultivars include 'Mister Lincoln' (deep red, intensely fragrant), 'Peace' (yellow with pink edges, the most famous post-war rose), 'Double Delight' (cream and red bicolor), and 'Just Joey' (copper-orange, AGM winner). Hybrid teas demand careful pruning each spring and weekly deadheading to keep producing through the season — our guide to how to prune roses covers the type-by-type method, including the hard hybrid-tea cut.

Care signal: Full sun (6+ hrs), deep weekly watering, hard prune in early spring.

2. Floribunda — Rosa x floribunda

A 1930s cross between hybrid teas and polyanthas. Floribundas produce clusters of medium-sized blooms on a compact, hardier, more disease-resistant bush. Better for mass plantings and lower-maintenance gardens than hybrid teas. Iconic cultivars include 'Iceberg' (pure white, one of the world's best-selling roses, AGM), 'Queen Elizabeth' (pink, technically the first grandiflora but often listed with floribundas), 'Cinco de Mayo' (smoky russet-lavender), 'Julia Child' (butter yellow, AGRS winner), and 'Sexy Rexy' (warm pink).

Care signal: Full sun, weekly watering, light spring pruning.

3. Grandiflora — Rosa x grandiflora

A mid-20th-century US class — hybrid tea bloom form, floribunda clustering, on a tall (5–6 ft) bush. 'Queen Elizabeth' (1954) was the original grandiflora. Other reliable picks: 'Tournament of Roses' (coral pink), 'Crimson Bouquet' (red), and 'Wild Blue Yonder' (lavender-purple). The class is more recognized in the US than in Europe.

Care signal: Full sun, weekly watering, moderate spring pruning to control height.

Climbers and ramblers

4. Climbing rose — Rosa climbers

Long stiff canes (8–15 ft) that you tie to a support — a pergola, trellis, fence, or wall — because climbers don't actually cling on their own. Most modern climbers repeat-bloom from spring through fall. Notable cultivars: 'New Dawn' (pale pink, the first patented plant in the US, 1930), 'Don Juan' (deep red), 'Joseph's Coat' (multicolor), 'America' (coral salmon, AARS 1976), and the David Austin climber 'Graham Thomas' (rich yellow). For UK gardens, 'Constance Spry' was David Austin's first English rose climber.

Care signal: Full sun to part shade, train laterally for maximum bloom, prune after first major flush.

5. Rambling rose — Rosa ramblers

Even longer canes than climbers (15–30 ft) with one massive flush of small clustered flowers in early summer — usually no repeat. Best for covering an old shed, scrambling through a tree, or carpeting a long fence. Classic ramblers: 'Albertine' (coral pink, intensely fragrant, AGM), 'Rambling Rector' (white), 'American Pillar' (pink with white eye), 'Paul's Himalayan Musk' (pale pink, vigorous). Rambling roses are the workhorse choice for traditional English cottage gardens.

Care signal: Full sun, very vigorous — give them 6+ ft of space, prune after flowering.

Shrub and English roses

6. Modern shrub rose — Rosa shrub types

A catch-all for repeat-blooming, hardy, lower-maintenance roses that don't fit neatly into the hybrid tea / floribunda classes. Knock Out roses (introduced 2000) revolutionized US landscaping because they bloom from spring through frost without spraying. Other shrub-class winners: 'Bonica' (pink, AARS), the Drift series (ground-cover-adjacent), 'Carefree Beauty', and the 2026 AGRS winner 'Buttercream Drift' (creamy yellow).

Care signal: Full sun, low-spray, light pruning, weekly watering.

7. David Austin English rose — Rosa English / Austin roses

David Austin (UK breeder, 1950s onwards) crossed old garden roses with modern hybrid teas and floribundas to combine old-rose form and fragrance with modern repeat bloom and color range. The result is a distinct class with thousands of plantings worldwide. Standout cultivars: 'Graham Thomas' (rich yellow, 1983, RHS World's Favourite Rose 2009), 'Gertrude Jekyll' (deep pink, classic old-rose fragrance), 'Munstead Wood' (dark crimson, AGM 2007, AGRS Fragrance Award 2017), 'Olivia Rose Austin' (light pink, exceptional disease resistance), 'Lady of Shalott' (apricot-orange), and 'Roald Dahl' (peach). David Austin's UK trial showed that varieties bred after 2010 have notably stronger black spot and rust resistance.

