14 Types Of Unique Floribunda Roses

Written by Em Casalena
Updated: August 23, 2023
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The floribunda rose is ideal if you are new to growing roses and are concerned that they could be too difficult to cultivate in your garden or landscaping project. This rose is renowned for its incredible abundance of flowers in a variety of colors and hues, which makes it the best category of roses for gardeners who want some variety. 

From late April until the first frost, keep in mind that these rose plants will need to be protected with covering, as they cannot tolerate very cold conditions. While that may be a chore, these plants are strong and have excellent disease resistance, making them simple for novice and experienced gardeners to grow. Additionally, the floribunda rose can offer you the assurance you want to experiment with different varieties of roses and create your whole rose garden with just floribunda roses.

In this guide, we’ll explore some of the most beautiful and easy-to-grow floribunda roses out there, so you can choose your garden or floral arrangement project. Luckily, there are many floribunda roses to choose from.

The yellow Julia Child rose growing in a garden

The floribunda rose (pictured) is beloved for its wide range of colors and hybrids available to gardeners.

©Galina Bolshakova 69/Shutterstock.com

Knock Out Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Knock Out’

Knock Out roses are also commonly referred to as shrub roses. Shrub roses combine the greatest qualities of the most resilient rose species with contemporary repeat-flowering rose species. They offer a broad array of flower types, hues, and scents. While some shrub roses stay compact, others can grow tall with strong, long canes. Recent rose breeding has concentrated on creating tougher, low-maintenance shrub roses for landscaping.

Champagne Moment Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Champagne Moment’

The floribunda rose Champagne Moment is ideal for creating a delicate and elegant landscape. The elegant, full blossoms have a wonderfully uncommon, unique light cream-apricot color. You’ll want a rose shrub like the Champagne Moment rose in a classy garden. It blooms from June to October and has a mild aroma. Plant this gorgeous rose in USDA hardiness zones six through nine and give it full sun or partial shade. This double-rose variety only reaches about four feet tall.

Amber Queen Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Amber Queen’

The Amber Queen rose has clusters of medium yellow cupped double blooms with a strong spicy-sweet smell. The plant is hardy in USDA hardiness zones six through nine, remaining compact and reaching a height and width of two to three feet.

Rhapsody in Blue Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Rhapsody in Blue’

Rhapsody in Blue, The traditional floribunda rose known as the “blue rose” is, of course, not blue. True blue roses don’t exist in nature. Instead, its purple violet blossoms put on a very impressive display the entire season. It is a flower with a highly distinctive look but also a strong color for a garden, making it fairly eye-catching. It looks fantastic on its own, perhaps put against a background that is neutral, like a meadow or a pastel wall. In a house garden, it may become a bit overwhelming as a hue if you overdo it, so you might mix it in with other, gentler-hued flowers. Plant this variety in USDA hardiness zones five through 10 in direct sunshine. This variety can grow up to seven feet tall.

Rhapsody in Blue roses growing in a shrub in a garden

Rhapsody in Blue roses (pictured) are actually a purple hue, not blue.

©Edita Medeina/Shutterstock.com

Impatient Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Impatient’

The Impatient floribunda rose, introduced in 1984, should fit into the nostalgia vogue for anything from the 1980s. It does appear anxious to expose the gardener to its floriferous character, blossoming almost from spring till frost with regular irrigation and fertilization. In any garden, the reddish-orange blossoms work nicely with other vibrant hues, so consider planting some other vividly-colored flowers as underplants with this rose. It is hardy in USDA hardiness zones six through 11, can grow up to four feet, and needs full sun to thrive.

Hot Cocoa Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Hot Cocoa’

The floribunda Hot Cocoa rose has a stunning reddish color and a very distinct personality. It has a deep rusty feel to it and is a warm, highly attractive, and polished russet hue that is difficult to define. This gives it a highly unique appearance, perfect for a garden full of intense flowers. This is an excellent rose with two blooming periods. It will return in autumn when the hues of other late-blooming flowers go well with its color. It is hardy in USDA hardiness zones five through 11 and boasts a high-centered flower. Expect this rose to grow up to four feet tall in full sunlight.

Sunsprite Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Sunsprite’

The floribunda rose called “Sunsprite” will dazzle you and your visitors with its vivid lemon-yellow blossoms. This variety is among the brightest of the floribunda roses. From spring through around October, they put up a spectacular show. Additionally, unlike other floribunda rose varieties, the blossoms of this type have a powerful perfumey scent that can easily fill a whole garden. This cultivar does best in USDA hardiness zones five through nine in full sun. It can grow up to four feet tall and wide with the right care. The Sunsprite floribunda rose is unquestionably a fantastic choice for you if your garden requires energy, vigor, and life.

Mardi Gras Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Mardi Gras’

The uninterrupted blooms that resemble a beach sunset more than make up for the ‘Mardi Gras’ rose’s lack of fragrance. Its blooms have a vivid orange-yellow center that transitions into fu fuchsia-pink tips. Its blossoms, which are carried aloft on four-foot bushes that produce a lovely hedge, are bigger than many floribunda roses. This hybrid grows well in USDA hardiness zones five through nine. As always, floribunda roses like this one need full sunlight exposure to thrive.

