Roses have the reputation of being finicky to care for and hard to grow. While that may be true of some of the traditional hybrid cut flower roses such as the ones you buy your spouse on Valentine’s Day, there is a whole group of roses that grow with much less fuss.
Landscape or shrub roses feature beautiful, disease and insect tolerant plants that produce flowers throughout the growing season with little care. These plants aren’t meant for the formal rose garden, but fit in well in the landscape as foundation plants around the house, as a hedge or planted in with other shrubs and perennial flowers. Landscape roses come in many shapes and sizes, but there are some characteristics that are common with all of them.
Landscape roses have continuous blooms from spring through to frost. The plants have good insect and diseases tolerance. They are hardy in most climates. They require little pruning other than removing dead or broken branches and the occasional errant branch. They have an attractive and functional shape that allows them to be used in many locations around the yard.
When choosing a landscape rose for your yard first determine the function of the plant. For planting near the house or in with other shrubs and flowers, consider the color of the flower and the ultimate size and shape of the shrub. Since these plants flower all season, choose colors that will go with the house color and other plants. If you are growing your landscape rose as a hedge, select varieties that fill in quickly and grow to the ultimate height you desire. On slopes, look for low growing landscape roses that will cover a hard- to-mow area yet not grow out of control.
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