IDENTIFY
Rose type identification guide
Rose type is usually easy to pin down from growth habit alone, without knowing the cultivar name.
- 1
Is it growing up a wall, fence, arch or pergola, tied in place rather than free-standing?
No, it's a free-standing bush→ question 2Yes, it needs tying to a support→ question 3 - 2
Is it a compact plant, usually well under a metre tall, often grown in a pot or at the front of a border?
Yes, compact→ Patio/miniature ›No, a taller free-standing shrub→ Shrub/bush › - 3
Does it keep producing new flowers right through summer into autumn, or does it flower heavily just once, mainly in June, then stop?
Repeat-flowers continuously into autumn→ Climbing ›One big flush, mainly June, then little or nothing moreUsually also far more vigorous, with more flexible, sometimes near-thornless canes, than a climber.→ Rambler ›
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If you are still unsure
If you can't tell climbing from rambler, don't do a hard structural winter prune — just remove dead, damaged or crossing wood and wait to see the flowering pattern over a full season before cutting harder. A rambler pruned hard in winter loses wood that would have flowered that year (it blooms on the previous summer's growth, the same risk pattern as a Clematis group 1 or a Hydrangea macrophylla); a climbing rose pruned a little later than ideal loses nothing, since it flowers on the current season's growth regardless.
COMMON MISTAKE
Treating a rambler like a climbing rose — hard-pruning it in winter instead of right after its one flowering flush — removes the wood that would have carried next year's flowers.
Already know the variety name?
The name on the label tells you the type.
Rosa ‘New Dawn’Climbing › · Pale pearl-pink, one of the most widely grown and reliable climbers in the UK, repeat-flowers all summer.
Rosa ‘Compassion’Climbing › · Apricot-pink, strongly scented, repeat-flowering, one of the best all-round scented climbers.
Rosa ‘Zéphirine Drouhin’Climbing › · Thornless, cerise-pink, strongly scented, tolerates a little shade better than most climbers.
Rosa ‘Golden Showers’Climbing › · Semi-double bright yellow flowers fading paler, light scent, repeat-flowering.
Rosa ‘Handel’Climbing › · Distinctive bicolour — cream petals edged in deep pink, repeat-flowering.
Rosa ‘Climbing Iceberg’Climbing › · Pure white, the climbing sport of the classic floribunda 'Iceberg', very free-flowering.
Rosa ‘Dublin Bay’Climbing › · Deep velvety red with glossy dark foliage, repeat-flowering.
Rosa ‘Warm Welcome’Climbing › · Compact climber ('patio climber'), orange-red, well suited to a small support or a large pot.
Rosa ‘Aloha’Climbing › · Deep pink, very fragrant, sturdy growth and good disease resistance.
Rosa ‘Climbing Étoile de Hollande’Climbing › · Deep red, very fragrant, an older, well-established variety still widely grown.
Rosa ‘Rambling Rector’Rambler › · White, semi-double, an enormous once-flowering display in early summer; vigorous enough to grow into a large tree.
Rosa ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk'Rambler › · Soft blush pink, extremely vigorous, the classic choice for scrambling up into a large tree.
Rosa ‘Albertine’Rambler › · Coppery salmon-pink, strongly fragrant, one of the most popular ramblers ever bred.
Rosa ‘Wedding Day’Rambler › · Single white flowers ageing to blush, musky scent, very vigorous.
Rosa ‘Bobbie James’Rambler › · Creamy white, semi-double, extremely vigorous — good for covering a large structure fast.
Rosa ‘Félicité Perpétue’Rambler › · Blush-white pompom flowers, smaller and neater growth than most ramblers.
Rosa ‘Paul Transon’Rambler › · Coppery-salmon, semi-double, with some repeat flowering later in summer — more than most ramblers.
Rosa ‘Emily Gray’Rambler › · Buff-yellow with glossy dark foliage, semi-evergreen in mild winters.
Rosa ‘Veilchenblau’Rambler › · Unusual violet-purple flowers fading to grey-lilac, thornless, once-flowering.
