Top ten disease resistant roses

Roses have been a favourite with gardeners for generations, and new varieties frequently appear that increase the beauty or colour of the flower, but at the expense of disease resistance. With current interest in using fewer chemicals that can hurt the environment, rose enthusiasts are developing more varieties that have natural disease resistance and do not require the constant spraying and attention of previous types. These disease-resistant varieties make rose gardening easier and safer for everyone.

The new Dawn rose is a climbing variety that is a reliable and popular favourite because of its glossy foliage and ability to be grown without heavy spraying. New Dawn roses grow in only four or five hours of sunlight, according to the Rhode Island Rose Society. They are pale pink with a mild, old rose fragrance.

The Altissimo, another climbing variety, sports a rich, blood-red colour with golden stamens and a velvety texture. It is a very hardy and disease resistant variety that will need training when young or it will become to rigid to control as it gets older.

The Knock Out is a hardy shrub rose that resists disease and blooms well into autumn. It comes in pink, red and yellow/cream varieties and in single and double blooms. Knock Out rose bushes will grow to 90 to 120 cm (3 to 4 feet) tall.

The Walking On Sunshine is a floribunda rose with glossy, medium-green foliage and bright yellow, 7.5 cm (3 inch) blooms. It grows to 120 cm (4 feet) tall in an upright, well-branched shape. This variety has excellent disease resistance.

A variety of grandiflora rose, the Dick Clark is one of the All-America Rose Selection winners for 2011. With highly glossed deep-green leaves and multicolour cream-and-cherry-pink to burgundy red flowers, this is a striking variety that offers excellent disease resistance.

Oregon State University suggests the Buff Beauty rose for its disease-resistant properties. With apricot-coloured blooms and a strong, musky fragrance, the Buff Beauty prefers full-sun locations.

The Rosamundi is a tea rose variety that grows in a compact shape with heavy matt green foliage. Blooms are striped pink and white. No two flowers are exactly alike, and it has a citrus fragrance.

The Quietness rose is considered a nearly perfect variety that can bloom in full sun or shade, according to the Christian Science Monitor, with light-pink blooms and good tolerance to disease. It has leathery, medium-green foliage.

The Marin Rose Society suggests the Sally Holmes as a disease-resistant variety that should be a part of every rose garden. A climbing rose that bears beautiful white blooms, it can resist most common rose diseases.

This a variety of rose that grows to 180 cm (6 feet) high on olive-green foliage. It is covered with bright pink flowers in late spring and on-and-off throughout the growing season. It is very disease resistant and is mildly fragrant.