Welcome, Elizabeth! When I first started, I went to my local rose society and asked questions. Here is an article from their website that might help: Types of Roses.

Where are you from? Location is really important to rose selection and rose care. If you don't know your hardiness zone, you can find it here: USDA plant hardiness. If you like, you can add your location and zone to your name, by hovering over "Your Houzz" in the upper right hand corner and selecting "edit profile".

You came to the right place. There are many very experienced rosarians here as well as those just starting out. It's sounds like I started my garden about the same time as you. I've been on this site every day since and still learning :-)

Hey, I am zone 6b :)

Do you know about the database website, Help Me Find Roses? Whenever anyone mentions or posts photographs of roses that I'm interested in, I look it up on that website to find out more information. That site is used a lot by the forum members here.

I actually just signed up, but can't figure out how to find anything! :(

is heirloom roses a good site to learn? it seems to be the best user friendly with their filters and images

Heirloom Roses is good. Other things to look at are Paul Zimmerman's videos: Paul Zimmerman's YouTube videos. Highly recommended!!!

Here's a print screen of how to get to Your Houzz and Edit Profile.

A quick guide, Hybrid Teas are roses that grow upright and put out mostly single blooms on long stems. These are the roses that are most like florist roses. They have a reputation of being fussy and usually susceptible to disease, but the flowers are usually the best. Floribundas are like HTs, but the blooms are usually in sprays, not single flowers. Grandifloras are like HTs, but usually get taller. Shrubs are a more bushy form, Knock Outs are shurb roses. The flowers are usually smaller, but there are more blooms. Climbing roses put out large canes, some over 10 feet long that when arched horizontally, will put out many blooms along the canes. English Roses are shrub roses, but have fuller blooms and are usually fragrant. English is not a class, it's more of a marketing term. KOs are one breed of shrubs that are resistant to black spot. Miniatures are roses that have small flowers but the bushes can be as large as regular roses. Tree roses are usually hybrid teas that are grafted on a long cane. Only the top of the tree blooms. I hope that helps!

No worries. Many of us started by buying fro the big box stores, and still do, but then move to buying from local garden centers (who do a better job of labeling), and from mail/online vendors (who do the best job, but you might still get a misnamed rose). Also, many times there is another tag buried in the dirt that might have a better identification. Scan some of the rose vendor sites: Palatine Roses, Regan Nursery, Chamblees, Antique Rose Emporium, For Love of Roses.

Knock Out is Knock Out, given that you have the cherry red one. Welcome, we are here to enable, um, help you! ;-)

Have you seen any images of the garden you would like to create, and if so, can you describe it or post images/ links?

Are certain colors or fragrance important to you? Too add to Buford's info. There are roses classified as single petal ( one row of 7 petals for example) and some that pack 100+.

Describe your climate as 6b in a mountain region could be very different from 6b in Kansas or Wasington State.

Because of shipping costs and time, Being out West, I tend to purchase roses that come from nurseries in Texas to California, others purchase primarily from nurseries going in the opposite direction. Many of us likely get something from any and everywhere that has what we want in stock and will ship roses to us, including Canada and as far south as Florida.

Welcome aboard!!

Lynn

Welcome Elizabethhd! Using Help Me Find (HMF) is easy. First, sign in to your membership account as that will allow you to make use of more of the features. If you want to look up a rose name, go to the list of tabs along the left column and click on "Search". That opens a window where you can enter the name of the rose, then click the "Search" tab to the right of the window in which you entered the name to find. That window permits you several options about the search. If you have entered the name as it is correctly spelled, and the rose is already in the database, search should bring up that rose's page where you can find all the information that has been made known about it. If you aren't sure of the spelling, the drop down menu to the right of the "Name" where you entered the name, allows you to select how it will be searched for. You can select the best match, beings or ends with or contains and that tells the system how to search for that combination of letters. That makes finding some of the foreign or oddly spelled names much easier to find. I've been researching very old, foreign varieties whose spellings have been slaughtered numerous times over the decades. I can enter the name then begin removing letters and use "contains" option and it often helps find things that are so awfully spelled they would otherwise be impossible to find.

There are other tricks to the system, but this one should help you start searching and finding information you are looking for. Once you're used to navigating it, HMF can become your most enjoyable, most useful tool. I hope it helps and good luck! Kim

Wow you guys are truly incredible! Thank you all for taking the time to write!!

HMF seems like a great site! roseseek, that is very helpful to get in and use the site. Is it possible to browse, or only search specifically. I'd love to just browse the types I am interested in. I was telling jasminerose4u how I am loving heirloom rose's site because the filters are great to search for what I like. I guess what I am scared of is missing out on something better if their inventory is not very full. I have this little personality flaw where I need to see ALLLLLLL of my options before I can choose. Although, I am seeing with roses that there are just too many varieties and I may just have to pick from whatever selection I find. Desertgarden-Las Vegas: My climate in the summer is very very hot and dry (we have an irrigation system in place in hopes to have a real lawn of grass rather than ALL weeds...but that's a whole other strory). The winters usually go to the 20s, although this past one was unusually warm and lots of spring risers came up early and then died off (I'm curious to see how those plants do now that it's really spring!)

I can definitely rule out HTs!!!!!!! I do not want any of those and none that are single blooms. Double is ok, but I am incredibly drawn to the 50+ petal roses. I have the term English rose stuck in my head, because from all I know those seem to fit the bill. I do love fragrance, but I am mostly interested in their appearance. I would love shrubs and climbing for now --- that's where I'd love to strive.