Rosa ‘Seagull’Rambler › · White, semi-double, extremely vigorous — good for a large tree or wall.
Rosa ‘Iceberg’Shrub/bush › · White floribunda, clusters of blooms, extremely popular and free-flowering.
Rosa ‘Gertrude Jekyll’Shrub/bush › · Deep pink, full rosette-shaped blooms, strong old-rose fragrance — an English shrub rose.
Rosa ‘Munstead Wood’Shrub/bush › · Deep crimson-purple, velvety petals, strong old-rose fragrance — an English shrub rose.
Rosa ‘Claire Austin’Shrub/bush › · Creamy white to soft yellow, myrrh fragrance — an English shrub rose, can also be grown as a short climber.
Rosa ‘Just Joey’Shrub/bush › · Coppery-orange, large ruffled blooms — a hybrid tea, one flower per stem.
Rosa ‘Ingrid Bergman’Shrub/bush › · Deep red, classic single bloom per stem — a hybrid tea.
Rosa ‘Amber Queen’Shrub/bush › · Amber-yellow, compact and free-flowering — a floribunda.
Rosa ‘Peace’Shrub/bush › · Pale yellow edged pink, large blooms — one of the most famous hybrid teas ever bred.
Rosa ‘Boscobel’Shrub/bush › · Salmon-red-pink, upright and reliable — an English shrub rose with good disease resistance.
Rosa ‘The Generous Gardener’Shrub/bush › · Soft pink, can be grown as a large shrub or trained as a short climber — an English rose.
Rosa ‘Sweet Dream’Patio/miniature › · Apricot-peach, compact and very free-flowering — a patio rose.
Rosa ‘Queen Mother’Patio/miniature › · Soft pink, low spreading habit — good for a patio pot or border edge.
Rosa ‘Sweet Magic’Patio/miniature › · Orange-apricot with a light scent — a miniature rose.
Rosa ‘Stardust’Patio/miniature › · Small, pale yellow blooms on a compact plant — a miniature rose.
Rosa ‘Gentle Hermione’Shrub/bush › · Soft pink, full rosette flowers in an English style, on a compact patio-sized plant.
Rosa ‘Top Marks’Patio/miniature › · Bright orange-vermilion, one of the most popular miniature patio roses.
Rosa ‘Cider Cup’Patio/miniature › · Apricot-orange, compact — a patio rose good for containers.
Rosa ‘Anna Ford’Patio/miniature › · Orange-red, semi-double, compact — a patio rose.
Rosa ‘Peter Pan’Patio/miniature › · Deep red, small blooms on a very compact plant — a miniature rose.
Rosa ‘Graham Thomas’Shrub/bush › · Pure rich yellow with a tea scent — the best-known English rose of all, and vigorous enough to train as a short climber.
Rosa ‘Olivia Rose Austin’Shrub/bush › · Soft pink, fruity-scented, and the most disease-resistant English rose in the range — the safe recommendation for a first rose.
Rosa ‘Roald Dahl’Shrub/bush › · Peachy-orange cups on a rounded, very free-flowering bush; one of the most reliable repeaters.
Rosa ‘Desdemona’Shrub/bush › · Pink-blushed buds opening chalk white, myrrh-scented, and unusually good at shrugging off rain.
Rosa ‘Lady of Shalott’Shrub/bush › · Salmon-orange with a tea-and-clove scent; tough, healthy and the one to try in a spot that is less than ideal.
Rosa ‘The Pilgrim’Climbing › · Flat rosettes of soft yellow fading cream at the edge. Sold as a shrub but almost always better on a wall.
Rosa ‘Wollerton Old Hall’Climbing › · Apricot buds to creamy white, and the strongest myrrh scent of any English climber. Flowers right down to the base.
Rosa ‘Malvern Hills’Rambler › · A rare repeat-flowering rambler: soft yellow rosettes in June and again in late summer, which ordinary ramblers never do.