A number of hybrid tea roses like the one above have been named after famous people, including Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Henry Fonda, Barbara Bush, Ingrid Bergman and Lucille Ball. Polyantha roses are hardy and easy to grow, a good variety for beginners. Newer varieties of climbing roses produce nonstop blooms. Like miniature roses, tree roses do well planted in containers. In areas where hard freezes are common, bury the bud union one to two inches below the surface.
Many roses are susceptible to an ugly fungal disease known as black spot.
It's hard to imagine a garden without at least one rose, says Gardening by the Yard host Paul James. The choices available today are staggering. Nurseries and catalogs offer hybrid teas, polyanthas, floribundas, grandifloras, climbers, miniatures, tree roses and shrub roses. It's easy to be confused and wonder which ones are best for your garden. They typically grow between three and five feet tall and flower intermittently, producing either single or multiple flowers on a long stem.