Best Pink Roses to Grow If You Want Fragrance + Stunning Blooms

The world’s all time favorite flower and the most romantic color of all! What’s better than a pink rose? Whether you are looking for a shrub, climbing or rambling variety, a hybrid tea, multiflora or Damask bloom, the queen of gardens has a vast choice for you. And from soft, shell, and gentle, even dreamy tonalities, but blushing to rosy shades of bright fuchsia and vibrant magenta, your garden can become a wonderful and lush green canvas on which you can paint your flowery imagination!

Often fragrant, and rich in shapes and shades, rose varieties in pink and bicolor cultivars can grace your hedges, borders, or even gates and pergolas with their long lasting blooms, creating an old world and natural atmosphere like no other flowering plant really can. And you can also take many indoors as pink cut flowers – perfect for a bouquet!

But finding the right variety of pink rose for your green haven (or heaven) can be like trying to find your way out of an intricate topiariedmaze, because there are so many! But the light is in sight, and it’s our selection of the most r varieties for you!

25 Roses in Pink, from Traditional to Modern

And to find the way out of this flowery labyrinth of pink roses, we will also have to travel through time… So, we have selected very traditional and natural species, up to very modern cultivars for you…

1. ‘Felicia’ hybrid musk rose
2. ‘Anna’s Promise’ grandiflora rose
3. ‘Brandy’ hybrid tea rose
4. ‘Electron’ hybrid tea rose
5. ‘Flower Carpet Coral’ groundcover rose
6. Redleaf rose
7. ‘New Dawn’ climbing rose
8. ‘Paul Noel’ rambling rose
9. ‘Coral Knockout’ shrub rose
10. ‘Perfume Delight’ hybrid tea rose
11. ‘Apricot Candy’ hybrid tea rose
12. Arkansas rose
13. ‘Neil Diamond’ hybrid tea rose
14. ‘Brother Cadfael’ English rose
15. ‘Mme Caroline Testout’ climbing rose
16. ‘Chicago Peace’ hybrid tea rose
17. ‘Gentle Hermione’ English rose
18. ‘Open Arms’ rambling rose
19. ‘Jubilee Celebration’ English rose
20. ‘Magic Maidiland’ groundcover rose
21. ‘Sexy Rexy’ floribunda rose
22. Dwarf rose
23. ‘Easy Does It’ floribunda rose
24. Dog rose
25. ‘Queen Elizabeth’ grandiflora rose

One thing all these pink rose varieties have in common is that they are all charming, all decorative. But if color unites them, they are all very different, so, let’s start right now…

1: ‘Felicia’HybridMusk Rose (Rosa ‘Felicia’)

Let’s start with the super romantic ‘Felicia’ a hybrid musk variety that has won the most prestigious gardening prize in the whole wide world, the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society! This rose has the perfect “old world” personality you want in a traditional looking garden, and it is an heirloom cultivar, introduced back in 1928 by Reverend Joseph Pemberton, a famous British breeder.

And it has since enchanted gardeners and flower lovers with its large and profuse clusters of soft and pastel pink blossoms, coming generously from late spring to fall.The color intensifies in the middle, but the tonality remains suave, only hinting at vibrant notes. Its charming cupped blossoms can have more than 3 petals, with an informal and irregular arrangement and an almost frilly twist.

About 3 inches across (7.5 cm) the blooms have a medium strong fruity musk fragrance, refreshing and reinvigorating, and it is a very popular protagonist in many perfumes, so much so that the “Felicia rose” smell has its own history and keen fans. The shrub it forms is vigorous but also well behaved, and leafy indeed, with bright green and fairly healthy leaves.

Of course, you will want to grow ‘Felicia’ in green haven if you want the romantic and old world look that hits notes of idyllic beauty in English country or cottage gardens. But it is really suitable to all informal styles, in containers, borders or hedges.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 6 to 10.
• Light exposure:full Sun.
• Flowering season:late spring to fall,
• Size:4 to 10 feet tall (1.2 to 3.0 meters) and 4 to 5 feet in spread (1.2 to 1.5 meters).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

2: ‘Anna’s Promise’ Grandiflora Rose (Rosa ‘Anna’s Promise’)

Here’s a variety with a really exquisite and sophisticated palette for your garden, ‘Anna’s Promise’. This grandiflora cultivar was bred by Tom Carruth by 2011, a US hybridizer, but it is inspired by the old continent, and times long gone.

In fact, the name is dedicated to Anna Bates, the head maid played by Joanne Froggatt in the Downton Abbey. And it does reflect the atmosphere of decadence and nostalgia we breathe in that series, with its double blossoms, with up to 35 petals, that reach 4 inches across (10 cm).

Coming form late spring to fall, these blossoms display a fusion of colors that’s mellow and warm, but also elegant, with golden and red blushes, which, mixing, give you a soft pink result on the front of the petals themselves, while the reverse pages become deeper, still working on a pinkish base, but with tan and copper.

Born individually but sometimes in small clusters, these blossoms also have a midl fruity and spicy fragrance, and they grow on a moderate sized shrub with glossy deep green leaves, in flushes throughout the season.

