Modern Shrub Roses

These are mostly roses of complex hybrid parentage. Their habits of growth can serve a wide range of purposes in the modern landscape. Many Shrub roses are rather large growers, handsome as accents in the mixed border or as specimens in the average garden, or used en masse in public plantings. Others are notable for their disease-resistant foliage, often glossy, luxuriant, and attractive in its own right. Increasingly, modern breeders are selecting for “ground-covering” qualities; that is, habits of growth that cover the ground well, limiting competition from weeds and grasses.

Shrub roses have perhaps been understood best in Europe where they have been looked upon as an extension of garden roses into the public landscapes, to adorn parks, urban open spaces and roadsides. As such, they must be, above all, healthy, reliable, and floriferous, which they are.

Our curator for Modern Shrub Roses is Susan Feichtmeier. See more about her on our Rose Curators page and read her article in our Newsletter, issue 19.