Easy Care Roses

Roses are my favorite flowers! What’s not to love – with their regal look, heavenly fragrance, and sheer joy they add to your garden.

Over the last 30 years I’ve tried many different types in my Midwestern garden – some have fared better than others …

Hybrid Tea Roses, those long stemmed beauties, in particular can be very finicky and difficult – prone to diseases and not very winter hardy. Though I adore them, I don’t recommend them for rose-growing beginners.

Zone 5 gardeners, don’t be discouraged … Over the last ten years, new easy to grow rose varieties have been introduced to eliminate the intimidation and frustration factor of growing these beautiful plants.

If you’ve tried to grow roses before without much success, take heart and give them another try. These varieties have been bred to be hardy, cold tolerant, and disease resistant. You can expect a season of color and reward without a lot of fuss!

Here are my recommended “Top Five Easy Care Roses”:

‘Knock Out’ Roses:

First arriving on the scene in 2000 and bred by William Radler in Wisconsin, the ubiquitous ‘Knock Out’ rose is a triumph of marketing as well as rose breeding …

These hardy and prolific shrub roses are diligent bloomers all season long. They now come in seven different colors ranging from red-pinks to coral-yellows. They were specifically developed to withstand the hot, humid summers and cold, blustery winters of the Midwest. I’m especially fond of the ‘double knock out’ roses – the flowers look close to a classic rose blooms.

‘Flower Carpet’ Roses:

Compact and ever-blooming this series was started in Germany in the 1990’s. These are considered groundcover roses and are very popular with landscapers due to their easy to maintain attributes …

They are exceptionally hardy, disease resistant, and require very little pruning. Flower Carpet roses are dense, low-branching shrub roses. Available in many different color variations including pink, red, white, yellow, and coral …

They work well in container garden plantings. I’ve used Flower Carpet Pink in front of taller, blue-flowered plants such as veronica, russian sage and catmint.

‘Oso Easy’ Shrub Roses:

These gorgeous charmers are fairly new to the landscape rose scene. They are tested to be very resistant to black spot and powdery mildew – the most common rose diseases …

They are also self-cleaning and ever-blooming, winning rave reviews! Most have attractive single or semi-double blooms that grow into low mounding shrubs.

I just purchased ‘Oso Easy Peachy Cream’. I love some of the other names too: ‘Cherry Pie’, ‘Honey Bun’, & ‘Strawberry Crush’ among them. I’m getting hungry just typing them!

Discover Easy Care Roses … View The Large Selection of “No Fuss” Roses Here

‘Drift’ Roses:

These newer, compact groundcover roses are perfect for small gardens, patio containers. and hanging baskets. They also do well planted en masse across large, open beds …

Looks-wise Drift roses could easily qualify as spreading miniatures. The great thing about these roses is that they really don’t require much care at all. They are easy to grow and will flourish in most any conditions.

Available in apricot, pink, peach, coral, red, sweet (pale pink), and new popcorn (pale yellow). You can pretty much leave them alone and they will look outstanding!

Rugosa Shrub Roses:

Rugosas are some of the hardiest shrub roses I’ve encountered. The many rugosa hybrids are known for their extreme winter hardiness, alluring spicy scent and attractive crinkled foliage …

The beautiful rose hips (which develop in the fall) resemble reddish orange cherry-sized fruit – a real treat for birds. I recommend ‘Blanc Double de Coubert’ with heavy clusters of semi-double, pure white blooms. Also ‘Charles Albanel’ a hardy and reliable shrub rose with mauve flowers. ‘Purple Pavement’ is gorgeous with large, ruffled purplish red blossoms …

All are fragrant and very easy to grow. (Note: Do not spray rugosas with any chemicals)

Summary Of Easy Care Roses

Tried to grow roses in the past with no success? Zone 5 gardeners, please don’t give up on these glorious flowers! New, easy to grow, cold hardy, and low maintenance varieties are introduced each year! You can’t go wrong with the types listed above. I’ve tried them all with great success and recommend them highly to friends.

These robust types of roses are bred especially to be disease resistant and don’t require a lot of coddling. You can expect a season of color and satisfaction without a lot of work!