‘Anna’s Promise’ mixes romance with melancholy, and it reaches very intense feelings that you can have in your flower beds, hedges, borders or in containers; accompany it with other gentle looking plants, to make the best of its sophisticated palette, and enjoy a perfect cottage or English country garden. It long stems also make it an excellent cut flower.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun.
• Flowering season: late spring to fall.
• Size:5 to 6 feet tall (1.5 to 1.8 meters) and 4 to 5 feet in spread (1.2 to 1.5 meters).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

3: ‘Brandy’ Hybrid Tea Rose (Rosa ‘Brandy’)

And we continue with sophisticated, elegant and refined shades, thanks to the hybrid tea cultivar ‘Brandy’. Bred by Jack. E. Christensen and Herbert C. Swim, it mixes the classical, elegant bloom shape of its group, like a teacup, in fact, filled with 25 to 30 petals, and the most delicate apricot pink color, which brightens up with a bright orangish glow in the middle.

Having said this, the blossoms tend to fade to yellowish tonalities when they mature and before they fall, and you could take it as a twist, or deadhead it if you want a monochromatic effect. Reaching 5 inches across (12.5 cm), the double flowers will open individually on straight and long stems from late spring to fall, gracing your garden with their mild but sweet tea fragrance.

But there is a final coup de theatre for you… This gentle floral display will appear on a very dense shrub of extremely dark green and glossy leaves, arguably some of the darkest you can get with any rose!

The delicate colored but large blooms on dark foliage stand out dramatically, but with a romantic and soft expression as well, becoming sophisticated accents in borders, containers and hedges. Suitable for most traditional and informal garden designs, the blossoms are also excellent cut flowers.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 7 to 10.
• Light exposure: full Sun.
• Flowering season: late spring to fall.
• Size: 4 to 6 feet tall (1.2 to 1.8 meters) and 2 to 4 feet in spread (60 to 120 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

4: ‘Electron’ Hybrid Tea Rose (Rosa ‘Electron’)

But now it is rime to heat up your garden a bit, moving towards the deep range of our color, and, instead of romance, ‘Electron’ gives you energy and a party mood! A hybrid tea variety like ‘Brandy’, which large, high centered and teacup shaped blooms (5 to 6 inches across, or 12 to 15 cm), this cultivar prefers to light up your days with a vibrant and bright cherry pink tonality.

A prima donna wherever you grow it, the flowers will keep popping up and blooming continuously with their cheeky presence from late spring to fall, and the fully double blossoms are packed with 32 to 40 elegant petals. But it will also please your nostrils, and those of your visitors, thanks to its very strong fragrance, spicy but with notes of old rose, being derived from a red variety.

Bred by Samuel Darragh McGredyIV in 1962, it has since won the All American Rose Selection in 1973, the most prestigious prize for this plant in the USA. A final touch of drama is given by the dense and thorny shrubs it forms, which contrast with the floral display thanks to their dark and glossy leaves.

What is more, ‘Electron’ hybrid tea rose is also quite cold hardy, so you can inject your birders, hedges or containers with its rosy energy throughout the season, and in most informal garden designs, from traditional to urban, or take its vibrancy indoors with cut flowers.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9.
• Light exposure:full Sun.
• Flowering season:late spring to fall.
• Size:4 to 5 feet tall (1.2 to 1.5 meters) and 2 to 3 feet in spread (60 to 90 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

5: ‘Flower Carpet Coral’ Groundcover Rose (Rosa ‘Flower Carpet Coral’)

On to yet another incarnation of the queen of gardens, we now meet ‘Flower Carpet Coral’, a groundcover rose variety that has also won the super coveted Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society. To start with, this cultivar is really extraordinary as it will literally bloom profusely and non stop from late spring to frost, and if you live in a warm climate, it can manage a marathon of up to 10 months!

And its generosity is mid blowing, because the single and saucer shaped flowers come in packed clusters, almost covering the whole shrub, and, in fact, a single stem can give you up to an incredible 60 buds! About 2 inches across (5.0 cm), the blossoms will give you an exquisite shade of coral pink, of course, which lighten up in the very middle to set off the off the golden stamens with red anthers perfectly well. A mound of rich and glossy dark green leaves will give you the perfect backdrop for this floral display, with healthy foliage and a final gift for your nose: its old rose fragrance.

Bred in Germany by Werner Noack as part of of a series, ‘Coral Flower Carpet’ groundcover rose is a record braking variety that can give you up to 2,000 blooms per plant in a single season! For this reason, it is perfect for large, big impact displays, especially if group or even mass planted in informal borders or flowering hedges. And it is also shade and fairly heat tolerant…

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 11.
• Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
• Flowering season: late spring to late fall, or up to 10 months in warm climates.
• Size:2 to 3 feet tall (60 to 90 cm) and 3 to 4 feet in spread (90 to 120 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

6: Redleaf Rose (Rosa glauca, or Rosa ribrifolia)

As you may have guessed, there is something very special about redleaf rose… To start with, it is not a cultivar, but the first natural species we meet… Native to Central and Southern Europe, Rosa glauca has been introduced to gardens before 1930, and it has since graced our outdoor spaces with its single blooms every late spring and early summer. And of course, they are pink, on the rose side and fading towards the center.