For colors, I am obsessed with pale pinks, apricots, cream/white. My knockout is a barbie/fuschia kinda pink (I think the most popular color actually) so I do like that color also. I don't like the reds, burgundies, purple, bright bright yellows, etc. I am absolutely head over heals for the blooms that have a variation (pink on the inside then work their way into apricot/orangey/pale yellow.....or white with a little apricot or yellow color, etc.

Here is a pinterest board I made to keep track of some of the climbers I found and love: https://www.pinterest.com/lizzasarah/roses/
I need to check again on their height, since I would love to plant one on the left and right side of house in front near the garage (photo attached. It gets full sun).

So right now, I need 3 climbers, 2 for the front of my house (one on each front corner) and one for this awful pole we had to install in order to hang our string lights. The pole is in full sun. It's 4x4 and is between 9 or 10 feet tall. I think I'll also hang a hanging pot at the top of the pole. I just want it to blend in with the garden as much as possible. It's such an eye sore now. (ps - the bbq is moving and we are putting a fire pit to the right of where it is now)

I am so excited to have you guys here to help. I don't know anyone around me who is as passionate about any of this as I am, so it's nice to have this place to come to. I have some local nurseries I love, but they're really pricey, as I am in Westchester, NY and none of them really seem to have the time to sit and chat.

Forgive my awful photos, the snow just melted and I was freezing with no shoes on while I ran out to take them. And UGH! Now that I am looking at the front of my house, I don't think it's all full sun like I thought. I like it changes a lot throughout the day. On the right side of the garage I'd love to to go around both sides of the coner. For the left of the garage where the little window is, I'd like to train it to stay only on the front. Scared to hear what you all say now.

Elizabeth, I see from your profile that you are from White Plains, NY. The Peggy Rockfeller Rose garden features many disease resistant varieties and has scored their top performing roses: Peggy Rockfeller Top 115 roses for 2010. I thought this might be helpful to find healthy roses for your area.

Rogue Valley Roses has an advanced search that you might enjoy. You can select for very disease resistant, climbing, shade tolerance, color, etc.

Is that a dryer vent in the last photo? Probably not the best place to put a rose in front. you could remove the shrubbery in front of the small window, and a nice smallish rose could go in that space.

The corner with the garage and the tree shading not ideal. To get the maximum amount of bloom, you want a minimum of 6 hours of sun. You would need to measure the amount of sun that you get in that space.

Yes ma'am, you would use the Advanced Search, entering the class, color, etc. you are looking for. Unfortunately, it brings up everything those parameters would include, whether you can actually buy it in the US or not, so be prepared to spend a LOT of time searching through pages of roses which fit your criteria.

Hello, Elizabeth, and welcome to the garden here! We all started out as newbies and we don't feel any question is dumb so feel free to ask away. That's how we all learned.

Don't rule out any rose because of it's class. There are lots of beautiful, healthy roses in every class. The trick is to find the ones that work in your yard. That may take time and some trial and error. So be patient and don't give up if you hit a few bumps along the way.. Not all roses do well in all climates. What might be fabulous in California may be a total dud in New York and vice versa. I've seen cases where a rose did great in my yard and horrible down the block in someone else's yard. Location is everything! Sometimes it just takes some time and experimentation to find the right ones for you.

Looking at local gardens and contacting local rose societies is a very good place to start. Another good place to start is with a nursery that you know will carry roses that are hardy in your zone. Palatine Nursery is in Canada near Niagra Falls and they carry a great line of hardy roses. They also have very good quality plants, which I can't say Home Depot does. There are lots of other good online nurseries as well but Palatine should be closer to your climate conditions.

thanks guys!!! diane_nj it is a dryer vent but i was thinking i could train/prune it away from those, no?

Here's a link to a posting from Christopher - Aquaeyes. He gardens in zone 7a ( New Jersey) so not that far off. He has a wonderful selection of roses, and has brought beauty to his space. If you scroll through, there are many images posted of his roses, along with names, and in some cases, you can see how his roses are growing. Within this thread, you could find something that you like too.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1636347/2014-rose-season-begins?n=34

Elizabeth----Welcome to the form and the wild and wonderful world of roses. Take your time and get your feet wet first. Get yourself a small handful of Shrub and Florabundas and learn how to grow them well. Everything else will fall into place as time goes on. Most of all, ENJOY!!!!!

thank you all! and i just wanted to add that the shrub with the teeny tiny roses in red is a drift rose! is that considered a miniature? i think one of the most frustrating thing is the names and how interchangeably they're used!

Welcome! I see some trees there, check out the ramblers climbing on trees! :-)

Welcome to the forum. I had been lurking for years before I participated in this forum. I know most of the regular folks on this forum before they know me...lol.

I value all of the posters (past and present) opinions on roses. It is very interesting for me to read other people experiences. I would always take notes when people talk about the great roses they grow and I especially value people that are in similar zones as mine. Of course what is truly invaluable are the kindness and goodwill folks have towards everyone else. Rose people are truly one of the best peoples in the world.

Hi, no I would really plant it away from the vent. The warmth will desiccate the plant, and that isn't good.

Oh, and Red Drift is classified as a "Shrub". The hybridizer decides on the classification, even though the bloom size is small.