13 Unique Roses to Grow

Opt for ‘Busy Bee’ if you’re planting in a small space or container. This miniature hybrid tea has very good resistance to cold and stands up well to summer heat and humidity. The flowers start out apricot, peach and coral, gradually fading to light and hot pink at the edges. For best results, keep the plants deadheaded.

Named for a cousin to Queen Elizabeth, ‘Princess Alexandra of Kent’ has huge, pink blooms surrounded by an outer ring of soft pink petals. Its tea rose fragrance changes to a lemon scent, with hints of blackberry, before the flowers fade. Grow this David Austin Rose for its unusually large blooms, which have up to 130 petals each. It's among the most fragrant English roses, with high tolerance to heat and humidity. 

'Flawless' is a Flora-Tea rose, a special type of rose developed by Jackson & Perkins that combines desirable characteristics of hybrid teas and floribundas. The plants have pastel pink, fully double blooms with a raspberry fragrance. The flowers grow almost 4 inches across on long stems and open in waves throughout the summer. ‘Flawless’ tolerates the heat and humidity in southern and western gardens.

Compact ‘Lavender Veranda’, like other roses in the Veranda series, is great as a patio plant, but it also flourishes in a sunny garden spot. This floribunda has dense,"old-fashioned" blooms. It's exceptionally cold hardy, recommended for zones 5 to 9, and holds up well in hot, humid weather.