But the flowers have 5 petals, as expected, but they are ling and separated, diamond (rhomboid) shaped, and they form a very striking star, about 1.5 inches across (4.0 cm). At the center of each blossom there’s a ring of whitish stamens with very large anthers in cream, and, move even closer to the middle, and you will see a lime colored eye. Born on reddish stems, they are not the only exceptional trait of our slightly fragrant flowery shrub… And in fact, it is the amazing shades of foliage that gives it its name… The palette is incredible and superbly fused together, with tonalities of blue gray, mixed in seamlessly with burgundy and purple, but only if you grow it in full sunlight.

Otherwise, it will turn silver with greenish gray notes! The bright scarlet to cherry oval hips are shiny and super rich in Vitamin C and minerals, and they will attract birds and little mammals, but only after pollinators have feasted on its nectar… Unless you want thick them and make them into jam or jellies, that is… And it is also a little champion m having won the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society and the GreatPlants Award!

A great choice for a traditional or natural looking shrub or perennial border or hedge, redleaf rose has still more aces up its sleeve, that make it ideal for less than perfect growing conditions. It is arguably the cold hardiest species of all (you can grow it to virtually permafrost regions) and it also tolerate poor soils and shade…

• Hardiness: USDA zones 2 to 8.
• Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
• Flowering season: late spring and early summer.
• Size:6 to 8 feet tall (1.8 to 2.4 meters) and 5 to 7 feet in spread (1.5 to 2.1 meters).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich to poor, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

7: ‘New Dawn’ Climbing Rose (Rosa ‘New Dawn’)

Our gardening time machine now takes us back to the past, with an heirloom climbing rose variety, ‘New Dawn’. Bred in 1930 by Somerset Rose Nursery, in Surrey, UK, it encapsulates all the atmosphere of that idyllic land in those times, after the Great War, with its cupped clusters of semi double blooms that hang from the branches (canes) with a dreamy, but hopeful elegance from late spring or early summer to mid fall.

Each flower is about 3 inches across (7.5 cm), with their very soft shell pink color, which fades to almost white at the margins of the petals and in the sunlight. But this vigorous climber will also charm you and refresh you with its fruity fragrance, as it must have enchanted the Royal Horticultural Society, who gave it their famous Award of Garden Merit. When the blossoms are spent, the shiny red hips with their vibrant red peel will persist till the end of the season, adding vitality to the glossy, rich green foliage that emerges with copper notes.

I would see ‘New Dawn’ climbing rose growing on a hoop trellis above your main gate, to welcome your visitors and guests into a long gone and idyllic era, or draping a wall with its romantic pale blooms, but feel free to choose its place in your garden as long as you allow it to be as informal as it wishes.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure:full Sun and partial shade.
• Flowering season:late spring or early summer to mid fall.
• Size:10 to 15 feet tall (3.0 to 4.5 meters) and 6 to 10 feet in spread (1.8 to 3.0 meters).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline. It is moderately drought tolerant.

8: ‘Paul Noel’ Rambling Rose (Rosa ‘Paul Noel’)

You will be amazed at the floral display that ‘Paul Noel’ puts on, a rambling heirloom variety bred far back in 1910 by Rémy Tanne, and become popular all over the world ever since… However, you cannot expect a long lasting bloom from this cultivar, as it will explode in early summer, with so many flowers that they cover the whole plant, but then it will stop. It may give you a repeat show in late summer, as well, and it probably will, but then you will be left with cherry red and shiny edible hips to decorate your garden.

The blossoms are about 3 inches across (7.5 cm) and fully double, with 26 to 60 petals each, but these are narrow and long, often furled in the middle and arching backwards at the back. This gives them a somewhat frilly and very romantic appearance, and with a very refreshing and distinctive apple fragrance. Coming to the color, it will start off as coppery pink with copper tones, but it will then fade to soft pink with sunlight and time. The foliage will add luminosity to the ensemble, with its bright green color, often tipped with reddish notes when the leaves are young. And this beauty too has won the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society…

Shade tolerant and poor soil tolerant, ‘Paul Noel’ rambling rose is an ideal variety in pink to bring a big show to your garden, as part of a broad hedge or as a specimen. It will definitely give you a centerpiece in early summer, and it is one of the few roses you can grow in a north facing position.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure:full Sun and partial shade.
• Flowering season:early summer and late summer.
• Size:10 to 13 feet tall and in spread (3.0 to 3.9 meters).
• Soil and water requirements:fertile and organically rich but poor soil tolerant,  well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

9: ‘Coral Knockout’ Shrub Rose (Rosa ‘Coral Knockout’)

It is now time to explore the potential of the world’s favorite garden plant when it comes to very refined colors, and how it can fuse them together like a Great Master of the Renaissance. And ‘Coral Knockout’ is the perfect bicolor variety to show you this… In fact, its semi double blossoms mix two of the most exquisite tonalities you can ever have… The base note is actually a bright coral orange, but it transforms into an elegant light salmon pink, which becomes more evident in the light and as the semi double flowers mature!

