Red roses are associated with love and passion. In February, when flower shops are filled with bouquets of red roses for Valentine’s Day, garden roses are just leafless branches, but come summer, they become beautiful. Cut beautiful red roses from the garden and give them to your loved ones this summer!
There are some stunning red roses to grow in the garden, some of which are the most fragrant. The winter months are the best time of year to plant new roses, as long as the ground is not frozen. Bare root roses from the experts will arrive without leaves at this time of year, but these fresh plants will soon flourish. You can buy roses in pots throughout the rest of the year from garden centres and rose suppliers, and plant them all year round, but bare root plants are generally cheaper and tend to grow better.
If you can’t plant bare root roses right away, keep the roots moist and keep them in a cool, unheated place like a garage or shed until you can plant them. Plant your roses in rich soil, adding compost or well-rotted manure to the planting hole and mixing it in well before planting.
The most delicious, deep red roses, with soft, velvety petals. The buds are a striking black and perfectly formed before the flowers fully open. The gorgeous flowers are surrounded by attractive purple leaves.
Beautiful deep red flowers, romantic and seductive, with a delicious fruity scent. A hardy, free-blooming rose that produces tall stems, great for cutting. Available from David Austin Roses.
Deep red rosettes, both wonderfully classic and hopelessly romantic. Has a strong old rose scent and produces profusely each summer on an informal bush. Available from David Austin Roses.
Large, classic hybrid tea shaped flowers with many petals, like those you see in a florist but with a wonderfully seductive scent. A vigorous and healthy growing plant. Available from David Austin Roses.
The large, typical hybrid tea-shaped flowers on this deep red rose are lightly scented. ‘Loving Memory’ is a repeat bloomer and the sturdy stems make it a good choice for cut flowers for indoor decoration.
This is a great red rose for the garden if you want to plant several rose bushes together in the garden to create a big display. It produces large clusters of deep red, velvety red flowers and has glossy purple foliage.
‘Alec’s Red’ is a fragrant hybrid tea rose with vibrant cherry red flowers. The buds open profusely with strongly scented flowers amidst lush green foliage. Suitable for growing in pots and for cutting flowers to bring into the home.
A slightly unusual red rose, with a hint of chocolate brown on its plump flowers made up of many layers of petals. ‘Hot Chocolate’ is a floribunda rose, so the flowers grow in clusters on a bushy, hardy plant and its foliage is dark and glossy.
‘Dublin Bay’ is a climbing rose with brilliant scarlet double flowers, although sadly they have little fragrance. At around 2.5m tall, it is not as tall as many others, making it a great choice for a bougainvillea or columnar border.
One of the darkest and most dramatic red roses, the outer petals are a deep crimson and black. The beautifully shaped flowers start out burgundy when in bud and the young leaves are burgundy. Available from rose specialists C&K Jones, who make a donation to St Michael’s Hospice in Hereford for every ‘Precious Time’ sold.
