Types

There is nothing quite as lovely as a rose bud unfurling, framed by lush, healthy, deep green foliage. Rosarians strive to attain and maintain their roses for this often-illusive picture. With the advent of modern roses (developed after 1867), more and more roses have been hybridized, and the results have been variable. Some plants looked

What in the world are single roses? Roses that grow individually on a stem or plant? Roses that like to grow alone? Well, neither – when we refer to “single roses” we are referring to the form of the flower, in particular the number and arrangement of the petals. Petals are the most visible portion

One of the least common colors to see in most rose gardens is purple – in any of its forms, from very pale lavender to dark, grapey purple. It is a shame, since there are many wonderful roses that cross this color range. A number of the popular roses that fall into this color category

What do George Burns, Picasso, and Playboy have in common? Well, I don’t know whether the two famous individuals fell into the playboy category, but the connection for rose lovers is that they are all beautiful, multi-colored roses. What do I mean by multi-colored? In this context, these are roses that have two or more

What comes to mind when you think of the color orange? Tropical fruit? Sunsets? Halloween pumpkins? The San Francisco Giants? Orange is a color that can conjure up all kinds of impressions – like this one from gardening guru, author and television host Jeff Cox as he discusses colors in his book, Landscape with Roses

In the words of the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns, O my luve is like a red, red roseThat’s newly sprung in JuneO my luve is like the melodieThat’s sweetly played in tune. Red roses have long been associated with love. It is hard to look at a deep red rose and not have it

Do you ever notice when walking through a rose garden or nursery that there are more pink, red and white roses than any other colors? The majority of old roses fall into these color classes and have been used most often by hybridizers. There are very few naturally occurring yellow roses, and it is believed

If it seems like there are more pink colored roses than any other single color, you are not imagining it. Rayford Reddell says in his book The Rose Bible, “I probably imagined that … pink wasn’t a masculine color – foolish reasoning. As for the pink aversion, well, it helps to know that more great

Does the color apricot bring to mind warm summer days, soft colors, and fuzzy textures? Abundant fresh fruit from the tree? Descriptive terms like light orange, soft pastel peach or pale sunset doesn’t really capture the warmth of the color. The American Rose Society (ARS) color classification uses apricot & apricot blend to cover a