And as the season progresses, and days get colder, they will become cream pink! Each bloomis about 2.5 inches across (6.0 cm) and it has 15 to 20 petals, exuding a light but crisp and clean fragrance of old rose but with some citrus notes to freshen it up. But despite its delicate look, this cultivar is quite strong, as its floral display will start in late spring, but it will keep coming continuously in clusters till fall, and even to the first day of frost! A small and compact shrub, it also boasts lush dark green foliage, and it was was bred in 2007 by Will Radler from Wisconsin, but it was called ‘Radral’ back then. It only took its current name in 2018.

The queen of reinvention of pink (and orange) roses, ‘Coral Knockout’ requires center stage in any informal (rose) garden, or in flower beds and hedges. It is really a precious cultivar, also when it comes to its price, at about $70.00 to $100.00 for a single specimen. On the other hand, it also has full blackspot resistance…

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 10.
• Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
• Flowering season: late spring to late fall.
• Size:4 to 5 feet tall and in spread (1.2 to 1.5 meters).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

10: ‘Perfume Delight’ Hybrid Tea Rose (Rosa ‘Perfume Delight’)

But if you have a small garden, or just a terrace, and you want a rose in our color, you will need a small variety, like ‘Perfume Delight’. But don’t be confused by its diminutive size (only up to 4 feet tall, or 120 cm) because this hybrid tea has a very big personality – and blooms too! In fact, its blossoms are an impressive 5 inches across (12.5 cm), and they will come in flushes from late spring to fall, just deadhead them to encourage repeat blooming.

With up to 30 petals each, the flowers have the elegant teacup shape with a “narrow waistline” of this rose group, and they express their strong and showy nature with their very vibrant strong pink color. This showy floral display, however, is not just for your eyes; trie to its name, this shrub also has an extremely strong, even heady damask fragrance as well! Its glossy and dark green leaves heighten the effect, so much so that it won the All American Rose Selection in 1974, only a year after it was bred by Herb Swim and Ollie L. Weeks! It must be a record…

Providing outstanding cut flowers, ‘Perfume Delight’ hybrid tea rose is also ideal for containers, flower beds or border fronts, where it can amaze you through the season with its vibrant and showy pink blooms and heavenly scent. It will suit most traditional to urban garden styles.

• Hardiness: USDA zones
• Light exposure: 5 to 9.
• Flowering season: late spring to mid fall, in flushes.
• Size: 3 to 4 feet tall (90 to 120 cm) and 2 to 3 feet in spread (60 to 90 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

11: ‘Apricot Candy’ Hybrid Tea Rose (Rosa ‘Apricot Candy’)

We move now to shades of soft feelings, and they come straight from the past to create the most romantic atmosphere ever in your garden. In fact, ‘Apricot Candy’ is an heirloom hybrid tea rose cultivar bred by Alain Meilland, a French breeder in 1940. And it has large double and ruffled blossoms with a classical shape, and up to 25 ruffled petals like the skirt of a ballerina dancing to the Swan Lake… Flowering from late spring into the months of fall, in flushes, and about 3.5 inches across (9.0 cm).

With a mild but clear spicy fragrance, the blossoms have an amazing palette. Yes, pink is the main effect, but you will notice strong blushes of apricot and coral on this amazing floral display, as shy cheeks suddenly get embarrassed by a love proposition. It forms a bushy shrub with mid green and semi glossy leaves, and the foliage is quite dense. When the red and eye catching hips finally ripen to red, it is as if this beauty from a Jane Austen novel has finally come to an epiphany, and it is finally ready to marry…

Ideal for a really traditional looking design, like a cottage or an English country garden, ‘Apricot Candy’ hybrid tea rose is one of the most intensely romantic varieties you can grow in flower beds, borders or containers, and it will give you excellent cut flowers as well. But do feel free to grow this heirloom cultivar in most other informal landscapes, like urban and suburban.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 10.
• Light exposure: full Sun.
• Flowering season:late spring to fall.
• Size:5 to 6 feet tall (1.5 to 1.8 meters) and 2 to 3 feet in spread (60 to 90 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

12: Arkansas Rose (Rosa arkansana)

If cultivars are the most common varieties, there are also natural species of roses in our color, and one of them is Arkansas rose, of course, native to North America. And it has lots of advantages, including being fairly cold hardy, vigorous, undemanding and even tolerant to poor soil conditions! So, one of the best you can grow in less than ideal situations, and it will still give you its single flowers that reach very intense notes of deep pink, even with some mauve pitches, and it will do it all the way from late spring to fall.

And at the center of the blooms, which reach 2 inches in diameter, you will also enjoy its bright golden yellow anthers, as will many bees, butterflies and other pollinators! It will form a suckering shrub with very spiny branches and dense foliage; the leaves are small, mid green and very serrated at the edges, but they will blush to warm shades of red and orange as the season closes, just as the glossy hips ripen to scarlet or ruby!

