21 Recommended Hybrid Tea Rose Varieties for Home Gardeners
Are you looking for the perfect tea rose bush for your flower garden? In this article, gardening expert Melissa Strauss describes 21 of her favorite varieties.
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All rose bushes are beautiful, but as someone who grows flowers for cutting, there is no beating a hybrid tea rose. These lovely rose cultivars are bred to have all the best qualities of an old garden rose. But they don’t stop there. Many hybrid teas are highly vigorous growers. Rather than blooming only once per year, they bloom in several flushes from spring through fall.
Some of these stunning roses are known to bloom continuously through the growing season. This makes them wonderful for the cut flower garden and, really, any spot in the landscape. They tend to have good disease resistance, as well.
Ranging in size from about three feet to over six feet tall, there is a hybrid tea for everyone. Some make excellent container plants. Others can create a spectacular flowering hedge. Here are 21 of the most beautiful hybrid tea roses for your garden.
Peace
botanical name Rosa ‘Madame A. Meilland’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 4’-7’ | |
hardiness zones 5-9 |
With so many beautiful cultivars to choose from, I wanted to start off with a special one. ‘Peace’ rose, which initially had the name ‘Madame A. Meilland’, is a special hybrid introduced in 1935. In the United States, Conyard Pyle introduced the plant as ‘Peace,’ and that name stuck.
‘Peace’ is a multi-award winning variety. It boasts the Award of Garden Merit from the RHS and is a Rose Hall of Fame member. It won Rose of the 20th Century from the World Federation of Rose Societies. With all these accolades, you can expect a stunning rose.
This variety has large blooms of up to 6″ across. The center of the flower glows with a golden warmth. The petals fade from yellow to white, and their ruffled edges have the perfect pink blush. This cultivar’s flowers are lightly fragrant.
Spiced Coffee
botanical name Rosa ‘MACjuliat’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 3’-6’ | |
hardiness zones 7-10 |
‘Spiced Coffee’ is a captivating hybrid tea rose variety and a fairly new one, introduced in 1990. The flowers can vary in color. My favorite from this variety is an almost beige color with a warm pink center. The flowers can also take on more of a pink cast, some with darker markings at the edges.
This variety is a continuous bloomer, beginning in spring and blooming through the fall. In terms of climate, ‘Spiced Coffee’ prefers warm weather. It is mainly cold tolerant to Zone 7 but can survive winters in Zone 6 with some extra attention. The blooms are more fragrant than most hybrid tea roses, as well.
Good as Gold
botanical name Rosa ‘WEKgobafa’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 3′-6′ | |
hardiness zones 6-9 |
Carruth introduced this shockingly bright orange hybrid tea rose variety in 2014. It is an upright variety with an abundance of long stems supporting its flamboyant blooms. The fully double flowers are a combination of yellow, orange, and gold, with just a hint of red at the edges.
The long stems make this an excellent addition to the cut flower garden. Famed for the profusion of flowers it produces, ‘Good as Gold’ is a bold favorite. It blooms for three seasons and is resistant to many diseases. The flowers have a citrus fragrance.
Tiffany
botanical name Rosa ‘Tiffany’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 4’ | |
hardiness zones 7-10 |
Another warm weather-loving hybrid tea rose variety, ‘Tiffany’ is beautiful and fragrant. This rose produces some of the most pristine pink blooms around. Flowers open from pointed buds and have lightly ruffled edges. The petals are orchid pink with pale yellow highlights toward the center.
‘Tiffany’ gained its name from the American artisan family and is a real jewel in the garden. The blooms are graceful and dignified with a strong lemon fragrance and bloom best in the heat of summer.
Neil Diamond
botanical name Rosa ‘WEKderoro’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 4′-6′ | |
hardiness zones 5-9 |
Named for the famous singer, ‘Neil Diamond’ is a true showman. Large and heavily petaled, this variety has a unique, speckled coloration. The flowers appear white but heavily splashed with a deep shade of raspberry. They have a beautiful, classic rose fragrance.
‘Neil Diamond’ has excellent disease resistance and tolerates a lot of heat. You can grow this cultivar as far south as Zone 10. With its long stems and flashy, fragrant flowers, this is a great addition to the cutting garden. Wherever you plant it, ‘Neil Diamond’ will be a star in the garden.
Love at First Sight
botanical name Rosa ‘WEKmedatasy’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 3’-4’ | |
hardiness zones 5-9 |
It would be difficult not to fall in love with this stunning yet understated hybrid tea rose. ‘Love at First Sight’ is a beautiful red cultivar with rounded flowers and dense, neatly organized petals. The petals are coral-red on the inside, but the outside is nearly white. This contrast makes the flowers all the more stunning.
