If you’ve ever thought roses were fussy, difficult, or only for expert gardeners, we’re here to change your mind.
Welcome back to our Zone 6A contemporary cottage garden in upstate New York, where the first flush of rose blooms has finally arrived. This year’s display is packed with incredible fragrance, healthy foliage, pollinator activity, and repeat bloomers that have completely transformed the way we think about growing roses.
Today we’re sharing many of our favorite varieties—from classic English shrub roses to incredibly easy landscape roses—plus a few design ideas that make them shine in the garden.
For years, we avoided roses because we believed they required constant spraying and endless maintenance. Once we discovered modern shrub roses, especially many of the newer introductions from David Austin and Proven Winners, everything changed.
These roses reward us with:
If you’ve been hesitant to plant roses, these varieties may completely change your perspective.
Vanessa Bell remains one of our all-time favorite yellow roses. The blooms open as a soft buttery yellow before fading to creamy white, creating incredible dimension throughout the shrub.
Even better, it’s one of the most floriferous roses in our garden with healthy bright green foliage that looks fantastic all season.
Design tip: We love pairing Vanessa Bell beneath our European beech, where the pink foliage creates a stunning contrast with the soft yellow blooms.
Unlike traditional fully double roses, Tottering-by-Gently features simple single blooms with bright golden centers that pollinators absolutely adore.
Its open flowers make nectar easily accessible for bees while the cheerful yellow color pairs beautifully with blue salvias and ornamental alliums.
Boscobel combines coral, pink, and creamy tones with one of the best fragrances in our entire garden.
The cool-toned foliage adds another layer of interest, especially when planted alongside hydrangeas and honeysuckle.
If you love saturated color, Gabriel Oak delivers an intensely rich deep pink that almost looks edited in photographs. We planted ours near the front entrance so every visitor is greeted by its incredible perfume.
One of our newest additions, Penelope Lively is already making a huge impression with glossy foliage, vibrant blooms, and an abundance of buds waiting to open.
We expect this to become a true standout as it matures.
The Lark Ascending offers soft apricot blooms with hints of yellow and pink. Its open flowers glow beautifully when backlit by the sun and provide easy access for pollinators.
Growing on an Agriframes obelisk, Crown Princess Margareta brings gorgeous peachy-orange blooms and exceptional fragrance to the garden.
Although classified as a climber, ours behaves more like a large shrub in our cold climate.
One of the easiest fragrant roses available, At Last combines outstanding scent with reliable repeat blooms and very little maintenance.
Its warm apricot-orange flowers have quickly become favorites near our patio.
Roald Dahl is another peachy-apricot beauty that rewards patience after winter dieback. Even as a young plant, it produces healthy growth and abundant flowers.
If you’re looking for maximum impact with minimal effort, Proven Winners landscape roses deserve a place in your garden.
This vibrant deep pink landscape rose creates waves of blooms that eventually cover nearly every inch of the shrub.
We love pairing it with blue spruce for dramatic color contrast.
Flavorette Honey-Apricot grows tall and upright with cheerful blooms and impressive repeat flowering. As an added bonus, the petals have a subtle honey-apricot flavor.
Despite dying back almost completely after winter, Flavorette Pear’d rebounded with lush glossy foliage and beautiful shell-pink blooms.
Its resilience continues to impress us.
Compact in size but oversized in flower power, Reminiscent Crema offers enormous blooms on a smaller shrub while delivering the strong fragrance the collection is known for.
If we had to choose just one overall favorite, Eustacia Vye would be difficult to beat.
The blooms combine multiple shades of pink with healthy foliage and exceptional fragrance, making it one of the stars of our garden.
Perhaps the most underrated rose we grow, Ancient Mariner offers intensely fragrant blooms that gradually reveal sunny centers as they open.
Pollinators flock to it all season.
Emily Brontë transforms dramatically as its flowers mature, opening from cupped blooms into flatter romantic blossoms with incredible fragrance.
A newer David Austin introduction, Elizabeth combines classic old rose fragrance with densely petaled shell-pink flowers and vigorous growth.
Almost thornless and softly colored with almond and biscuit tones, Lichfield Angel provides an elegant transition between brighter colors in the garden.
Our very first rose purchase was a clearance Mary Rose, and it completely changed our opinion of growing roses.
Even after being transplanted to a sunnier location years later, it settled in beautifully and continues to remind us that modern roses are far tougher than many gardeners realize.
Throughout our garden, we intentionally pair roses with companion plants that highlight both foliage and flower color.
Some favorite combinations include:
Repeating these combinations creates cohesion while allowing each rose to shine.
Rather than removing individual spent flowers, we typically wait until an entire spray begins to fade.
Then we cut the whole cluster back to a healthy leaf set, encouraging another flush of blooms while keeping the plant looking tidy.
Fortunately, many modern shrub roses don’t require complicated pruning rules, making maintenance far simpler than many gardeners expect.
One of the biggest surprises in our gardening journey has been discovering just how easy roses can be.
Whether you choose a low-maintenance landscape rose like Oso Easy Peasy or fall in love with the fragrance of an English shrub rose like Gabriel Oak, Eustacia Vye, or Vanessa Bell, these plants reward gardeners with months of beauty and surprisingly little fuss.
And this is only the beginning of rose season in our garden. Varieties like Lady of Shalott, Summer Song, and many others are still waiting to bloom, so there’s plenty more excitement ahead.
Join our gardening journey and grow alongside us. From seed starting to full garden tours, we share tips, inspiration, and the joy of growing beautiful spaces.
We respect your privacy and will never share your information. Thanks for growing with us!
Get seasonal tips, behind-the-scenes from our garden, and be the first to know what we’re planting, pruning, and loving.
As a thank you, we’ll send you our favorite tried-and-true plants — the ones we grow in our own garden.
