Best Disease-Resistant Roses

When thinking about roses in general, most people envision the classic hybrid tea. However, being susceptible to disease, the hybrid tea is arguably the “fussiest” of roses. It’s not for beginners and is even a challenge for experienced growers.

For disease-resistant roses, seasoned rose growers would opt for the old-fashioned and “landscape” roses and a few others listed below.

Old-Fashioned Roses (Heirlooms)

Sometimes referred to as “heirloom” or “old garden roses,” old-fashioned roses are the predecessors of today’s roses—some even date back to the Roman Empire. These are typically fragrant and offer a delicate, somewhat subtle beauty. A diverse and hardy group well suited for colder climates, heirlooms include albas, bourbons, centifolias, damasks, gallica, noisettes, and rugosas, among others.

Best Old-Fashioned Rose Varieties
There’s a reason that the old garden roses are still grown today—they are extremely hardy and healthy and often very fragrant.

• Rosa ‘Apothecary’s Rose’ (gallica, light red, fragrant)
• Rosa ‘Ballerina’ (hybrid musk, blush)
• Rosa ‘Blanc Double de Coubert’ (rugosa, white, highly fragrant)
• Rosa ‘Duchesse de Montebello’ (gallica, soft pink, fragrant)
• Rosa ‘The Fairy’ (polyantha, pink)
• Rosa ‘Madame Alfred Carrière’ (noisette, pearl pink, highly fragrant)

David Austin English Roses (‘Ballerina’)

Best Landscape Roses

“Landscape” roses have this name because of their shrubby form, which makes them ideal for mass plantings that add lots of color to the landscape. These roses have a strong horizontal growth habit and roots that grow along the ground—they can be considered short ramblers.

Members of this group are ideal for mass plantings such as hedges. Because they root themselves, they are a good choice for preventing erosion on steep slopes. An en masse planting of repeat bloomers also adds depth and a bit of drama to the landscape.

Best Landscape Rose Varieties
Landscape Roses Landscape or “shrub” roses are often overlooked in favor of hybrid teas, but they make excellent additions to a garden, as they tend to bloom throughout the growing season.

• Rosa ‘Carefree Celebration’ (pink-orange, bushy habit)
• Rosa ‘Carefree Spirit’ (red, glossy foliage, bushy habit)
• Flower Carpet® fragrant shrub roses (many colors, beautifully fragrant, bushy habit).
• Rosa ‘Fire Meidiland’ (red, glossy foliage, low-growing)
• Rosa ‘White Out’ (white, dark green foliage, bushy habit)

Disease-Resistant, Low-Maintenance

Unlike hybrid teas, the old-fashioned and landscape varieties are generally not plagued by the primary diseases affecting roses: black spot, powdery mildew, and rust. None of these is inherently fatal, but all can severely compromise a plant’s health and are certainly unsightly. Black spot is particularly difficult to control and is highly contagious from shrub to shrub. In fact, it can cause a rose to drop all of its foliage, resulting in denuded canes that can no longer photosynthesize.

Hybrid Tea Roses

However, if you simply can’t resist hybrid teas, buying disease-resistant varieties is the best defense against black spot and its comrades in crime. Rose breeders have been hybridizing for this characteristic for decades, so there is a profusion of options from which to choose. However, there is a catch: Disease-resistant roses are rarely fragrant; fragrance is a characteristic passed on from a recessive gene, which is often lost during hybridization.

Best Hybrid Rose Varieties
There’s no denying the appeal of hybrid teas. Choose disease-resistant varieties even if it means sometimes sacrificing fragrance—healthy shrubs loaded with blooms are reward enough!

• Rosa ‘Auguste Renoir’ (medium pink, highly fragrant)
• Rosa ‘Electron’ (medium pink, highly fragrant)
• Rosa ‘Frederic Mistral’ (soft pink, highly fragrant)
• Rosa ‘Love and Peace’ (yellow and pink, slightly fragrant)
• Rosa ‘Olympiad’ (red) R. ‘Sheer Bliss’ (pearl white)
• Rosa ‘Tiffany’ (medium pink, highly fragrant)
• Rosa ‘Voodoo’ (multicolor yellow, peach, salmon, apricot, and red)

Rose breeders are constantly trying to hybridize for both qualities—there are a few such roses on the market, but the majority of “bulletproof” hybrid teas will not perfume your garden. And that’s okay! There are other flowering shrubs up to the task.

Choose roses with glossy foliage and bright blooms that you know will be healthy. Leave fragrance to the lilacs.

More Disease-Resistant Roses

Today, there are even more trouble-free, easy roses than ever.

• Looking for a climbing rose? The David Austins combine the fragrance of old roses with the disease resistance and repeat blooming of today’s modern roses. ‘The Mayflower’, ‘Winchester Cathedral’, and ‘Graham Thomas’ are exceptional varieties.
   
• The Knockout family of roses and the Carefree rose series are robust in health and prolific bloomers. You can’t go wrong with any knockouts; The Blushing Knockout, The Double Knockout, and The Sunny Knockout are all stunners.
   
• And finally, we recommend the Flower Carpet groundcover roses! Talk about disease resistance! Their unique double root system (deep roots and soil-surface roots) enables them to tolerate dry conditions. One high performer includes ‘Flower Carpet Appleblossom‘ (pastel pink, glossy green foliage, groundcover), 

Once you open your mind to the idea of growing a rose garden sans hybrid teas, there are roses as far as the eye can see (and the nose can smell)!