Top 6 Rose Varieties to Grow in Your Garden

Take your love for roses to the next level by making them a mainstay in your very own space. By planting roses in your garden, you’ll get to enjoy their exquisite beauty, distinct scent, and romantic charm not just for a week but for an entire season. Some roses bloom twice annually and some even flower several times in a year. 

Roses come in many types and there are robust, easy-to-care-for, repeat-flowering varieties that will thrive in Australian soil. Here are our six exceptional rose varieties popular for their beauty and hardiness.  

Wollerton Old Hall Rose

The Wollerton Old Hall Rose is a beloved English climbing rose that dates back to the late 18th century. As a classic shrub rose, it strikes an elegant figure with its lightly thorned stems and abundant blossoms. This variety enchants with its sublime floral fragrance, filling any garden with notes of sweet fruit and spice.

Each Wollerton Old Hall Rose flower starts off as a plump, peachy-pink bud, eventually unfurling to reveal full, cup-shaped blooms. The color is a unique apricot hue, gradually softening to a creamy peach-pink as the flower ages. The effect is of warm sunset tones. The blooms grow in small clusters along the vine, with each flower measuring 4-5 cms across at peak maturity.

This rose truly earns its reputation as a repeat bloomer, with the potential to produce flowers continually from early summer through the autumn months. Even when the petals fall away, the faded red rose hips add their own rustic beauty to the plant. As the weather cools, the foliage transitions to a rich shade of burgundy. When pruned back after winter dormancy, this rose never fails to return the following spring.

With its elegantly formed blooms, swirling colors, and sweet perfume, the Wollerton Old Hall Rose has rightfully claimed its fame among English heirloom roses. Whether grown on a trellis or free-flowing as a lush climber, it's sure to bring year-round romance to any garden.

Iceberg Rose

The beloved Iceberg Rose is one of the most popular rose varieties, prized for its pure white double blossoms and repeat blooming habit. This floribunda rose offers the best of both worlds - elegant white flowers reminiscent of hybrid teas, combined with the free-flowering nature of polyanthas.

Each Iceberg Rose flower starts off as a long, pointed peach-pink bud, eventually opening up to reveal snowy white petals with a light scent. The blooms appear in large, bountiful clusters ranging from 10 to 15 flowers per stem. Mature blooms reach 2 to 3 inches across, with loosely double forms showcasing bright golden stamens in their centers when fully open.

True to its reputation, the Iceberg Rose exhibits exceptional flowering power, with the potential to bloom continuously from late spring all the way through fall frost. Even during the hottest summer months, it continues producing flowers. In warm climates, this rose can thrive and flower for up to 10 months out of the year. The bush itself grows upright and bushy, reaching 3 to 4 feet tall and wide. Glossy, disease-resistant foliage provides a perfect backdrop.

For those desiring pure white garden roses with timeless appeal, the carefree and floriferous Iceberg never disappoints. With vase-worthy sprays and the stamina to flower nearly year-round where winters are mild, the Iceberg Rose has certainly earned its accolades.

Buff Beauty

The Buff Beauty is a beloved climbing rose variety that thrives in the warm southern regions of Australia. As a tall-growing hybrid tea rose, it makes a striking addition to gardens and landscapes. This vigorous shrub rose is perfect for training along fences, arbors, and archways.

Each Buff Beauty rose starts off as an elegant pointed bud, slowly unfurling to reveal immensely full blooms. The flower color is a rich creamy buff-apricot, deepening to a warm golden hue at the petal bases. Mature blooms grow over 4 inches across, with a remarkable 40+ petals per flower. The high petal count gives the blossoms a luscious old-fashioned form.

Matching the flowers in appeal is the powerful tea rose fragrance - strong, sweet, and fruity. It permeates the air of any garden where Buff Beauty grows. Beyond the flowers, the bush itself develops into a tall climber reaching 2 to 3 metres high. It exhibits good disease resistance when grown in the proper climate.