An ideal rose to grow in a natural looking spaceor even naturalized area where growing conditions make it hard to have a delicate cultivar, Arkansas rose will also form a natural short barrier from intruders as a hedge, but also a corridor for little fauna. A countryside or cottage garden would be best, as would a wildflower meadow.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 7.
• Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
• Flowering season: late spring to fall.
• Size:2 to 4 feet tall and in spread (60 to 120 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich to lean and poor, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

13: ‘Neil Diamond’ Hybrid Tea Rose (Rosa ‘Neil Diamond’)

We now meet our second (and last) bicolor variety, but this time, unlike with ‘Coral Knockout’ the effect is not mellow and “fusion”, but almost dramatic. Meet ‘Neil Diamond’ hybrid tea rose, obviously dedicated to the famous USA singer songwriter by its breeder, Tom Carruth in 2015, fittingly hybridizing the cultivars ‘Della Reese’ and ‘Rock and Roll’!

This musical encounter gives us fully double cupped blossoms with bold but irregular stripes and patches of deep rose pink, even reaching a magenta pitch, and pure white, with a little dusting here and there! Super energetic and vibrant, the fully double blooms are large, about 5 inches across (12.5 cm), with 40 to 50 petals each, and they come in flushes on long stems from late spring to fall.

And with the flowers also comes the old rose fragrance that we all love, maybe the only traditional trait of this shrubby beauty. The super glossy and dark green foliage finally adds a glamorous note for the long lasting concert of colors and smells this star will offer you…

Definitely the bicolor pink variety you want if you need to lift up and energize your garden, ‘Neil Diamond’ hybrid tea rose will add drama, striking contrast and lots bright colors to your beds or borders, or it may take its musical talent indoors as a cut flower.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure:full Sun.
• Flowering season:late spring to fall.
• Size:4 to 6 feet tall (1.2 to 1.8 meters) and 2 to 3 feet in spread (60 to 90 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

14: ‘Brother Cadfael’ English Rose (Rosa ‘Brother Cadfael’)

We could not leave out a cultivar by one of the most prestigious breeders in history, recently departed David C.H. Austin, and ‘Brother Cadfael’ must take pride of place on our list. It ticks so many boxes! To start with, the blossoms are massive, up to 5 inches across (12.5 cm), fully double, with up to 45 petals, and they have a wonderfully cupped shape, almost globular indeed… In fact, they may remind you of peonies, but they will keep coming in large numbers from late spring to fall, in repeat blooms, and they will keep giving you that amazing strong fragrance of old rose we all love!

And this will be even more powerful in fresh areas, while their clear pink color will create a bright but romantic effect for your garden. Coming on almost spineless upright stems, the flowers also benefit from an incredible backdrop of glossy dark green leaves, but the new shoots at the tips have amazing shades of copper and even ruby!

Well, ‘Brother Cadfael’ English rose really deserves a central, very prominent place in your green haven… You can grow it as a specimen plant, or in a rose garden, and it will also give you really outstanding cut flowers. Ideal for informal landscaping, it also has a final surprise for you… It can be grown as a climber as well! So, maybe that spot at the back of your border which you want to transform into a flowery spectacle may be its right spot!

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
• Flowering season: late spring to fall.
• Size:5 to 8 feet tall (1.5 to 2.4 meters) and 3 to 4 feet in spread (90 to 120 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

15: ‘Mme Caroline Testout’ Climbing Rose (Rosa ‘Mme Caroline Testout’)

But now let’s imagine that you have a tall wall, or fence, and you want it to become a vertical flowery garden? What’s the solution? Actually, we have had it for more than a century now, because ‘Mme Caroline Testout’ climbing rose was bred by Joseph Pernet-Ducher as far back as 1861 (!!!) making it one of the oldest cultivars on our list. And also one of the tallest, because it can grow to a considerable 15 feet tall (4.5 meters).

Each cupped and fully double flower has between 26 and 40 petals, and they curl back elegantly at the margins, giving you a goblet impression, with their light satin pink color, quite consistent and compact throughout the blossoms. They will appear in late spring and come again and again till the end of summer, also gracing your nostrils with their light but sweet and pleasant fragrance. Born on strong and spiny canes, the blossoms are quite large as well, between 4 and 5 inches across (10 to 12.5 cm) and they stand out beautifully against the backdrop of bright to mid green healthy leaves.

Of course, ‘Mme Caroline Testout’ climbing rose will need a pergola, a fence, a trellis, an arbor or a wall to give you its vertical pink floral display, and it will really look striking maybe framing your front windows with its very romantic personality but also with its historical gardening reputation.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 6 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
• Flowering season: late spring to late summer.
• Size: 10 to 15 feet tall (3.0 to 4.5 meters) and 3 to 5 feet in spread (90 cm to 1.5 meters).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

16: ‘Chicago Peace’ Hybrid Tea Rose (Rosa ‘Chicago Peace’)

A really extraordinary variety, ‘Chicago Peace’ must have some of the biggest ever blossoms in the color of romance ever, as they are a whopping 6 inches across (15 cm)! So, of you want to grow a super showy cultivar in your garden, pick this incredible labor of love by Stanley C. Johnston, and it has been with us since 1962.

