Glossary of Rose Terms

Everything you want to know about bare root roses

Growing roses can be a challenge, but it doesn't have to be. Here are a list of some of the more commonly used phrases to help you get started.
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N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Hips

The pod of seeds that may develop if a spent bloom is not removed. Not all roses will readily cross- or self-pollinate. Hips can be a valuable source of food for overwintering birds. Allowing them to develop will reduce subsequent bloom.

Hybrid musk

A modern class of roses with an oldfashioned look that trace their origin to Rev. Joseph Pemberton (1850-1926) of Essex, England. Hybrid Musks are widely adaptable roses in that their long, arching canes can be trained as shrubs or climbers.

Hybrid perpetual

An old class of roses that dominated during the Victorian and Edwardian eras with over 1,000 cultivars being introduced. The class originated from crosses between Chinas and Bourbons and later included crosses with Noisettes and Portlands

Hybrid Tea

Designated as the first modern class of roses, Hybrid Teas are the dominant rose class of the 20th-century. La France, the first Hybrid Tea, is the progeny of a Tea and a Hybrid Perpetual. The form was revolutionary in that it presented the high-centered bloom of the Tea on the long, straight stem of the Hybrid Perpetual.

Hybrids

The progeny of genetically different parents. We are hybrids of our parents (though technically all the same species). Likewise the vast majority of roses are hybrids.