5 Best Cottage Garden Roses to Grow in Your Yard

In this post, I’m sharing my top 5 roses for a cottage garden. If you are looking for cottage garden roses to add romance and beauty to your front or back yard, this is for you.

All the roses on this list are from my personal collection, so I have a fairly good understanding of them, given I’ve been growing them for a few years. Consider this post as my reviews of those cottage garden roses.

Most of these country garden roses I’m growing are purchased online, some are through local nurseries. My favorite online source is Heirloom Roses. In fact, I have purchased several rose plants from them.

All of my roses in the list are repeat bloomers. I’m in a warm region, zone 9-10, so they bloom from spring all the way to fall. 

I’m a big fan of repeat blooming varieties as I get to enjoy the beautiful flowers for a longer time in my small cottage garden. 

Ready to learn some beautiful country garden roses and what I think about them? Let’s start the review.

Cottage rose garden video tour

Here’s a video tour for my cottage rose collections from my Youtube channel

1. Eden Rose

I first saw Eden climbing rose in a local spring garden tour, and I was astonished by the beauty immediately. Later I learned it is Eden rose, a celebrity in the garden rose world.

Eden is a climber rose, with large, old fashioned blooms. The petals are densely packed and the flower has a light fragrance.

What’s unique about rose Eden is the color.  The blooms are a blend of pastel pinks in the center, and cream and even greenish petals on the outside which I think is quite unique.

So as the rose blooms, the center gets unfolded, and the flower will become more pink.

It is a repeat blooming variety meaning it will bloom throughout the year, except for winter.

I have two Eden rose climbers growing at the two sides of my arch. I’m hoping one day it will take over and put on a big rose show during the seasons.

Another variety in the Eden family is White Eden. 

It has a very similar look, but maybe more cottage garden style as the color is lighter and more pastel which I really love! 

I’m trying to train it to grow on my exterior wall. But right now it is still small bush.

White Eden rose is a type of climbing rose as well. However, I’m growing them in a shadier spot, so this rose hasn’t developed a strong climbing behavior, comparing to my Eden roses.

2. Earth Angel Rose

Unlike Rose Eden that has a strong appearance, Earth Angel is more quiet but beautiful. Earth Angel rose is not a climber rose either, growing in a bush form.

The flowers have a very soft, romantic look, and the color is more pink than apricot. So consider Earth Angel rose as a cool tone rose. As the flower ages, the pink will become lighter and lighter, eventually become light creamy pink.

One thing that really stands out for this rose is the bloom shape. The Earth Angel’s bloom is shaped like a peony, but smaller. The petals are packed densely just like peonies. I would say this rose petals are packed in a very interesting way compare to other roses I’m reviewing here.

If you love the look of a peony but are disappointed that it is hard to grow and only blooms for a short amount of time, this rose is for you. Or you’d prefer to have peony blooms in the spring, Earth Angel blooms in the summer, it would be fantastic plan!

However, if I’m being honest my Early Angel rose review is a bit mixed.

While I’m astonished by its beauty, this bushy rose doesn’t get too large, or I should say not a fast grower. I also want to be clear I’m not the type of rose gardeners who does a ton of fertilization in their rose garden.

The good news about Early Angel is that over time it will produce more blooms for you. 

In fact, during its first year, it only produced a few flowers. This year is its third year, and my Earth Angel rose plant really put on a big show with tons of blooms.

Another caveat I’d like to mention in my Earth Angel rose review is: this rose specie has thin stems supporting the flowers, which means when the bloom gets bigger, it tends to droop over.

By the way, the scent is spectacular – it has a fresh fruity note, definitely a crowd pleaser. So even tho it has a few small cons, Early Angel remains one of my favorite country garden roses!

3- Princess Charlene De Monaco Rose

So what’s interesting about this rose is the petals are very ruffled creating a very interesting texture.  

The flower itself is more of an apricot color than pink. The flower shapes like a cup when open and I think the bloom itself is quite large, if I compare it to other roses in my garden.

What really made princess charlene stand out is the strong fragrance. It is probably the most fragrant rose I have ever had.

