Roses are regularly voted the nation’s favourite plant, creating a show-stopping sight in the garden and they have long been cherished for their beauty, fragrance, and timeless elegance. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just starting out, growing and caring for roses can be a rewarding experience. With the right selection, proper care, and a little patience, you can enjoy vibrant blooms season after season. In this guide, we’ll explore how to choose the perfect roses for your garden and share expert tips on keeping them healthy and flourishing.

We grow over 180 varieties of roses on our nursery at Coolings Wych Cross, and stock 55 varieties of David Austin roses too, giving you a wealth of choice and allowing you to find the perfect rose for your garden! We have put together this short guide to help you choose your rose and care for it once safely planted in.

Don’t forget though, our team of experts are always on hand to offer advice and answer any questions you may have at all of our plant centres.

Things to consider…

When choosing the type of rose for your garden you need to consider a few key factors, such as sunlight levels, positioning, exposure to wind, space available. If you have a small garden, a huge rambling rose might not be ideal! If you are planning to plant your rose in a container, you need to ensure the container is an appropriate size and that the rose is suitable to grow in a container. When choosing your roses consider scent as well as colour and also disease resistance.

Types of Roses…

Patio – Bred to produce plants that are compact, low maintenance and ideal to grow in containers in smaller gardens or balconies. These are small bush roses (dwarf clusters) that are usually 30-45cm high. They look like floribundas but just on a smaller scale. Growing roses in pots allows you to have fun with your garden display, enabling flexibility and experimentation with minimum labour.

Pictured: Rosa ‘Sweet Dream‘ – prolific flowering hardy rose. Clusters of pretty, small double-cupped flowers. Great in borders and pots.

Shrub – Generally, these are easy to grow and tolerate a wide variety of conditions. Perfect for growing in garden borders or planted in groups to create sensational displays. This group includes old-fashioned roses. Some shrub roses don’t flower continuously all summer, for these the main flowering is in June-July. Some shrub roses are ideal for shaded areas.

Pictured: David Austin Rosa ‘Lady of Shalott’ – Beautiful chalice-shaped, salmon-pink blooms appear throughout the season. Incredibly robust and hardy variety. Highly resistant to disease. Ideal for inexperienced gardeners and can grown in shaded areas.

Climbers – Not to be confused with rambling roses. Unlike ramblers, most climbers will repeat flower providing colour throughout the summer months. Great for growing against a wall of a house. Prune climbing roses in the early spring as they flower on this season’s growth. Climbers and Ramblers bring life to a wall, fence or arch and can be planted to brighten shady positions.

Pictured: David Austin Rosa ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ – Strongly fragrant, fully double, rich rose-pink flowers, open into a flat rosette shape, flowering throughout the summer and autumn. Modern English rose raised by David Austin, especially good if planted 60cm apart in groups of three so that the branches intertwine, creating a dense cover of flowers.

Ramblers – Much more vigorous than climbing roses. Many rambling roses provide a single, prolific flush of flowers during early to mid-summer. Perfect for growing over arches and trellis’ and ideal as support for other climbers. Prune Rambling roses directly after flowering in summer as they flower on previous season’s growth.

Pictured: Rosa ‘Ghislaine de Feligonde’ – Beautiful, sweetly fragranced, small rambler that flowers repeatedly through summer.

Ground-cover – These varieties grow wider than they do taller. Great for filling large beds and under-planting in borders or for covering banks, they grow quickly and provide a colourful carpet of flowers. Many varieties flower all summer. Ground-cover roses don’t need any pruning at all; just remove dead or broken stems whenever they appear.

Pictured:  Rosa ‘Flower Carpet Pink Supreme’ – Ground cover rose with glossy, dark green leaves and double pink flowers. Repeat flowering with clusters of iridescent rose pink flowers, opening from cherry coloured buds

Floribundas – The name Floribunda means ‘many flowers’ in Latin, as they produce clusters of flowers on each stem, providing a long-lasting colour display. A cross between Hybrid Tea and Polyantha Roses, they are free-blooming, shrubby roses that bloom in large clusters and resist many common foliage diseases.

Pictured: Rosa ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ – Abundant clusters of highly scented double blooms. Free flowering. Lovely as a cut flower.

Hybrid Teas – Historically the most popular type or roses, loved for their long-stemmed, beautifully formed, full-petaled bloom. Easily recognised by their large beautiful flowers on single stems that are produced from early summer to the first autumn frosts. Most are fragranced and ideal for cut flowers.

Pictured: Rosa ‘Peace’ – A fragrant large-flowered bush rose with glossy dark green leaves. Pretty double yellow flowers with pink tinges produced from summer to autumn.

David Austin – Although not officially recognised as a separate type of rose, David Austin roses are sometimes called English roses. Combining the charm, elegance, beautiful flower shape and disease resistance of Old Roses, with the repeat flowering capability and colour range of Hybrid Tea and Floribunda Roses.

Pictured: David Austin Rosa ‘Scarborough Fair’ – Cupped flower of pure soft pink, eventually opening wide to reveal a delicate blush pink flower with golden stamens. Medium fragrance. Upright growth, yet robust and bushy

You can browse our large selection of roses in-store (excluding Coolings Lifestyle), or on our online shop.