Flower Carpet Scarlet Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Flower Carpet Scarlet’

With the introduction of shrub roses, a new variety of landscape roses was created. These roses provide lovely methods to fill in borders and cover barren ground. These low-growing groundcover roses blend colorfully with perennials or shrubs and are great for mass planting on a border or beneath a tree. For a bloom-spilling spectacle, they can be planted in hanging baskets or window boxes or to cover a slope or line a walkway. Cut down groundcover roses by two-thirds in early spring while they are still dormant to revitalize them yearly.

Iceberg Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Iceberg’

Looking for a classic white rose? The Iceberg rose is the perfect floribunda variety to choose. This popular variety bears ice-white blossoms, as its name indicates. It was created in Germany in 1958, and ever since then, it has garnered several awards. It’s even listed in the Rose Hall of Fame. This is one of the few floribunda kinds you can train as a climber, and if you do, it may grow into a pretty large plant, unlike most roses in this category. Expect this rose to grow up to four feet tall as a shrub and up to 12 feet tall as a climbing rose. It has an upright habit and a light fragrance. Try planting this unique rose in USDA hardiness zones five through nine in full sun for showy double roses.

Scentimental Rose 

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Scentimental’

The Scentimental rose is a floribunda rose cultivar that is particularly showy. It features enormous, stunningly variegated blooms about four inches wide and burgundy red petals with white slashes resembling stripes or brushstrokes on a picture. The scentimental rose blooms from spring through fall and has a pleasant fragrance. It has a veined marble-like appearance, which makes it a great fit for formal gardens, gravel gardens, urban gardens, and outdoor rooms. It does well in USDA hardiness zones six through 10 in full sunshine. Expect this beautiful cultivar to grow up to four feet tall and wide.

Montana Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Montana’

This is a classic red floribunda rose. One can feel the power, desire, and even energy when one smells the floribunda rose Montana. It is challenging to discover a bloom with a more intense, determined, and crimson color. Up to 20 petals can be found on each Montana flower, and each one is extremely large. It is a newish cultivar that was created in Germany in 1974. Although it is a little plant at only three feet tall, its brightly colored blossoms are impossible to miss in your yard and will last from spring through fall. It works well as a path edger in front gardens or as a focal point in gardens in urban and suburban areas. We recommend planting this stunner in USDA hardiness zones five through nine, though 5b should be the minimum as this variety does not handle cold well. The semi-double flowers of this rose will grow their healthiest in full sunlight.

Julia Child Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Julia Child’

Julia Child was a beloved celebrity cook and personality in the United Kingdom. It certainly makes sense why this flower is named after her. This bright, sunny, and friendly flower is a bright shade of yellow and reminiscent of butter. This rose has great disease resistance and has a fairly long blooming time, making it excellent for those who want bright floribunda roses year-round. We recommend this rose for borders around a garden. This hybrid does well in USDA hardiness zones four through 20 and can grow up to three feet tall in full sunlight.

Julia Child

The Julia Child rose (pictured) is a floribunda favorite for its vibrant yellow color.

©iStock.com/HedgerowRose

Ketchup and Mustard Rose

Botanical Name: Rosa ‘Ketchup And Mustard’

The Ketchup and Mustard floribunda rose is an explosion of color, light, and life. The petals of the blooms have two distinct hues: vivid crimson red at the top and mustard yellow at the bottom. The outcome is truly stunning when these roses bloom! They will bloom continuously from spring through fall, giving your garden the appearance of flaming fire. The blooms of Ketchup and Mustard roses are approximately three inches large and very full, occasionally having 28 petals apiece. Plant it at your garden’s main focal point or most obvious location; it will certainly draw attention. We recommend USDA hardiness zones six through nine for this double-rose type, which can grow up to five feet tall.

Are you ready to start planting your own floribunda roses? These roses might need some TLC in the colder months, but they are fairly easy to care for and can be used to transform an entire garden into a colorful landscape.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © iStock.com/Rolleen Annie and Rowena Ho K.


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About the Author

Em Casalena is a writer at A-Z Animals where their primary focus is on plants, gardening, and sustainability. Em has been writing and researching about plants for nearly a decade and is a proud Southwest Institute of Healing Arts graduate and certified Urban Farming instructor. Em is a resident of Arizona and enjoys learning about eco-conscious living, thrifting at local shops, and caring for their Siamese cat Vladimir.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) 

What are floribunda roses?

Floribunda roses are a crossbreed between Polyantha roses and hybrid tea roses.

What are floribunda roses used for?

Bred to be hardy and attractive bushes, floribunda roses are used in landscaping.

Can floribunda roses bloom all year?

If given the right care and attention, floribunda roses can bloom all season long.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us? Contact the AZ Animals editorial team.

Sources
  1. NCSU Staff, Available here: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/rosa/
  2. Sheryl Geerts, Available here: https://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/roses/ultimate-rose-care-guide/
  3. Jamie McIntosh, Available here: https://www.thespruce.com/floribunda-rose-varieties-4140326