For those desiring a fragrant apricot climbing rose that truly makes a statement, the Australian-bred Buff Beauty is a superb choice. Its golden fully double blooms and intense perfume will not disappoint lovers of Old Garden Roses. Given proper support, this beauty enhances fences with abundant flowering sprays all season long.

Gallica

Gallica roses, also known as French or Rose of Provins, are one of the earliest cultivated rose species, originating from southern and central Europe. These cold-hardy shrubs are compact in size yet produce an abundance of fragrant, fully double blossoms.

Typical Gallica roses reach 3 to 4 feet tall and wide, with multiple basal stems emerging from the ground. Their lush green foliage provides a perfect backdrop to the flowers. Bloom color ranges from rich pink to deep crimson-maroon, with some striped varieties available.

Popular Gallica cultivars include the deep reddish-purple 'Cardinal de Richelieu', the clear pink 'Duchesse de Montebello' with its royal bearing, and the tricolored 'Tricolore de Flandre' mixing white, purple and crimson. The flowers offer a button-eye shape and loose, informal look reminiscent of old European roses.

Beyond their beauty, Gallica roses shine for their intense, spicy fragrance - a trait that first endeared them to the perfume industry. They flower just once during summer, but with great abundance. These carefree shrubs thrive with minimal care, as long as winters remain cold for proper dormancy. Their versatility and old-world charm have secured Gallicas a treasured place in rose gardens for centuries.

Fearless Rose

The award-winning Fearless Rose makes a vibrant statement in any garden with its intense, fiery orange blossoms. This modern hybrid tea rose was introduced in 2016, quickly garnering attention for its striking tropical colors. In Australian trials, it earned a Bronze Medal for its stellar performance.

Each Fearless Rose starts off as a long, pointed peach bud, showcasing orange hues as it unfurls. Mature blooms reveal saturated orange petals on the interior, with softer tangerine-peach reverses. Flowers grow 3 to 4 inches across, with a classic high-centered form. Their color stays true without fading. Surrounding the blooms is deep green, leathery foliage that provides contrast.

Beyond beauty, the Fearless Rose offers a reliably floriferous nature and exceptional heat tolerance. Under warm conditions, it readily flowers almost year-round. The bush remains tidy in habit, reaching around 1.5 meters tall and wide. Lightly fragrant, its scent is described as mild and sweetly fruity.

For those desiring non-stop vibrant orange roses even through scorching summers, the appropriately named Fearless delivers. With its neon blossoms, carefree growth, and neat rounded form, this variety promises to ignite excitement in rose gardens across Australia and similar climates.

Victoria Gold

This award-winning Australian rose has ruffled blooms in small clusters and in a vivid golden-yellow colour. A Floribunda, this rose variety is perfect for compact spaces as it only grows to a maximum of 90cm in width and height. Each stem will generally have up to seven blooms, with dark green foliage that makes a wonderful backdrop to the rich yellow rose blossoms. This variety flowers in spring and can bloom again until early winter. 

*Image credit: Rose Society

These are just six rose varieties and there are so much more for you to choose from. The six we’ve mentioned are worth selecting because they’re pretty, hardy, and repeat-blossoming (except for the Gallicas, which they make up for with their strong scent). 

Plant any of these six carefully chosen rose varieties in your Australian backyard and get to literally stop and smell the roses whenever you want to.

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Roses: A Garden's Timeless Treasure

The enduring allure of roses extends far beyond their fleeting bloom in vases. By planting these exceptional varieties in your garden, you invite a season-long spectacle of color, fragrance, and beauty. Whether you're drawn to the classic elegance of the Wollerton Old Hall Rose, the pristine charm of the Iceberg Rose, or the unique hues of the Gallica, each variety promises to transform your garden into a haven of floral delight. Embrace the joy of gardening with these hardy, repeat-flowering roses, and enjoy the luxury of nature's finest at your doorstep.