English rose
Rosa selections
One of the biggest challenges for late 20th-century rose breeders was restoring fragrance while improving vigor of new rose introductions. English-style roses provide a lush, romantic solution. The flowers are densely filled with petals, much like antique roses, and most possess a strong fragrance that hearkens back to old-fashioned tea roses. Yet their growth habits, health, and, most of all, their tendency to repeat bloom, are an improvement on their ancestors.
English roses are a good choice for rose cutting gardens. Their full, intensely perfumed flowers make sumptuous bouquets. Some varieties will climb if left unpruned and can be trained along a fence or arbor
Shown here: Heritage English rose
- Light:
- Sun, Part Sun
- Zones:
- 4-9
- Plant Type:
- Rose
- Plant Height:
- 2 1/2 to 10 feet tall, depending on variety
- Plant Width:
- 2 to 4 feet wide, depending on variety
- Landscape Uses:
- Containers, Beds & Borders, Slopes
- Special Features:
- Attractive Foliage, Fragrant, Cut Flowers, Easy to Grow
Top Varieties
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Rosa 'Gertrude Jekyll') offers rich magenta blooms that unfold from fringed buds on an upright, vigorous plant. The flower fragrance is a rich antique rose perfume. Plants can be maintained as tall shrubs or encouraged to climb to 10 feet. Otherwise, it grows to 5 to 6 feet tall. This reliable variety is hardy in Zones 5-9.
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Rosa 'Graham Thomas') bears warm peachy yellow blooms that appear in clusters and have the enticing scent of antique roses and a hint of violets. This vigorous variety grows to 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide as a pruned shrub rose or 12 feet tall as a climber. Zones 4-9
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Rosa 'Heritage') features huge, pale pink blooms that possess a sweet combination of fruit, honey, and carnation. They appear continuously through the season on the rounded, shrubby plant. It grows to 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide as a shrub, or to 7 feet if allowed to climb. Zones 5-9
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Rosa 'Jean Giono') is a French-bred variety that produces full, double blooms packed with spice-scented golden yellow petals with tangerine centers. The foliage is a shiny dark green. The plants grow 4 to 5 feet tall and are hardy to Zone 5, with winter protection.
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Rosa 'Mary Magdalene') bears apricot-pink petals arranged around a central button in a flower style called a "rosette." The double blooms have a sweet tea-rose scent. This variety grows to 3 feet tall and wide. Zones 5-9
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Rosa 'Mary Rose') is an early bloomer that produces full, ruffled double flowers in a sweet pink permeated with an antique rose, honey, and almond blossom fragrance. The plant forms a dense shrub that grows 4 feet tall and wide. Zones 4-9
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Rosa 'Othello') features fully double, dusky crimson flowers that repeat throughout the summer and contrast with the dark green foliage. They have a strong, antique rose fragrance. This variety is thorny and very hardy. It grows to 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Zones 5-9
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Rosa 'St. Swithun') bears bowl-shaped, frilled blooms in clear pink, redolent of myrrh, that appear on a vigorous plant with climbing tendencies. The canes can be pruned to maintain a medium shrub rose shape or encouraged to climb to 8 feet. The plant is covered with disease-resistant foliage and grows 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Zones 5-9
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Rosa 'The Dark Lady') bears large, crinkled blooms that blend shades of red and violet and unfurl on a plant that spreads slightly and grows to 4 feet tall and wide. Zones 5-9
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Rosa 'The Prince') produces cupped rosettes of deep crimson that darken to a mysterious shade of dusky purple. They possess a strong antique rose fragrance. The plant is a good repeat bloomer and compact, reaching 2-1/2 feet tall and wide. Zones 5-9
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