Rose Types & Colors

Roses come in hundreds of different colors, shapes and sizes.

Literally hundreds of different types of roses, colors and textures are available to choose for an ornamental plant or entire rose garden. Shapes and sizes differ by breed, as do the wide range of colors you can obtain from a rose bush, from pure white to brilliant orange-yellow to the deepest of reds.

Types

Roses come in many different types, such as climbers or miniatures. Rose varieties do better in some growing regions than others. For example, according to All America Rose Selections, roses like the brilliant reddish-pink Knock Out and the pink-lavender Belinda's Dream grow well in the Southeast, while roses such as the Tahitian Sunset and Eureka grow well in the Mountain states of the high plains and Sierra and Cascade mountains. In the northeast, roses such as the white Blanc Double de Courbert and the Lady Elsie May flourish, and in the southwest, varieties such as the Moondance and Fouth of July do very well.

Bloom Shapes

Roses offer different shaped blooms according to their variety. For example, you may find the petals of the Sally Holmes relatively flat and open, while the Madame Ernest Clavat pink rose looks much like a miniature cabbage. Rosettes offer a stimulating ever-widening circular pattern of petals, while the high-centered bloom shape offers a relatively flat petal base with an upright center cluster.

Fragrance

Each rose variety may offer its own special fragrance. Some of the most popular in terms of scent are climbing roses such as the Don Juan and the America, the first offering a very deep red color, the second a salmon-like color. The Fragrant Cloud offers lighter, coral-rose color while the Double Delight offers creamy white flowers that turn a deep strawberry red. The Mister Lincoln is also a popular rose for its color and fragrance offering very dark red colored double flowers with its large blooms.

Hybrid Roses

Hybrid tea roses are commonly grown in the warmer, dry regions of the southwest, according to Texas A&M's website. Such roses produce a full color range and produce fragrant varieties that will please anyone. Hybrids offer multi-petaled bloom shapes on a long stem. Hybrids are known for their fragrance, according to the University of Minnesota Extension website, such as hybrid rugosas, often chosen by florists for both their brilliant colors and heady scents.

Colors

The color palette for roses is literally endless. From lavender to soft buttercup yellow to blood-red, roses offer rainbow-bright colors to subdued green, yellow and red tones. For example, the Rosa Mundi offers a striped pink and white flower, according to the University of Minnesota Extension website, that grows quite well in the northern plains, as does the Austrian Copper, with orange petals with a yellowish hue on the backside.

References

• Rose.org: Regions
• Texas A&M University: The Dozen Enduring, Fragrant Rose Varieties
• University of Minnesota Extension: Roses for the North -- Floral Traits