Care signal: Full sun to part shade, deep weekly watering, light annual pruning.

Cross-link: see also our companion-planting guide for what to plant near rose beds (garlic and chives historically pair well).

Miniature and ground-cover

8. Miniature rose — Rosa x chinensis 'Minima'

Compact bushes under 18 inches with everything (leaves, blooms, canes) scaled down proportionally. Great for containers, edging, indoor sun-rooms, and rock gardens. Cultivars: 'Sun Sprinkles' (yellow, AARS 2001), 'Sweet Chariot' (purple, fragrant), 'Rainbow's End' (yellow-red bicolor). Many miniatures are surprisingly cold-hardy.

Care signal: Full sun, careful watering (small root mass dries fast), light deadheading.

9. Ground-cover rose — Rosa spreading types

Low-spreading shrub roses bred to cover slopes, mass-plant in beds, or fill containers. Bloom continuously with minimal care. The Flower Carpet series (introduced 1989) was the first widely-marketed ground-cover line. The Drift series — 'Pink Drift', 'Red Drift', 'Coral Drift', 'Apricot Drift' — has dominated the US market since 2008. The 2026 AGRS 'Buttercream Drift' is the latest addition.

Care signal: Full sun, very low maintenance, shear once a year in early spring.

Old garden and species roses

10. Old garden rose — Rosa (pre-1867)

Any rose class that existed before the introduction of the first modern hybrid tea ('La France', 1867). The category includes Albas, Damasks, Gallicas, Centifolias, Mosses, Bourbons, Noisettes, Portlands, Hybrid Perpetuals, and Teas. Most old garden roses bloom once heavily in early summer (the Bourbons and Hybrid Perpetuals repeat). Heritage favorites: 'Rosa Mundi' (striped Gallica, pre-1581), 'Madame Hardy' (white Damask, 1832), 'Reine des Violettes' (purple Hybrid Perpetual, 1860). Heirloom Roses (Oregon) and Peter Beales (UK) are the dominant US/UK specialty sources.

Care signal: Full sun, infrequent pruning, often more disease-resistant than modern bush roses.

11. Species rose — Rosa wild species

The wild ancestors of every modern rose. Five-petal single blooms in spring, followed by ornamental hips in autumn. Useful in wildlife gardens for pollinators and birds. Common species: Rosa canina (dog rose, the UK hedgerow standard), Rosa rugosa (Japanese rugosa, salt-tolerant, large hips, sometimes considered invasive on US coasts), Rosa glauca (red-tinged foliage), Rosa gallica officinalis (apothecary's rose). RHS lists R. rugosa as Schedule 9 in the UK — do not plant in the wild.

Care signal: Full sun to part shade, very low maintenance, no fertilizer needed.

Award programs to trust

12. ADR-certified roses — Allgemeine Deutsche Rosenneuheitenprüfung

Not strictly a "type" of rose, but a crucial decoder for the disease-resistance label. The ADR trial (Germany) runs cultivars over three years across 11 trial stations with no fungicide spraying allowed since 1997. About 50 new cultivars enter each year; only a fraction earn ADR certification. If you garden in a high-disease climate (Pacific Northwest, UK, Mid-Atlantic), an ADR label means the rose has survived a brutal spray-free trial. The current ADR list contains over 170 varieties. The US equivalent is the American Garden Rose Selections (AGRS), which replaced the historic AARS program in 2014.

Care signal: Treat as you would a modern shrub or floribunda — the rose has already proven low-maintenance.

US vs UK rose climate — what actually grows where

The UK rose climate is cool, damp, and mild (most of England sits in RHS H4–H5 / USDA zones 8–9). British rose breeders (David Austin, Peter Beales, Harkness) breed primarily for damp-summer disease resistance, classic fragrance, and repeat bloom. Almost any David Austin rose will thrive in the UK; many will struggle in the dry heat of Phoenix or Las Vegas without significant irrigation.

