Hybrid
Rugosas trace
their lineage back to Rosa rugosa from the sandy shores of Japan and
China. Excellent for "trouble spots" like
sandy, poor soil, or shade, yet they most all reward with an exquisite
clove/spice
fragrance of repeating
blooms with large fall hips (of Vitamin C fame) and glorious leaf
color.
They're also known to be disease free/resistant and organically
inclined (their unique rugose/wrinkled leaves) prefer not
to be sprayed
with anything). Hardiest of garden roses to zone 3/4. Everyone
should be able to grow at least one Rugosa rose as different cultivars
grow anywhere
from 3 to 6 ft tall and wide, and in just about any climate.
Old Garden Roses, Hybrid
Musks and Species
Shrubs: Roses are
generically known as
garden shrubs or bushes, but there is a class of roses specifically
called Shrubs, and that is pretty all-encompassing when you see the
variety of flower form and growth habit.
For lack of
anything more descriptive we use Peter
Beales' definition,
"Shrub roses are those that are as a rule taller than 4 feet when
mature
and which can
be used individually for specimen planting or grown as shrubs in a
shrubbery."
Basically a Shrub rose is a modern variety that doesn't fit into any
other class, or is a
new class not yet widely accepted (such as David Austin English Roses,
which we do classify
separately as Austins.)
Hardiness will vary with the
particular parentage, typically +/- Zone 5. They are wonderful
for borders and any landscape purpose as they typically grow in a more
mounding or arching manner.