Repeat-flowering roses are great value for colour, bearing flowers from late spring until the first frosts.
Choose your variety wisely – given the long flowering period the variety you choose will have to combine well with spring-, summer- and autumn-flowering plants, all of which could have varying colour palettes.
In general, most modern rose varieties repeat flower, including a generous selection of climbing and shrub roses, as well as some old varieties, like damask roses. Most rambling roses don’t repeat flower, but there are a small number that do.
It’s also worth remembering that, in order to encourage them to flower over such a long period, you’ll need to deadhead the flowers as they start to go over, and keep them well watered and fed throughout the growing period. However, towards the end of summer it’s worth leaving some hips to develop for birds.
Check out our pick of some of the best repeat-flowering roses to grow.
‘Molineux’
‘Molineux’ is a cheery, compact shrub rose with warm-yellow blooms. It has a bushy, upright growth habit that makes it a good contender for rose hedges. ‘Molineux’ can also be trained as a standard rose.
‘Pippin’
This modern climbing rose has beautiful pink flowers, with a hint of orange. Grow this sweetly fragrant rose near a path or doorway to make the most of the scent. ‘Pippin’ shows good resistance to diseases.
‘Mortimer Sackler’
With pale pink flowers set against rich green foliage, ‘Mortimer Sackler’ has a classic, cottage garden charm. As a climbing rose, it can be grown against a wall, over an arch or through a pergola. It has lovely fruity fragrance and is almost completely thornless.
‘Perfect Pet’
‘Perfect Pet’ is a floribunda rose with rich orange flowers. As is typical of floribundas, the flowers are smaller, but appear in generous clusters that last over a long period. Once a cluster is past its best, it can be cut back to a healthy bud to encourage further flowers.
‘Tranquility’
These beautiful cream-coloured blooms belong to the shrub rose ‘Tranquility’. When young, the blooms are a pale fondant yellow, but they gradually turn paler as the blooms open and age, and have a gentle fragrance. This vigorous variety has fresh, green foliage.
‘Golden Celebration’
‘Golden Celebration’ is a marvellous shrub rose with richly-scented, cupped flowers. The golden orange blooms create winning combinations with pink- and purple-flowered plants.
‘Sir John Betjeman’
Named after the English poet and broadcaster, ‘Sir John Betjeman’ has intense, ruby-red blooms. In habit this variety is bushy and forms a neat, rounded shrub, so is a good choice for borders where it can be relied on to behave.
‘Super Fairy’
Most rambling roses offer one spectacular flush of flowers in June. ‘Super Fairy’ is a repeat-flowering rambler repeatedly producing flushes of pink flowers from June to early autumn. This variety looks gorgeous trained to grow over a strong garden arch.
‘Lady of Shalott’
‘Lady of Shalott’ is a versatile, bushy shrub rose that can be grown in containers, borders, as a standard or grown with several plants of the same variety to create a hedge. The warm orange, goblet-shaped blooms look beautiful set against its glossy foliage. It has a pleasant fragrance.
‘Thomas à Becket’
With a more natural, informal growth habit and flowers, ‘Thomas à Becket’ has a distinctive ‘species rose’ look about it. The flowers are a fabulous carmine red and have a delicious lemon zest aroma.
Companion planting for roses
It’s not just edible crops that benefit from companion plants, either to ward off pests or attract beneficial insects. Roses often fall victim to aphid infestations, so try growing plants like tagetes nearby, which are popular with aphid-eating hoverflies. You could also plant thyme closeby, the scent of which repels blackfly. Discover more plants to grow for hoverflies.
