25 Best Tree Roses For Your Garden
Tree or standard roses are one of the easiest plants to use in a garden design. They provide height, you can grow under them, and they flower at least twice a year (sometimes even more) with beautiful rose blooms. With a bit of care and attention, they are rewarding plants to grow. In this article, gardening expert Wendy Moulton shares her favorite tree roses.
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Whether you call them tree roses, standard roses, or simply lollypops, each of these roses is on the list for an excellent reason, primarily because of their performance in flowering. Good, healthy, vigorous plants are also the best at the end of the day, and these plants have excellent rootstock with robust grafted foliage and flowers that perform at their best in the right conditions and with the proper care.
The fragrance is a bonus; many on this list will have the most delightful scent to impart into a garden. These are some of the best tree roses you will find, each with specific characteristics that make them all special. Many of these roses have made it into the Rose Hall of Fame.
Iceberg
Of all the roses in the world, Iceberg is perhaps the most famous and well-known. It was introduced by a German rose grower in 1958 and inducted into the Rose Hall of Fame in 1983. Its popularity is because it is highly disease-resistant, is a vigorous grower, and flowers profusely for most of the year. The pure white double blooms are borne in clusters on this bushy standard. In my opinion, this classic in my garden is one of the best standards, and because it’s white, it goes with everything and is a vigorous grower and true performer.
Its sister rose, ‘Burgundy Iceberg’, has startling dark red blooms that are just as tough as the white variety. You can now get standards that sport white and burgundy flowers grafted onto the same rootstock for something completely different.
Just Joey
Another favorite in the rose world is ‘Just Joey’. It has the most beautiful large apricot blooms with ruffled petals that move into a deeper copper color in the center and have a fruity fragrance.
It’s a strong and healthy hybrid tea standard with plenty of blooms. This rose also makes beautiful cut flowers.
Desdemona
From revered English rose grower David Austin comes ‘Desdemona’, with medium-sized white repeat-flowering blooms. This rose starts with peachy-pink buds that open into blush pink and white flowers.
As with many David Austin roses known for their fragrance, this one has a hint of almond, cucumber, and lemon. It has a neat shape with a bushy growth, ideal for a sunny spot anywhere in the garden. ‘Desdemona’ gets its name from a character in Shakespeare’s play Othello.
Princess Anne
Named after her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, this pretty, rich pink repeat flowering rose has large blooms in clusters. They bloom for a long time and have a subtle fragrance known on all of David Austin’s new roses.
This is an exceptionally healthy rose with a bushy top and lovely shiny leaves. This rose has many petals up to 85 with a tingle of yellow underneath. It grows in full and partial sunlight, making it useful for gardens with differing lights.
Double Delight
In 1885, this rose made it into the Rose Hall of Fame. This stunning two-tone hybrid tea has since won several awards for performance. It has large creamy blooms touched with dark red and also, as a bonus, a very spicy perfume that is a winner.
This one is top for keeping its color and good growth out of the bicolored roses. It does well in containers and the garden, making an excellent cut flower.
Chrysler Imperial
This rose, with its large dark red blooms, is a true winner for hotter climates. ‘Chrysler Imperial’ was named for one of Chrysler’s iconic cars and was the first rose to be named after a brand.
It has fragrant blooms in the hybrid tea style and performs better in warmer climates. It’s a vigorous bloomer on a bed of matte green leaves and makes a worthy cut flower.
Julia Child
An exceptional rose for an exceptional person, this rose, named for the dame of French cooking, has a buttery color and a scent like licorice – a fit description for a food lover. The large flowers have ruffled edges and full double petals.
This rose won the 2006 All-America Rose Selection, so you know it will perform well in all gardens. Julia chose the rose herself for its launch in 2006. This yellow rose is heat tolerant and flowers all year long.
Mister Lincoln
This classic red rose has strong stems, ideal for cut flowers and large blooms in a rich red. It is an easy-to-grow rose that has been around since the 60s. It is also the ancestor of several more award-winning species of rose.
‘Mister Lincoln’ is a vigorous grower and a repeat bloomer that also holds its velvety red color even in warmer climates. The fragrant petals make jams, jellies, liqueurs, and wine.
Pope John Paul II
A fresh white rose with a fragrance considered superior in the rose-growing world. It has a citrus fragrance and large blooms on a healthy bush with dark green foliage.
As its name suggests, this rose was introduced in 2013 in honor of the late Pope. It was chosen by the Vatican and planted in the gardens overlooking St Peter’s Basilica. The rose was also planted in the White House Rose Garden in honor of the first time a Pope visited The White House. It makes a lovely standard rose.
Pretty Lady Rose
This rose was named after the fictional character Lady Rose from the hit series Downtown Abbey. It’s an old-fashioned, multi-petaled variety with deep pink, very pretty flowers.
It has a lovely spicy fragrance. Arriving on the scene in 2016, it has already received awards and accolades.
Sweet Madame Blue
A floribunda in lavender flower hues, ‘Sweet Madame Blue’ is one of the newer tree roses on the market and has already become a popular choice due to its many blooms that open out with reddish centers.
The double flowers form in clusters up to seven at a time, and they have an excellent fragrance to go with their pretty flowers. They are known to be relatively disease-resistant and don’t wilt in the hot summer sun.
The Poet’s Wife
‘The Poet’s Wife’ has an intense fruity fragrance in large blooms in a rich yellow color that pales over time, changing to a soft yellow. It has a bushy appearance with shiny leaves and flowers repeating flowers over the season.