Here are some tips for planting, pruning and caring for roses in the garden:

Where to plant…

• Ensure plenty of sunlight – Roses thrive on direct sunlight. For best results, a minimum of four hours of direct sunlight is recommended. However, even when planted against a north wall (meaning no direct sunlight) roses can still perform well. Roses such as ‘Constance Spry’, ‘Lady of Shalott’ and ‘Golden Showers’ are great for shaded areas.
• Avoid intense competition from other plants – the closer you plant your rose to other plants, the more competition there is for moisture and sunlight. For best results, plant your rose 3 feet (100cm) away from other plants and 2 feet (60cm) from other roses. Avoid planting a rose under an overhanging tree branch.
• Avoid very exposed, windy sites – strong winds can cause the base of the rose to loosen in the soil. This will result in your rose rocking in the wind which will lead to it growing at an angle, which in extreme cases will kill it.

Planting roses…

Aside from times of extreme weather, roses can be planted at any time during the year. The extreme weather conditions that we advise against planting are when the ground is frozen, water-logged or during a drought. Often people ask, ‘when is the best time to plant’, but as long as you avoid the conditions mentioned, there really is no one best time to plant.

• Prepare the soil in the area where the rose or roses are to be planted, by mixing in some well-rotted organic compost, forking it into the top 20-30cm of soil. Farmyard manure is ideal for this such as Levington Organic Blend Farmyard Manure (50ltr bag for £6.99) or Coolings Rose, Tree & Shrub Peat Free Compost.
• Apply general fertiliser over the surface of the planting area and fork it into the same depth as the organic matter. NOTE: if you are using a mycorrhizal fungi (e.g. Rootgrow) then it is best not to apply a fertiliser at all as phosphorus (found in general fertilisers) can suppress the fungus.
• For each rose dig a hole roughly twice the width of the plant’s roots and the depth of a spade’s blade. Using a fork, break up the soil at the base of the hole. This will allow the roots to go deeper into the soil.
• Carefully tease out the roots of the container plants because, if this is not done, the roots may be very slow to extend outwards, leaving the young plant more susceptible to drought in summer.
• Place the rose in the centre of the hole and, using a small cane to identify the top of the planting hole, ensure the graft union (i.e. where the cultivar joins the rootstock and the point from which the branches originate) is at soil level (not below as this is reported to increase the risk of rose dieback).
• Back-fill gently with the excavated soil and organic mixture.
• If you are replacing old roses with new roses, ensure that you dig out the soil to a depth and width of 45cm (18in) and exchange it with soil from a different part of the garden, as roses are at risk from replant disease, also known as soil sickness. We would recommend using Rootgrow as it is recommended to help combat replant disease.
• Water the rose well after planting.

Pruning…
Prune back in the first winter after planting. Do this in late winter or early spring. With all roses, first remove dead, damaged and weak growths, then:

• Hybrid tea (large-flowered): Prune the remaining strong stems hard back to 10-15cm (4-6in) from ground level
• Floribunda (cluster-flowered): Prune the remaining strong stems moderately hard back to about 15cm (6in) from ground level
• Ramblers and climbers: Prune remaining strong stems back to 30-40cm (1ft-15in) from ground level if not already pruned at the nursery (climbing sports of bush varieties may revert to bush type if pruned back hard)
• Shrub and species roses: Leave remaining strong stems unpruned.

General care…

Feeding: Apply a dressing of a general or rose fertiliser every spring such as Toprose or David Austin Rose Food to promote healthy foliage and generous flowering. If growth slows, repeat the fertiliser application in mid-summer. Plants can be sprayed with Rose Clear to control pest, fungus and disease problems should they occur.

Mulching: Follow feeding immediately with mulching, in a layer of up to 8cm (3in) deep. Keep the mulch clear of the rose stems, leaving a 10cm (4in) gap between the mulch and stems. We recommend using Strulch Organic Straw Mulch as it lasts on the surface for up to two years and does not rob nitrogen from the soil so plants stay healthy. It works by blocking out the light. It has a neutral pH so can be used anywhere in the garden AND it has a slug and snail deterrent within it. The deterrent irritates the slugs and snails – they don’t eat it and so it doesn’t enter the food chain. One 100 litre bag spreads 3m².

Watering: Water well in dry spells for at least two summers after planting.

Companion plants…

Roses are beautiful on their own, but paired with a plant that complements their form or texture, they can make a really stunning statement in the garden.

Here’s just a few plant suggestions that will make great companions for your roses.

Comeback colour – extend the season with non-stop colour by pairing with perennials or grasses.

Perennials: Alchemilla mollis, herbaceous Geraniums, hardy Osteospermum, Penstemon, Phlox

Grasses: Festuca glauca, Pennisetum, Carex, Panicum virgatum, Stipa

Structure with Evergreen Shrubs – give structure to mixed borders by planting low evergreen shrubs that let you roses stand out.

Hebe, Cistus, Cotoneaster dammeri, Euonymus fortunii, Lavender, Ilex crenata

Attracting Wildlife – Attract beneficial insects and bees. Insects will help keep your roses healthy by eating pests such as aphids. Bees will help other plants reproduce by sharing pollen.

Nepeta, Achillea, Ajuga, Salvia, Sedum