Floribundas
Around the same time as the first hybrid teas were appearing, the polyanthas were introduced. These compact roses bear their small flowers in large clusters and were produced by crossing dwarf forms of R.multiflora with either a dwarf China or a small hybrid tea. Polyanthas have continued to be grown and new introductions appear occasionally. They were very successful but their flowers tended to be small and poorly formed. The logical step was to cross polyanthas with hybrid teas.

The first to do so were the Danish Poulsen company and they were an instant success. Floribunda (Latin for many flowering) roses are compact and heavy flowering with several blooms per stem. As cut flowers they cannot compete with the hybrid teas, but for sheer colour they are hard to beat. Again there are hundreds of varieties to choose from with almost every colour imaginable. Both floribundas and hybrid teas are now budded onto upright single stem stocks to produce Standards in a wide range of colours and form.

Climbers and Ramblers
Both climbers and ramblers are not true vines such as ivy or clematis, as they lack the ability to cling to supports on their own and need to be tied or trained to to cover walls or structures such as arches etc. Many old shrub roses and modern bush roses have climbing forms, whereby the canes of the plant grow much longer and more flexible than the normal bush forms. Most modern climbing roses will grow anywhere from 3m to 6m and most are repeat flowering. Rambling roses are distinguished from climbers in two ways. They have longer and more flexible canes and can reach up 10m or more.

The majority of ramblers are a once blooming habit in spring or early summer. They produce a wonderful show in early summer but the show is usually over in about a month. Over the last few years growers have introduced ramblers that repeat flower all summer and always seem to be in bloom. The flowers on ramblers are usually smaller than most climbing roses, and the repeat flowering varieties do not seem to reach the great heights of Kiftsgate or Paul's Himalayan Musk etc. However the new rose breeding programmes are now moving on at such a rate, it will not be many years before there will be repeat flowering ramblers with larger flowers that reach new heights.

Paul's Himalayan Musk	Kifstgate

OTHER TYPES OF ROSES
Miniature roses can be traced back to the small China rose, R. Chinensis ‘Minima’, particularly the form ‘Rouletti’. It is only recently that miniatures have become very popular as new colours and styles have been produced by crossing the old forms with some of the smaller floribundas.
Not all the miniatures are small bushes. They may have small flowers but many of them can now reach 60cm or more. Some forms are budded into vigorous rootstock to produce “patio roses”. Others are budded onto tall stems to produce miniature standards and weeping standards.

GROUND COVER ROSES
Ground Cover roses are becoming increasing popular and were produced from a wide range of breeding stock. They are great value roses in the garden as they are capable of covering a wide area and many have similar flowers and foliage to the miniature roses. The recent ‘Flower Carpet’ range are particularly useful with a wide spectrum of colours and reported to be completely disease resistant.

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