Find the right rose to plant

Pick the perfect rose

summer,garden inspiration,Good Housekeeping,planting ideas hand holding pink rose

We’ve rounded up the most beautiful, the most fragrant, the easiest to grow and the all-round gorgeous – roses that promise romance, colour and glorious summer days…

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Best for a small garden

summer,garden inspiration,Good Housekeeping,planting ideas Rosa gallica The fragrant, 16th-century beauty Rosa gallica is the raspberry-ripple version of the historic apothecary\'s rose. Grow it in a sunny spot, and Rosa gallica var. officinalis Versicolor produces masses of soft-pink blooms striped and splashed with crimson. Robust and easy-growing, it needs no precise pruning and has a compact growth, which makes it ideal for smaller gardens. This is a rose beautiful enough to stand alone or, en masse, to create a magical flowery hedgerow.

Rough, tough and good to know

summer,garden inspiration,Good Housekeeping,planting ideas Rosa rugosa Can a hardy, disease-resistant rose be beautiful and fragrant, too? Welcome Rosa rugosa, the thorny, wild bloom that thrives in the poorest soil or windiest site. The apple-green leaves never get blackspot and the flowers - large, cerise and spectacular - last all summer, then are followed by tomato-like hips that sometimes overlap with the last blooms. If your tastes run to softer shades, look for shell-pink Fru Dagmar Hastrup - both make superb hedges or border shrubs.

The well-behaved rose

summer,garden inspiration,Good Housekeeping,planting ideas Little White Pet

Low-growing Little White Pet always looks neat, tidy and charming. Its rightful place is in the front of the border, edging a path, or in a large container so you can enjoy the sprays of small pink buds, white pompom flowers and musky fragrance at close quarters. Disease-resistant and a doddle to deadhead, this rose is a real gem.

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Photo: David Austin Roses \r\n

Drama queen

summer,garden inspiration,Good Housekeeping,planting ideas Veilchenblau Imagine an arch, arbour or pergola smothered in smoky violet flower sprays that fade to dusty lilac before the petals drop to the ground beneath. Make the vision a glorious reality by planting thornless, rambling Veilchenblau where it can stretch out in the sun and produce its orange-scented double flowers. Mix it with purple clematis for double the drama.

Shade-loving and voluptuous

summer,garden inspiration,Good Housekeeping,planting ideas Souvenir du Docteur Jamain

Small wonder Souvenir du Docteur Jamain was so beloved of Vita Sackville-West - she grew it at Sissinghurst, where it\'s still much admired. You can appreciate this antique climber in your own garden, too, but only if you can offer it rich soil - this exquisite rose thrives on double helpings of well-rotted manure. Best trained against a wall or over an archway, a shady site or north-facing wall suits it just fine. Your reward? Sensational, near-black buds and full, velvet-wine flowers with a perfume as voluptuous as their colouring.

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Photo: Crocus.co.uk

The fairytale rose

summer,garden inspiration,Good Housekeeping,planting ideas Altissimo Altissimo\'s blood-red blooms centred with golden stamens, are so dramatic they could have started life in a fairytale. The foliage, fittingly, is deep glossy green. Although Altissimo is officially a climber, you can grow it as a large shrub for a dramatic statement in the border. Alternatively, train the stems against a pale wall where the large flowers will have most impact - but keep in check with the occasional cut-back.

Best for big, show-off blooms

summer,garden inspiration,Good Housekeeping,planting ideas Golden Celebration

Forget insipid lemon roses: award-winning Golden Celebration, with its gently arching growth, has magnificent flowers of the richest buttery yellow. They also have a span the size of a saucer and possess the complex formation of rose breeder David Austin\'s English roses. Grow this disease-resistant shrub rose in the mixed border with flowering sage, catmint or lavender at its feet, and revel in a perfume that\'s as outstanding as the blooms themselves.

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Photo: David Austin Roses

Great all-rounder

summer,garden inspiration,Good Housekeeping,planting ideas Alnwick Rose

The Alnwick Rose could be called ‘the rose with everything\'... It has luscious, complex blooms, good disease resistance, a beautiful perfume and flowers from early summer through to the first frost. A great mixer, this vigorous shrub rose from the David Austin stable has full-petalled, deeply cupped flowers of sugar pink and a fragrance of old rose mingled with raspberry.

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Photo: David Austin Roses

Worth the wait...

summer,garden inspiration,Good Housekeeping,planting ideas Meg

The stems are stiff, the scent is light, and Meg delivers little after its flush of midsummer flowering. Ignore this shortcoming, however, and focus instead on the large, wavy-petalled flowers, because they are among the most beautiful of all roses. Held in small, long-stemmed clusters, they\'re an exceptional apricot-pink and light amber, with a central boss of golden stamens. Plant Meg against a sunny wall or pillar to appreciate the show fully.

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Photo: David Austin Roses

Where to buy roses

summer,garden inspiration,Good Housekeeping,planting ideas woman shopping online for roses

● David Austin Roses (01902 376300; www.davidaustinroses.com) for English and antique roses.

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● Peter Beales (01953 454707; www.classicroses.co.uk) for old-fashioned and classic roses

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● Harkness (0845 331 3143; www.roses.co.uk), a specialist nursery grower for 125 years, offers a wide selection including hybrid teas, floribundas, patio and border roses. 

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