When I clip some flowers and put them next to my bed, that small region will smell like roses, which doesn’t happen with a lot of other roses.

Also this rose has a very long vase life, so it is great to use as a cut flower. Most of my roses will wilt after a few days in a vase, but this one can last almost a week, sometimes more. I have to say that I’m very impressed!

You can see a rose vase life comparison at the end of this post.

4. New Dawn Rose

New Dawn rose is a prolific climber among country garden roses, and that’s why I chose it for my garden pergola. I have had this climbing rose for around 3 years.

In the summer it produces so many blooms on top of my backyard pergola.  It grows pretty fast, probably faster than Rose Eden. 

In the summer it produces tons of light pink flowers. The flower itself is a medium size, not as big as Eden, but with so many flowers blooming at the same time, it is really impressive to look at.

I’m also a big fan of the light blush pink color and delicate petals. I think this rose makes a great climbing rose for cottage gardens.

5. Moonlight In Paris Rose

Moonlight In Paris rose is not as famous as some other cottage garden roses, but it is for sure a gem.

I have to admit I originally bought this rose because of its romantic name, but it remains one of my favorite cottage garden roses.

My review for Moonlight In Paris rose can be summarized in three words: heart shaped flower, densely packed petals and prolific bloomer.

First of all, Moonlight In Paris is a very productive bloomer, as it forms clusters of blooms and grows really fast. Plus, it has a nice fragrance.

Flower of this garden rose is pretty large, dense, and in an apricot color. It has a large yellow tinted center when open, and that’s just like the moonlight right?

Interestingly, yellow centers grows as a heart shape. So heart and moon –  don’t you agree this is why it is called “Moonlight in Paris” ?

If you are looking to build a romantic cottage rose garden, this rose is a must for your collection.

Rose vase life comparison

So for this post, I’m doing an experiment comparing three of my roses to test their vase life. What I have are Eden, Princess Charlene and Earth Angel. 

Here’s a video of the rose vase time lapse. You can see princess Charlene last for a long time, and Eden lasts even slightly longer!

My tips for a long lasting rose bouquet:

1. Choose varieties that last longer, such as Eden and Princess Charlene De Monaco.
2. Clip the the stems when blooms are semi open.
3. Cut the stem at an angle to maximize surface to absorb water, and take off any foliage that goes below water line.
4. Optional: plunge half of the stems in boiling water for 10s – I’m guilty of this as I usually get lazy and skip this step 😛

How I maintain and care for my roses

I would like to simply touch on how I care for my roses.

Because both my husband and I are busy with our day job and various hobbies, we don’t have a lot of time to care for or fertilize them. So I thought I’d share some tips on what are the essential tasks for growing roses in my opinion. 

So here’s are a few things we try to do per season.

Spring.

For us, spring is all about aphid control.

Aphids are very attracted by young rose shoots and buds. To cope with that, we add worm casting to the soil in late winter. Worm casting has some ingredients that will kill or deter the aphid population.

So that helps a lot, but of course it doesn’t remove all the aphids especially when the population is strong. 

So in the spring I also hand remove aphids whenever I see them. You can also hose them off with water.

Summer through Fall

Summer is about fertilization. We use organic liquid fertilizer a few times, basically every month or every two months. Our favorite liquid fertilizer is Alaska Morbloom Fertilizer. 

You can do it more often if you are able to. Liquid works faster and this will ensure rose plants get enough nutrients to keep putting out blooms until fall.

During this period, I also keep deadheading the spent blooms, this is because you want the plant to reserve energy for more blooms instead of producing rose hips.

Winter.

Winter is pretty simple, and I don’t spend much time in my little cottage rose garden. I prune my rose bushes to a manageable size, generally 2-3 feet tall and trim off all the weak stems. I also feed them compost and worm castings.

So this is a snapshot of how I maintain my cottage rose garden, and I hope it is helpful.  I have a lot of plants but very limited time, so I hope these tips are helpful if you are in a similar boat.

I hope you enjoy my recommendations of best cottage garden roses – my personal review as growing them for a few years!

And let me know what are your favorite cottage roses? As I’m always interested in getting more roses for my backyard rose garden 🙂 

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