‘Love at First Sight’ is a fast grower and a big bloomer. The long-lasting flowers are abundant and bloom for an extended period. The plant has an attractive, rounded growth habit, making a nice landscape rose. A grouping makes an eye-catching low hedge. The compact size of this rose makes it a nice container plant, too!
Blue Moon
botanical name Rosa ‘TANnacht’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 2’-3’ | |
hardiness zones 5-10 |
‘Blue Moon’ is another compact hybrid tea rose variety, so it works well in containers. The large (4″), double-petaled flowers are a cool lavender shade that opens from pretty pointed buds. I would consider their fragrance to be strong for a tea rose. Bred in Germany, this small shrub makes a wonderful border.
The long stems and glossy, deep green foliage make this a great rose for cutting. ‘Blue Moon’ blooms in flushes from spring until fall. This variety prefers warm weather and will grow as far south as Zone 10. The flowers may not be as blue as the name suggests, but they are a uniquely cool shade of purple.
Chicago Peace
botanical name Rosa ‘JOHnago’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 4’-7’ | |
hardiness zones 5-9 |
This sport of the beautiful ‘Peace’ rose variety has some similar qualities. The blooms are a striking blend of colors. The outer petals are dark pink, but the flower opens to reveal pale pink flowers with a golden glow from within. The blooms are fully double-petaled and open to a cup shape.
‘Chicago Peace’ prefers warm weather but is also tolerant of cold winters. The tall, attractive shrub begins blooming in late spring and continues to bloom in flushes through fall. Stanley C. Johnston introduced the cultivar in the US in 1962. It has good disease resistance.
Hypnotized!
botanical name Rosa ‘JACifren’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 5’ | |
hardiness zones 6-10 |
Be careful staring at this rose for too long. You might fall under its spell. This variety is a Jackson and Perkins Rose of the Year for 2013. The flowers are loosely double-petaled. They are less dense than some roses, but that makes it easier to see the striking coloration. The blooms are bright pink, splashed with a creamy golden yellow.
There is nothing subtle about ‘Hypnotized!” This moderate-sized shrub is a wonderful foundation plant. The deep green foliage accentuates the brilliance of the blooms with their hot pink edges. The flowers bloom throughout the season and have a slightly spicy fragrance.
Neptune
botanical name Rosa ‘WEKhilpurnil’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 4’-5’ | |
hardiness zones 5-9 |
‘Neptune’ has memorable flowers in an icy shade of lavender with dark, rosy-purple accents. This hybrid tea rose variety has great disease tolerance and blooms best during the cooler months. The flowers still bloom in the summer, but they will generally be smaller during the hottest months.
With its cool purple flowers and deep green, glossy foliage, ‘Neptune’ is a standout in the garden. The plant is fairly large, and the flowers are as well. The neat, double-petaled blooms are about 4.5″-5.5″ across. They bloom from nicely formed, pointed buds. Their rare lavender color makes this rose special.
Dee-Lish
botanical name Rosa ‘Meiclusif’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 6’ | |
hardiness zones 5-10 |
This vigorous hybrid tea variety will be the envy of all your gardening friends. It will surprise you with how easy it is to take care of such a prolific bloomer. ‘Dee-Lish’ is a vigorous grower that blooms from late spring until fall. It has good heat tolerance and disease resistance to boot.
The flowers on this variety are spectacular. Deep pink buds open to voluminous blooms with an incredible petal count. These blooms grow on medium-sized shrubs with dense, grayish-green foliage. They make very nice hedges and bloom during the spring, summer, and fall.
Fragrant Cloud
botanical name Rosa ‘Duftwolke’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 3′-5’ | |
hardiness zones 7-10 |
You can probably guess what this rose’s most distinctive quality is. ‘Fragrant Cloud’ is one of the best-smelling roses around. Just a few blooms can fill a room with perfume. As if the scent wasn’t incentive enough to grow this variety of tea roses, the flowers are spectacular!
‘Fragrant Cloud’ sports very large (5″-6″) blooms in a stunning shade of bright coral. The shrub has an upright growth habit and blooms continuously from spring through fall. This makes a nice beginner rose, as it is easy to care for and produces a lot of flowers.
Sugar Moon
botanical name Rosa ‘WEKmemolo’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 4’-5’ | |
hardiness zones 6-9 |
With pure white roses against deep green foliage, ‘Sugar Moon’ is a charming and striking addition to the garden. Most white roses don’t have a very strong fragrance. This rose is an exception, with flowers described as highly fragrant.
‘Sugar Moon’s’ stark white blooms are elegant and sturdy, blooming on long stems. This bush is great for the cutting garden. The plant is bushy, attractive, and disease-resistant.
Eiffel Tower
botanical name Rosa ‘Eiffel Tower’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 5′-6′ | |
hardiness zones 5-10 |
This towering beauty is on the tall side for a hybrid tea rose variety, growing up to six feet tall. Its large (5″-6″) flowers are the perfect shade of pink to pay homage to its romantic namesake. ‘Eiffel Tower’ is an award-winning cultivar, and in my opinion, it might be the perfect pink rose.
