Shrub Roses have a full bushy habit but are highly variable in the size of the bush as well as the size and form of the blooms. They are free flowering, vigorous, disease resistant, hardy, and easy to grow. Shrub roses are perfect for mixed beds, borders, and hedges.
Rugosa Roses are a subdivision of shrubs. Hybrid rugosa roses are the offspring of rugosa species roses. Native to Asia and southeastern Siberia, they are known as tough, disease resistant, and trouble-free plants that require very little maintenance, so little in fact, they are often used in mass highway plantings. Cold hardy, rugosas thrive in cold climates, but they also embrace the salty sea air found in coastal climates. And as a bonus, rugosa roses produce colorful hips in fall that stick around to brighten the winter garden.
The easiest and longest-blooming rose bushes you will ever grow, shrub varieties are more beautiful and garden-tough than ever before! At Jackson & Perkins, we have the best classic and modern shrub varieties ready to set right into your crowded sun border, the baking-hot foundation planting, the strip along the driveway and even the sidewalk island! Dense, bushy and quite pest and disease-resistant, shrub roses are tough plants and are usually quite heavy-blooming, with smaller flowers in greater numbers than their hybrid tea and floribunda cousins. Plant in average soil with good drainage and work some compost into the soil. Be sure to plant your roses in full sun. This means a minimum of six hours of sun between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. — more is even better. Less sunlight means less blooms and a much greater risk of fungal diseases.
Shrub roses are usually cold hardy, and some are safe to plant as low as growing Zone 2! At the end of the season, allow some blooms to remain on the rose bushes to form colorful rose hips to give interest to the winter landscape. Included in our selection are several varieties of rugosa roses, Simplicity roses, and Knock Out roses, along with several others. Every garden (and every gardener!) deserves these low-maintenance, high-value shrubs!