And it will offer you a blend of pinks on its fully double and elegantly shaped flowers, each with 45 to 60 petals… Coming continuously from late spring to fall, the blooms will display you a palette with phlox, shell, and soft pink, but it can also blush to cheeky rosy tonalities at the margins.

However, look towards the center, and you will see basal dashes of yellow, from canary to golden, which add luminosity to this long lasting floral display, which also has a mild but very pleasant fragrance. This flowery shrub is very vigorous upright in habit, and it gives you a striking backdrop as well, with glossy and dark green leaves.

A pretty heat tolerant variety, ‘Chicago Peace’ hybrid tea rose will give you really outstanding cut flowers throughout the reason, but if you want to keep it in your garden, you can have it in most informal spaces in flower beds, borders, or in containers, also on a terrace.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun.
• Flowering season: late spring to fall, continuously.
• Size: 4 to 7 feet tall (1.2 to 2.1 meters) and 3 to 4 feet in spread (90 to 120 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

17: ‘Gentle Hermione’ English Rose (Rosa ‘Gentle Hermione’)

Named after Hermione, a character in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, the loyal wife of Leontes, this variety could fit very well in an old world, Elizabethan garden… In fact, ‘Gentle Hermione’ English rose has all the charm of a real classic, with large blossoms that reach 4 inches in diameter (10 cm) and opening slowly, opening slowly from round buds to form perfect cups at first, and then shallower ones as the blooms ripen…

But the incredible thing is the actual number of petals you will see in the flowers, as they can be up to an incredible 90 on a head! And of course, it has a really romantic personality, with pure pastel pink, bright but soft, that only delicately blushes towards the edges. And all the way from late spring to fall, this flowery beauty will also keep you dreaming with its strong and classical old rose fragrance.

Yet another daughter of breeding genius David Austin, despite its antique look, this cultivar is quite recent, introduced only in 2005 and despite its large floral display, it is only forms a pretty small shrub, but with lush and mid to dark green leaves.

An excellent combination of the old looking personality of English roses but strong and reliable performance, ‘Gentle Hermione’ is great in small borders, but also at the back of beds. Ideal for a traditional and romantic looking garden, it will also offer you good and fragrant cut flowers.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 10.
• Light exposure: full Sun.
• Flowering season: late spring to fall.
• Size: 3 to 4 feet tall (90 to 120 cm) and 3 to 4.5 feet in spread (90 to 135 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

18: ‘Open Arms’ Rambling Rose (Rosa ‘Open Arms’)

Now, for a semi double rose to grow in your garden, with a very natural and free spirited personality, I would suggest you look at ‘Open Arms’. This rambling variety has small blooms, only about 1.5 inches across (4.0 cm), but it literally fills with them from early summer into fall, with a very generous floral display. Each flower has 6 to 14 elegant petals, that open out fully, to form a saucer of salmon pink, in a delicate pastel shade, and attracting lots of butterflies, bees and other pollinators to your green haven.

And the rich tuft of super bright and golden yellow stamens and anthers makes a perfect focal point, and it adds a lot of light to the blossoms. It will also charm you with its medium musk scent, which can take you back to days spent in the countryside… Followed by shiny red hips, the vigorous canes can also be easily trained to climb, and the and the small but many, semi glossy and healthy rich green and glossy leaves can form a fresh curtain of backdrop. Introduced by Christopher H. Warner in 1995, it has since won the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Perfect for a natural looking garden, and even easy to propagate, ‘Open Arms’ will work well as a hedge if you keep it as a rambler, or climb up romantic and traditional looking fences, gates, pergolas or harbors, or cover a wall with its pink blooms and lush leaves.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 6 to 9.
• Light exposure:full Sun.
• Flowering season:early summer to fall.
• Size:5 to 8 feet tall (1.5 to 2.4 meters) and 4 to 5 feet in spread (1.2 to 1.5 meters).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

19: ‘Jubilee Celebration’ English Rose (Rosa ‘Jubilee Celebrattion’)

We now want to hit an unusual note with our color, and so we meet ‘Jubilee Celebration’, a recent English rose cultivar. In fact, this variety likes to play with strong tonalities, as if singing with a high pitch in a dramatic opera, and it offers your garden an amazing palette with extremely vibrant and deep salmon pink, sometimes even blushing to rosy tints, but with golden yellow flashes on the undersides of its petals, and up to 41 of them.

The fully double blossoms have a perfectly cupped shape, with a flat top that allows you to enjoy their ruffled display, and each flower is about 3.5 inches in diameter (9.0 cm) and coming all the way from late spring to fall. But wait, smell the blooms when they are fresh, and you will get almost pure lemon, but wait a few days, and you will get a sweeter and fruity scent.

And lots of it, as it is one of the most fragrant roses ever! With semi glossy and lush dark green leaves, this shrub bears its flowery spectacle on long stems, and yes, it is yet another creation by David Austen, who introduced it in 2005.