The US climate is harsher: deep frost in zones 3–5, brutal summer heat in zones 8–10, and humid disease pressure in the Southeast. American breeding (Knock Out, Drift, Weeks Roses, Star Roses) leans into heat tolerance, cold hardiness, and black spot resistance. Knock Out roses dominate US landscape plantings because they spray-free-flower from zone 5 through zone 9.

Pick the right rose by combining climate match + bloom style:

• UK / mild damp: David Austin English roses, ramblers, old garden Bourbons and Albas
• US Northeast / cold: Knock Out, Drift, Canadian Explorer series, hardy floribundas
• US Southeast / humid: ADR-certified types, Knock Out, Earth-Kind designated cultivars
• US Southwest / dry hot: Hybrid teas like 'Mister Lincoln', heat-tolerant grandifloras, drought-adapted shrubs

How to choose the right type of rose

Define the role first. Are you growing roses for cut flowers (hybrid tea), for a flowering shrub border (shrub, English rose, floribunda — often combined with the different types of hydrangeas for a long-season shrub planting), for a vertical surface (climber, rambler), for a container or edging (miniature, ground-cover), or for a heritage / wildlife garden (old garden, species)? That choice eliminates 80 percent of the options.

Then check disease pressure. If you live where summer is humid (eastern half of the US, anywhere in the UK), prioritize cultivars with strong black spot and powdery mildew resistance: Knock Out, Drift, Olivia Rose Austin, Roald Dahl, ADR-certified varieties. If you live somewhere dry (US Southwest, Mediterranean climates), most hybrid teas will thrive.

Then check sun hours. All roses want 6+ hours of direct sun. The English roses and shrub roses tolerate 4–6 hours in cool climates. Miniatures and ground-covers can manage 4 hours. Anything less than 4 hours of sun and you will get foliage but few blooms.

Then check pruning tolerance. Hybrid teas and grandifloras require precise spring pruning to bloom well. Shrub, English, and ground-cover roses tolerate hack-pruning with shears once a year. Ramblers and climbers want light tip-pruning after the main flush. If you have never pruned a rose before, start with a Knock Out, a Drift, or a David Austin English rose.

Common care across the category

Five rules cover 90 percent of rose care across every type above.

First, deep-water at the root, not from overhead. Roses want one deep soaking per week (1–2 inches of water) rather than daily sprinkling. Drip irrigation or a soaker hose beats overhead sprinklers, which encourage black spot and powdery mildew on wet leaves.

Second, feed three times — once in early spring as growth starts, once after the first flush, once in midsummer. Use a balanced rose fertilizer (granular or liquid) or compost top-dressing. Stop feeding 6 weeks before your first hard frost.

Third, mulch 2–3 inches deep in spring with compost, shredded bark, or leaf mold. Mulch conserves moisture, suppresses weeds, and slowly feeds the soil.

Fourth, deadhead modern repeat-blooming roses after each flush — cut to the first five-leaflet leaf below the spent bloom. Old garden, species, and once-bloomers do not need deadheading (and many produce ornamental hips you'd lose).

Fifth, prune annually — light shaping for shrub and English roses, harder pruning for hybrid teas and grandifloras. The RHS recommends pruning in late winter for most types; in the US, prune just as forsythia blooms.

Try Growli: Snap a photo of any rose with Growli — get instant ID and the right care plan in 60 seconds.

Related articles

• Types of flowers — 20+ annuals and perennials for any garden — the broader flower category
• Types of trees — 25 species by climate and use — for combining roses with trees
• Companion planting guide — what to grow near roses
• Garden pest identification — aphids and Japanese beetles are the main rose pests
• Powdery mildew — the most common rose foliar disease
• Types of houseplants — 30+ varieties — for indoor plant cross-reference

Reviewed and updated by the Growli editorial team. For questions about anything here, open Growli and ask — or email hello@getgrowli.app.