Fabulous Floribundas and Super Shrubs
It’s hard to imagine any British garden without roses somewhere in the mix – for many, their beautiful blooms are a must-have in any self-respecting summer border.
Whether you’re a first timer or an avid rosarian, planting bareroot is one of the best ways of adding a rose to your garden – not least because they’re easy to plant and great value for money. With a few more weeks of the bareroot season left, you still have a rose shaped window of opportunity to transform your garden this summer.
For sheer petal power, floribunda (Latin for ‘many flowering’) and shrub roses are irresistible. With their graceful arching habit and prolific flowers, shrub roses have a unique laid-back charm and are easy to grow, thriving in most soils.
Floribunda roses (a modern shrub rose first created by crossing Polyantha roses with Hybrid Teas), do exactly as their name suggests, bearing between three and six roses on each stem and flowering practically nonstop from June until October. Just deadhead the spent blooms to keep the flowers coming.
How to use Floribunda and Shrub Roses in the Garden
At home in cottage and country gardens, floribunda and shrub roses are equally at ease in more formal schemes, and smaller varieties will thrive in containers.
These roses are brilliant team players in the mixed border, happy to mingle with a large seasonal cast, from spring bulbs to summer stalwarts like lavender and geraniums as well as high summer stars such as echinacea and dahlias.
Here are a few of our favourite floribunda and shrub roses, with some suggestions on where to use them in the garden. Take look at our full list of roses.
Back of the border
Reaching up to 1.5 metres, taller varieties such as ‘Sally Holmes’, ‘Ferdinand Pichard’, and ‘Buff Beauty’ hold their own at the back of a mixed border. Plant them in front of an evergreen hedge to make their beautiful blooms ‘pop’ and team with delphiniums and tall herbaceous plants for an effortlessly airy look.
Middle of the border
Searching for a charismatic rose to be your mid-border star? ‘Dame Judi Dench’ is a repeat flowering David Austin rose whose tea-scented, apricot-orange blooms perform tirelessly all summer. The modern shrub rose ‘Ballerina’ also enjoys being centre stage, where its rounded habit and abundant blossom pink flowers can really shine.
Front of the border
This part of the garden can be crowded with plants vying for the limelight, so pick a rose like ‘Comte de Chambord’ that can handle the competition.This petite shrub rose is deceptively tough and its pretty pink flowers are deliciously scented.
In patio pots and containers
Growing to around 70 centimetres high, floribunda roses ‘Joie de Vivre’ and ‘Summer Beauty’ are perfect specimens to pop in a pot. The dainty shrub rose ‘Little White Pet’ also makes a great choice for pots or small spaces. Team with pelargoniums and exuberant salvias for containers brimming with colour and character.
Beside a path
Nothing spells romance like a path with roses tumbling at its edges. Two classic pink roses instantly spring to mind: ‘Bonica’ and sweetly fragrant ‘Nathalie Nypels’. Both are free-flowering, healthy and relatively low growing; ‘Bonica’s’ light green foliage has attractive copper highlights.
Shady places
Some shrub roses don’t mind a bit of shade. The award-winning ‘Iceberg’ is just such a rose and is ideal for lighting up a gloomy corner. ‘Canary Bird’ can also tolerate some shade; it’s one of the earliest roses to flower and its single yellow flowers are attractive to pollinators. With a spread of around 2.4 metres it’s well- suited to informal woodland style borders.
Hedging
Although they only flower once, gallica roses put on a tremendous show when they do and planted en masse will form a vibrant wildlife-friendly hedge. Opt for a single variety, or alternate the fuschia pink blooms of Rosa gallica var officinalis with the showy pink and white striped Rosa gallica versicolor. To prune just shear back to size after flowering, or leave undeadheaded to enjoy ornamental hips in the autumn.
