Hybrid tea roses. These are tall, long-stemmed roses ideal for cutting--they're the Valentine's Day roses you see at the florist. The flowers are usually borne singly, one to a stem, rather than in clusters. In the garden they are often featured as single specimens or in a traditional rose cutting garden.

Floribundas. Developed during the last century, these roses have the large, showy blossoms of the hybrid teas, but bloom more freely, setting clusters of blossoms rather than a single bloom on a stem. Floribundas are versatile; an individual shrub will fit easily into almost any sunny border planting. However, they are perhaps most striking in mass plantings.

Shrub roses. These roses have changed the way many people view roses. Shrub roses, especially when compared with traditional varieties, are impressive for many reasons: their natural disease-resistance, their willingness to grow in a variety of climates with a minimum of attention from the gardener, their compact growth habit (very little pruning required), not to mention the great beauty of their flowers, which are borne consistently over a very long season.

Climbers. Climbing roses produce long canes that can be trained to a trellis, fence, or other support. Grow them up and over an arching trellis to make a striking entryway; train them up a lattice to adorn a plain wall.