Ideal for a flowering hedges, ‘Jubilee Celebration’ can bring you its vibrant and super fragrant blossoms also in flower beds or borders, and it is definitely one of the best varieties for a refreshing scent in informal gardens of most styles.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 10.
• Light exposure: full Sun.
• Flowering season: late spring to fall.
• Size: 3 to 4 feet tall and in spread (90 to 120 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

20: ‘Magic Maidiland’ Groundcover Rose (Rosa ‘Magic Maidiland’)

For a really rewarding and high performance variety in the color of love, ‘Magic Maidiland’ is a really perfect choice. Introduced by French breeder Alain Meilland in 2007, this groundcover rose is particularly healthy, very strong and, above all, it is very generous!

In fact, it will blossom continuously and lavishly from late spring till the first day of frost! In all this time, you can enjoy large clusters of elegant semi double and saucer shaped flowers, and each is 2 to 3 inches across (5.0 to 7.5 cm) and with 17 to 25 petals.

Rich with a very intense and dark shade of pink, with fuchsia notes, the blooms fade towards the center, where an explosion of light is given by a bright canary yellow tuft of stamens and anthers. And these will attract pollinators throughout the season, while your garden will fill with its very string lily of the valley fragrance! The glossy mid green leaves, finally, conclude this amazing spectacle with an ideal backdrop.

But ‘Magic Maidiland’ is also very adaptable! Being a groundcover rose variety, it tends to spread, and form large suckering shrubs, perfect in fact, to cover land but also against ground erosion on slopes and banks. But you can also train it to climb up short gates and trellises, and enjoy its flowery canes as they descend back with their fountains of pink and fragrant blossoms…

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure:full Sun.
• Flowering season:late spring to late fall.
• Size:1 to 2 feet tall (30 to 60 cm) and 4 to 5 feet in spread (1.2 to 1.5 meters).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

21: ‘Sexy Rexy’ Floribunda Rose (Rosa ‘Sexy Rexy’)

We have not met a floribunda variety yet… And I am sorry to have kept you waiting, but I am sure that ‘Sexy Rexy’ is well worth the wait… But choose it, plant it and it will soon start blossoming, from late spring, and it will keep giving generously till fall. And in all this time, you will fall in love again and again with its dense clusters of soft pink blossoms, in a delicate pastel shade, very romantic looking and with 39 to 51 petals each.

Each fully double bloom is about 3.5 inches across (9.0 cm), and they en slowly and elegantly, unfurling with a very artistic flair. The flowers will come in large numbers, with their light fragrance, and they will almost cover the whole shrub for months on end. On the other hand, it is a compact variety, suitable for small spaces, and its semi glossy and mid to dark green foliage is also noted for being quite healthy indeed! Bred and introduced by Samuel Darragh McGredyIV in 1978, it has been a romantic princess in gardens ever since!

A lovely variety of floribunda rose in pink, ‘Sexy Rexy’ has a very delicate charm in both color, flower shape and fragrance. You can easily grow it in flower beds, but also in borders and in containers. Ideal for any informal design from cottage or English country to suburban and urban gardens, it is also fairly easy to propagate by hardwood cuttings in fall.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 10.
• Light exposure: full Sun.
• Flowering season: late spring to fall.
• Size: 4 to 5 feet tall and in spread (1.2 to 1.5 meters).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

22: Dwarf Rose (Rosa gymnocarpa)

As her name suggests, dwarf rose is quite tiny, but it does have a lot of advantages. Not only will it fit into a small space, but, hear, hear, this variety will also thrive in full shade! It is a natural species from western North America, where it can grow in woods or deep forests alike, it blossoms in late spring and early summer, with tiny single flowers, 3/8 to 5/8 of an inch across (1.0 to 1.5 cm).

Not very showy, true, but the blooms are very pretty indeed, with soft pink but with rosy blushes that fade to white in the center of the five petals. Usually born singly, the flowers have an elegant ring of cream stamens that end in golden to saffron yellow anthers with a purplish brown line in the middle.And they also have a strong and very sought after fragrance: old rose with spicy notes!

This heavenly scent will attract lots of butterflies, bees and pollinators till early summer, and then it will be the turn of birds… Or you? Yes, because its bright red rose hips have been part of the diet of Natives and then colonists for a long time, because they are particularly rich in Vitamin C, calcium, iron and phosphorus.

However, if you leave them on the branches, they will persist all through the winter months, with good decorative value. But it is also a very strange variety, because it is rhizomatous and with shallow roots; but from there it will spread fast and it will rich green leaves, but protect them from hungry animals with lots of bristly and straight spikes.

Maybe the only pink variety you can ever grow in full shade, dwarf rose is perfect for woodland gardens and naturalized areas, to underplant trees, and it is very long lived and easy to grow, unlike many of her younger sisters.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure:full Sun (tolerant), partial shade and full shade!
• Flowering season:late spring and early summer.
• Size:2 to 3 feet tall and in spread (60 to 90 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich averagefertile, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline. It is heavy clay tolerant.

