Color Range of Roses

Hybrid Tea Roses

• The hybrid tea roses are the most varied in colors. They are available in almost any color you can imagine, except blue and black. The plants are not appealing as landscape forms but the flowers are worth the thorns and rangy nature of the bushes. Hybrid roses bloom all season long, with one flower per stem. Hybrid tea roses are perfect for cutting and are known for the long pointed buds and slender, tight blooms. You may find hybrid teas in pinks, red, orange, yellow, lavender, coral, white, crimson or purple, plus variations on these main colors.

Species or Wild Rose Hybrids

• Species roses are the parents of most of the hybrid roses. They are wild or wild sports that have been heavily hybridized to create sturdy and hardy cultivated bushes. They may be rambling or shrub-like and come primarily in the blowsy loose petal colors of white, pink and sometimes red. The wild roses are sometimes also yellow, cream or even purple. Many of the species roses are Rugosas with large hips that provide stunning fall color in reds, oranges and yellows.

Orange Roses

• Not many roses bloom in the orange hues. The coloring is the result of careful hydridizing and is not commonly marketed. The American Rose Society has three different orange rose classifications. Orange or orange blend roses are apricot-colored and in soft pastel hues. The orange-pink and orange-pink blends run to coral or salmon tones or orange with blush hues. The final class is the orange-red variety which is a more brilliant, sharper color reminiscent of sunsets and fiery red centers or edges. There are also some orange tones not recognized by the society such as the copper orange of Rose foetida bicolor.

Variations

• There are roses which have been bred with spots or stripes in the Centifolia group. Roses with a true "red" pigment often start out yellow and become orange and then pink. Finally, the mature rose is a rich red. Mutabilis, Rainbow's End and Masquerade have this type of color change as the rose ages. A true blue rose is not possible but there are some varieties that are dark purple and appear almost navy in some lights. Cool-toned roses are white, lavender, lilac, mauve and purple. The pastels are buff, cream, primrose, shell pink, candy pink, pale pink and pale apricot. The oranges are combined with the yellows to produce gold, apricot and chrome yellow. The familiar pink and red tones are too numerous to list but encompass every lighter and darker hue of these two classic colors.