Truthfully, ALL roses (other than Climbers) are SHRUBS.

"Shrub Roses" is simply a catchall classification in which to place roses that are not Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, or Miniatures, or anything else ARS classes things as.
The class includes roses of incredibly diverse habit.

I've always thought that the "Shrub Rose" class for roses was a lot like the "Non-Sporting Class" for purebred dogs.
Non-Sporting includes Bichons Frises, Poodles, Chow-Chows, Dalmatians, and others. They don't fit somewhere else, so they're "Non-Sporting."

Jeri
Coastal Ventura Co., SoCal
Heritage Roses Group

To add even more confusion, over here in the catalogs they also use term "park roses" sometimes, as a synonym to shrub/landscape roses. It is a bit like "English rose" term, while some list only Austins under it, others add Austins and everything that looks more or less the same direction. Same way, "large bloom roses" often are used for big bloom HTs and floribundas alike.

In the Botanica Rose Encyclopedia one of the entries (sorry I forgot which rose) reads "this rose is better as a shrub than a bush". I couldn't figure it out.

I have assumed, like Jeri, that a shurb rose is anything not a HT, Florrie, Grandiflora, etc., while a bush rose might refer to anything that's not a climber. I don't know if it helps:-)

Masha

Oh Jeri, shrub roses as non-sporting!!!

I'm laughing pretty hard now. It is an apt comparison.

Debbie

Ooh, ooh, (hand in the air, waving wildly), I know this answer! I'm reading Tony Lord's book, 'Designing with Roses'. He says, "bush roses are generally shorter than about 4ft/1.2m and include Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, Patio roses and Miniatures, plus all but the tallest Polyanthas; shrub roses are non-climbing roses that are taller than this...Shrub roses include all shrub roses that do not belong to another class such as Gallica, Hybrid Musk or Rugosa."

I would add that in Florida and other warm places a lot of HTs & Floribundas must by this definition qualify as shrubs since they very quickly get taller than 4ft.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

I would add that in Florida and other warm places a lot of HTs & Floribundas must by this definition qualify as shrubs since they very quickly get taller than 4ft.

:)

And even in cold weather regions like mine (that just received about 12"-15" of snow in one day) the grandiflora (& thus "bush") Queen Elizabeth is pretty much always at least 4' tall, and very often taller.

So there ya go!

(Nothing like hard and fast rules that are neither hard nor fast........... ;)

Sounds a lot like the English language in general, no? ;) )

In my mind one of the things that distinguishes "shrub roses" from "bush roses" is that bush roses are more likely to have inflorescences that work well in a bud vase. Not that shrub roses never can work in that manner, but "shrub roses" often have their inflorescences in clusters on short stems close to the main stem of the plant, not unlike other flowering shrubs.

Consequently I suspect most people who grow "shrub roses" do so more for the way they enhance the landscape than the way they might offer cut flowers for indoors.

At present I have a distinct interest in shrub roses, but that's because of where I live and how I think such flowering shrubs could enhance our collective property (I live in a townhouse that's a part of a peculiar, very small condominium complex).

I suspect you'll learn a lot by checking out Paul Zimmerman's two YouTube videos on basic rose pruning.

Some roses send up new canes every year, and so require one pruning technique.

Other roses instead create a twiggy structure built upon old canes that don't go away, and so require a different pruning technique.

(You'll probably find that watching these involves a smidgen of familiarity with the "antique roses", but since the modern roses are hybrids created from these antiques, knowing about the pruning techniques for the antique roses may help you figure out what to do in your own garden.)

Paul has 26 other videos also posted and I recommend you explore them. The ones I've watched have been uniformly excellent!

Shoot! There you go!
I've had HTs that grew only to about 3.5 ft. -- and HTs that grew with gay abandon to heights of 5 ft and higher.
And I've had "Shrubs," like Austin's Tamora that never got over 2 ft.
By growth habit, I can't distinguish Tamora from Baby Faurax, but one is a Shrub, and t'other's a Polyantha???

I have been told that when J&P introduced Bill Warriner's 'Love,' 'Honor,' and 'Cherish,' they classed 'Love' (3ft, if that) as a Grandiflora because 'Honor' (5-ft) was a Hybrid Tea, and 'Cherish' was clearly a Florrie.
The classifications were made for advertising/sale considerations, and had nothing to do with assisting the gardener.

Jeri Coastal Ventura Co., SoCal
Heritage Roses Group

"Modern bush roses" (rosarian usage) = hybrid teas, floribundas, grandifloras, and possibly miniatures.

"Shrub" (ARS class) = modern rose that is not in any other ARS class. That's it.

"Shrub" (general usage) = any bushy, woody plant.

SEE?
Michael's got it right.
They're all, really, shrubs. :-)

Jeri

They're all, really, shrubs. :-)

Not the one cane wonders though, not much of a bushy there, not even woody either at times. Those prolly would be best classed as perennials and if it comes from some hardware store on the last discounts, probably even as annuals. :D

The thread reminded me of the Monty Python though, hehe. Ni!

Here is a link that might be useful: Bring me a shrubbery!