How to Identify Hedge Roses

Overview

Popular in Europe, rose hedges make dramatic and attractive landscape focal points. Hedge roses are probably the friendliest "fences" you can place between your house and your neighbor's. Rose bushes are divided into several different categories, including hybrid tea, floribunda, grandiflora, shrub and landscape, tree, miniature and climber roses. The most common varieties of roses used as hedges are the hybrid tea, floribunda, grandiflora, and shrub and landscape rose bushes. Miniature rose shrubs are also used in hedges, but these are usually seen in lower-growing border hedges.

Step 1

Identify the roses by the height of the hedge. Rose hedges can be created with many different types of shrub roses, ranging from 2 to 5 feet tall. Many hybrid tea roses grow up to 5 feet tall, while most floribundas grow to about 3 or 4 feet. Grandiflora roses can reach 6 feet in height, but miniature rose shrubs create hedges that are only 2 feet tall.

Step 2

Look at the color of the blooms on the hedge roses to identify them. The rose blooms can be shades of white, yellow, orange, pink, red and purple. Floribundas are generally the most colorful type of rose bush.

Step 3

Study the size of the rose blooms. Miniature roses have tiny, 2-inch blooms, while floribundas, grandifloras and hybrid tea roses have 4- to 5-inch blooms.

Step 4

Count the number of blooms per stem. Hybrid tea roses usually produce one flower on each stem, while floribundas produce clusters of three to 15 blooms per stem.

Step 5

Identify the hedge roses by their growth habit. Floribunda roses are bushier shrubs, while hybrid tea roses are more upright bushes. Some shrub and landscape roses are lower-growing with a spreading habit, while many miniature rose bushes are dense and compact.