23: ‘Easy Does It’ Floribunda Rose (Rosa ‘Easy Does It’)

And now on to a really enchanting variety, ‘Easy Does It’ floribunda rose. Despite its name, it must have been quite hard to breed this cultivar, because it has a very original personality… This is because the double blooms are really ruffled, with wavy and lobed petals, and up to 30 of them each, and the effect is that of a rosette, or or a festive decoration.

Even more so, because the flowers are about 4 inch across (10 cm) and they come in small clusters and in flushes from late spring to fall. But if we have to choose a celebration or party for this shrubby beauty, we would need to look at its palette… Ans there you will see the most intense and refined peach pink, but with tangerine blushes at the base of the petals… So, I guess it could be an engagement party, or a coming of age one for a romantic girl…

And the moderate but clearly fruity fragrance of the blossoms adds sweetness and a note of hope for the future. Set on a mound of deep and dark green and glossy leaves, we owe the floral display of this winner of the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society and of the All American Rose Selection (2010) to British breeder family Harkness before 2006 (whether Jack or one of his brothers, Robert or Philip, we don’t know…)

With this final touch of mystery, that maybe adds to the blushing personality of ‘Easy Does It’ floribunda rose, you can grow this small flowering shrub variety in a front garden border or bed, or even in containers on your terrace, to add deep feelings and romance to your green haven.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun.
• Flowering season: late spring to fall.
• Size: 3 to 4 feet tall and in spread (90 to 120 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

24: Dog Rose (Rosa canina)

Before we close our selection with real royalty, we cannot leave out a humble variety, dog rose… Actually, this is arguably what was the iconic rose in the times before double flowered cultivars, the standard for all her sisters… Rosa canina is a species native to Europe, North Africa and Southern Asia, and it has been grown ever since Western civilization developed around the Mediterranean.

Loved for its single flowers, about 2 inches across (5.0 cm) that come from late spring to mid summer, with five petals that open fully to a saucer shape, attracting lots of butterflies, bees and other pollinators with their pastel pink color, fading to white towards the center, where a ring of ivory stamens holding saffron anthers. Its light, floral and sweet fragrance has been used for centuries (maybe millennia) to make rose water and perfume baths…

But it has also offered us its fruits, scarlet red and glossy, and in fact it is also called hip rose. Rich in Vitamin C, flavonoids, polyphenol and many minerals, they have been eaten in jellies and jams (or raw) and they have been used in traditional medicine for their healing properties… Forming large and strong sprawling shrubs with mid green foliage, it spreads spontaneously and it offers lots of shelter and food for wildlife as well.

Dog rose is ideal in a naturalized area, or even in a countryside garden; it can also form a natural fence against human intruders and in a short time, while protecting fauna and biodiversity. A poor soil tolerant and easy to grow variety, you can feel free to have it also if you have a large green space, maybe at the back or on the edges.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure:full Sun.
• Flowering season:late spring to mid summer.
• Size:3 to 15 feet tall and in spread (90 cm to 4.5 meters).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich but poor soil tolerant, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

25: ‘Queen Elizabeth’ Grandiflora Rose (Rosa ‘Queen Elizabeth’)

‘Queen Elizabeth’ is a very grand rose indeed! Of course, it is dedicated to the British monarch that reigned at the time of Shakespeare, but this not all. As the name of its group suggests, it is “grandiflora” or “big flowered” and in fact, its blooms are quote large indeed, at 4 inches in diameter (10 cm), but they are also very elegant, high centered to cupped and with 38 to 40 petals each.

Opening in waves from late spring to fall, these striking flowers come on long and upright, sturdy stems, which are virtually thornless, making their picking much easier… And they will give you a really delicate but full pure pink color, which fades slightly as the blossoms mature. But they also have a very refreshing tea fragrance, soft but quite distinctive… Then again, if you look at the large and glossy, deep green leaves, and the younger ones with their copper tonalities, you get the full royal beauty of this variety.

And aristocracy likes its blazons too, and in fact, since this cultivar was introduced by US breeder Dr. Walter E. Lammertsin 1951 (just before the “new” Queen Elizabeth came to the throne) it has won five major awards, including the All American Rose Selection (1995) and it was introduced in the Rose Hall of Fame in 1979.

‘Queen Elizabeth’ needs her throne in your green haven; grow her in a focal point, by the main gate or door of your house, or next to an eye catching feature, as a centerpiece in a rose garden, because its amazing blooms would steal the show anyway, as they would if you use them as cut flowers.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun.
• Flowering season: late spring to fall.
• Size: 4 to 6 feet tall (1.2 to 1.8 meters) and 2 to 3 feet in spread (60 to 90 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

A World of Pink Roses, from Times of Old to the Present, Tradition, Romance and Much More…

And we have come to the end of our journey. Maybe pink is the most classical color of roses, and in fact, many natural species have it, but we have also traveled through times with very different varieties in so many shades and shapes from time immemorial to very recent cultivars. In short, it’s a whole world of history but also innovation, romance but also energy, beauty and scents, and much more…