In addition to being large and beautiful, the flowers are also highly fragrant. These blooms look and smell expensive. Armstrong Roses introduced this variety in 1963, and it remains popular to this day. It has a vigorous growth habit.
Firefighter
botanical name Rosa ‘Firefighter’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 5’-6′ | |
hardiness zones 6-10 |
If ‘Eiffel Tower’ is the perfect pink rose, ‘Firefighter’ claims the prize for red roses. Blooming from May to September, this very sturdy plant is amazingly heat tolerant. It is also virtually thornless, making it an easy rose to tend to.
‘Firefighter’ has bright red, densely petaled blooms. They are a true garden classic with delicate, deep green foliage on tall shrubs. Line a walkway with this variety for an amazing hedge. It also holds its own as a standalone focal point in the garden.
Double Delight
botanical name Rosa ‘Double Delight’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 4’ | |
hardiness zones 7-10 |
‘Double Delight’ is a highly recognizable hybrid tea rose variety. It has large cream-to-yellow flowers that have heavy, red markings around the edges. No two flowers are identical, and they smell amazing. The fragrance is spicy and potent. It is no wonder this is such a popular cultivar.
At about four feet tall and wide, ‘Double Delight’ is a nice-sized plant. It fits in well with most garden designs. The flowers are very large at five to six inches across. The shrub has good branching and is attractive in its own right.
Brandy
botanical name Rosa ‘AROcad’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 4’-6′ | |
hardiness zones 5-10 |
‘Brandy’ only looks sweet and innocent. In reality, this cultivar has very sturdy flowers with strong petals and a light, sweet fragrance. The flowers are light bronze, with a deeper shade toward the interior of the large blooms.
This is a prolific bloomer with long, strong stems. It makes an excellent cut flower. In hot climates, ‘Brandy’ will appreciate some afternoon shade. Keep her happy, and she will bloom from early spring straight through until the fall.
Painted Moon
botanical name Rosa ‘Painted Moon’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 3’ | |
hardiness zones 6-10 |
This gorgeous bi-colored rose is compact and makes an excellent container plant. The five-inch wide blooms have red outer petals, but they open to reveal a glowing yellow flower. The outer petals form a ring of red around the perimeter. These spectacular blooms have a light, sweet fragrance.
At only two to three feet tall, this rose is versatile and fits well into most garden spaces. It has attractive, medium-green foliage with a slightly glossy sheen. This rose is hardy from Zones 6-10 and has very good heat tolerance.
Barbara Streisand
botanical name Rosa ‘WEKquaneze’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 3’-5’ | |
hardiness zones 5-9 |
Chosen by the star herself to bear her name, ‘Barbara Streisand’ is a stunning cultivar. The glossy, deep green foliage sets the stage for the most exquisite blooms. The large (5″ wide) flowers are the perfect shade of lavender with a warm pink blush to the outside of the petals.
These flowers are not just beautiful. They are also exceptionally fragrant. Just one rose can fill a room with its old rose mixed with a citrus scent. This is a must-have for any musical theater buff to have in the rose garden.
Sweet Mademoiselle
botanical name Rosa ‘Sweet Mademoiselle’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 5’-6’ | |
hardiness zones 5-9 |
Another highly fragrant rose, ‘Sweet Mademoiselle’, has beautiful, large, double blooms in a soft shade of coral. This is a vigorous grower and bloomer. It blooms continuously from late spring through fall. The flowers have a sweet, fruity scent and make great cut flowers.
‘Sweet Mademoiselle’ comes from France and is disease-resistant. It has lush, glossy foliage and can reach heights up to six feet, making this one of the taller roses on our list. As the weather gets hotter in summer, the pretty flowers on this cultivar will deepen in color.
Dark Knight
botanical name Rosa ‘Meirysett’ | |
sun requirements Full sun | |
height 5’-6’ | |
hardiness zones 5-9 |
‘Dark Knight’ is another tall rose bush and continuous bloomer that will produce flowers from spring through fall. They are spectacular blooms with a light fragrance. The petals are two-toned. The inside of each petal is a deep maroon velvet, almost black. The outside of the petals is a luminous creamy yellow. The contrast is striking and certain to garner plenty of attention.
This heavy bloomer is a bit large for containers but makes an excellent focal point in the garden. The shrub has an upright growth habit and is quite an attractive cultivar. It is perfect for the cutting garden with its eye-catching blooms.
Final Thoughts
You simply can’t go wrong with adding one of these beautiful rose bushes to the garden. With their wonderfully fragrant flowers that bloom multiple times each year, hybrid teas are a great choice. If you’re considering adding a hybrid tea to your garden, we say go for it!