They grow best in full sun and partial shade and are considered firm and healthy rose standards in the David Austin English collection.
Strike it Rich
The fragrant grandiflora ‘Strike It Rich’ has large blooms that come in shades of golden yellow, apricot, and ruby red all in one flower. This combination and a spicy scent make this standard rose a favorite and unique.
The dark buds stand out against dark green leaves and then burst open with all the colors of a sunrise. It’s also a very hardy rose with lots of blooms and is known to be very disease-resistant. Its name says it all.
State of Grace
This grandiflora is an old-fashioned English-style rose with double blooms that are multi-colored in shades of pink, apricot, orange, and gold. The head of these bushes is compact and rounded.
It will produce flowers throughout the season. The flowers make beautiful cut flowers, and they have a delightful fruit fragrance. It has excellent disease resistance.
Peace
This beautiful variety has a great story behind how it became known as the ‘Peace’ rose. French breeder Francis Meilland bred it and sent cuttings to friends around the world before the Germans could invade France in 1940.
In this way, the rose was propagated and named differently in various countries. Just before the end of the Second World War, in April 1945, the US officially adopted the name ‘Peace’ in part to celebrate France’s liberation.
In 1976, ‘Peace’ was awarded the honor of being The World’s Favorite Rose. It was so popular that by 1992, over a hundred million had been sold, and to date, it has received many more awards. ‘Peace’ has lovely yellow blooms with pink edges and glossy green leaves and is worth being on the list for any collector.
All Dressed Up
A classic pink rose with cup-shaped flowers in captivating light and dark pink shades, ‘All Dressed Up’ has an intriguing apple fragrance and long stems perfect for the vase.
This grandiflora performs well, is tall and upright, and is vigorous and full of flowers throughout the season. It is also known to be disease-resistant. This is a reasonably new cultivar(2023) to the rose stage, destined to go far.
Chantilly Cream
Another classic rose that has the perfect soft cream to dark yellow flowers with all the colors between. It looks just like Chantilly cream. The long-lasting flowers don’t mind the heat.
It is also disease-resistant and a sweet-smelling citrus flower in the classic hybrid tea form. In warmer climates, the flowers may be bigger and the color slightly different. It is a tidy standard.
Larger Than Life
This has to be on the list for its impressively large double blooms with 80-95 petals. The flowers can reach five inches or more across and are a soft yellow and cream color pleasing to the eye.
Not only will they produce some of the biggest blooms you will see, but the plants are disease-resistant, and the flowers have a fruity fragrance. They flower from late spring all through until the fall.
Ebb Tide
This old-fashioned rose with a slight clove and citrus fragrance is a startling deep purple-to-plum color. This healthy variety is compact and attractive even without the stunning double blooms.
They make excellent container specimens and focal points in a garden bed – a plant with other white-flowering plants for an unexpected combo.
Pop Art
‘Pop Art’ offers a unique color combo of pink and yellow. The color of this grandiflora will last and not fade, and the glossy green foliage sets off the color nicely.
The blooms have a fruity scent. This is also a very disease-resistant variety that will produce large flowers in warmer climates. It lives up to its name with its contrasting color combination.
Alberic Barbier
This unique variety is not often found in standard roses – it’s a weeping tree rose with pretty yellow buds that open into medium-sized creamy-white blooms in clusters. It has so many flowers on the plant and is a repeat bloomer, making it a popular choice for something a bit different.
‘Alberic Barbier’ was introduced in 1860 and has stood the test of time. It has glossy green foliage, and the flowers have a light fruity scent. The cascading nature of this standard makes it a designer’s dream choice for a garden, invoking water when there is none.
Flower Power
This lovely salmon-pink rose is a vigorous floribunda with plenty of medium-sized blooms in clusters throughout the season. There seems to be a never-ending supply of new buds waiting in the wings to take over the display, and they all come with a solid fragrance. It’s also pretty hardy. It has a compact growth but cannot be beaten for flower power!
Canary Bird
As its name suggests, this yellow rose is a bushy standard with beautiful arching long stems to give it a weeping form. The flowers have no scent, but that is of little concern since it is hardy, disease-resistant, and happy in full sun and partial shade.
It flowers earlier than other roses in spring. Although available in standard form, ‘Canary Bird’ is often used on arbors and in large urns to cascade over the edges.
Olivia Rose Austin
This light pink, many-petalled rose from the English David Austin collection has a fruit fragrance and flowers very well early in the season and throughout, with bloom flushes in the fall.
The large blooms are set off against the dark green foliage in a lovely display. It was named after David Austin’s granddaughter and David Austin Junior’s daughter Olivia Rose.
Roald Dahl
Chosen for its similarity to the color of the peach in Roald Dahl’s book James and the Giant Peach, the proceeds of the sale of this rose have raised a lot of funds for the Roald Dahl Marvelous Children’s Charity in the UK.
The lovely apricot color of the medium-sized blooms starts with dark orange buds that burst open in abundance on this floriferous bush. They have a tea and fruity fragrance and repeat flowers throughout the season.
Final thoughts
There is much to learn about growing roses, but that shouldn’t deter anyone from increasing them. There are the easy ones to grow and the more challenging, and even the same piece of ground a meter away will have different results.
The rewards are pleasurable – seeing a well-looked-after specimen bloom and bloom for days and weeks on end is such a joy. Prune them correctly, feed them, and keep them watered, and they will do wonderfully.
