Shrub roses – bush roses for borders, hedges & tubs

Shrub roses – also called bush roses or ornamental shrub roses – are the most versatile roses for the home garden. They grow in a broad, bushy, upright habit to 1 to 2 metres in height, which places them between bedding roses and climbing roses. Almost every breeder offers shrub roses in all flower colours and forms; most varieties are hardy, healthy-leaved and repeat-flowering.

Very large, spreading varieties of 200 cm in height or more are also referred to as park roses. Some vigorous shrub roses can be trained as small climbing roses on a rose obelisk, and compact varieties also thrive in tubs.

Shrub roses: at a glance

• Origin: Almost all rose classes were involved in the development of shrub roses.
• Flower forms: Very varied. The blooms are single, unfilled flowers, semi-double or fully double in all sizes and colours. They appear in small to large clusters.
• Flowering time: main flowering in early summer, with a good second flush apart from a few exceptions, some even flower continuously
• Fragrance: from little or no fragrance to very strongly scented varieties
• Use in the garden: large varieties such as Westerland on their own or at the back of a border or in a large rose hedge. Low-growing shrub roses also in tubs, at the front of borders or as bed edging / low hedges along paths. Many varieties have long, strong shoots. These can also be trained as a climbing rose on a rose obelisk or trellis. Particularly large, spreading varieties in a park (park roses).
• Planting time: container-grown all year round, bare-root from October to May when the soil is frost-free

In this category you will see all shrub roses by growth habit that cannot be assigned to the 'Old Roses' – many of which also grow in a broad, bushy, upright habit. For some varieties the distinction is not clear-cut, which is why some are also shown in other groups.