If you're new to growing roses, it can sometimes feel like gardeners are speaking their own unique language. "Own-root? Hardiness zone? Hips? Balling? Disease resistance?" What does it all mean?

Understanding basic rose terminology can make it much easier to choose the right roses for your garden, understand care recommendations, diagnose problems, and communicate with other gardeners. At Antique Rose Emporium, we believe that understanding your roses is one of the best ways to become a more confident gardener. So we've put together this beginner-friendly glossary of common rose gardening terms, with explanations that go a little deeper than a simple dictionary definition.

Rose Anatomy 

Are you wondering what the difference is between a flower bud and an axillary bud? What do gardeners mean when they describe a rose cane? If you have questions about rose anatomy, be sure to check out our blog that gives a simple breakdown of what you need to know here: Rose Anatomy: Understanding the Parts of a Rose.

What Is a Hardiness Zone?

A hardiness zone is a geographic classification based primarily on average annual extreme minimum winter temperatures. In the United States, the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map divides the country into zones based on these temperature patterns.

Search your zone on this map here.

Hardiness zones help gardeners determine which plants are most likely to survive their area's typical winter temperatures.

For example, a rose labeled hardy to Zone 5 should generally be capable of surviving colder winter conditions better than a rose hardy only to Zone 8.

What Does a Rose's Zone Range Mean?

If a rose is listed as hardy in Zones 5–9, that means the variety is successful across that range of winter conditions. However, a hardiness zone is not a guarantee of survival, as there's much more that determines a rose's success. 

Your hardiness zone primarily communicates the plant's ability to withstand winter temperatures. It does not necessarily tell you how well a rose will tolerate summer heat, humidity, drought, disease pressure, or other growing conditions.

Microclimates, wind exposure, snow cover, soil conditions, moisture, summer heat, and the age and health of the plant can all influence your roses' survival. This is why gardeners should use hardiness zones as a key starting point, but not limit themselves to this as the only factor when selecting roses. 

Not sure what your hardiness zone is? Toward the top right-hand corner of our website, enter your zip code and your zone will automatically appear! Example below.

Tolerance vs. Resistance: What's the Difference?

You'll frequently see gardeners describe roses as "disease resistant", "heat tolerant", or "cold tolerant" (or cold hardy), and while these terms are related, they don't mean the same thing. Let's compare the differences.

Resistance

Resistance generally means that a plant has a greater ability to withstand or limit the effects of a particular pest or disease.

For example, a rose described as having good "black spot resistance" may be less likely to get black spot, or get it to a much lesser degree, than a rose that is not resistant.

An important note to remember: resistant does not mean immune.

Even a highly disease-resistant rose can experience disease when environmental conditions are especially favorable for the pathogen or when the plant is stressed.

Tolerance

Tolerance generally refers to a plant's ability to endure a particular environmental condition without experiencing severe or longterm damage.

A "heat-tolerant" rose, for example, may continue growing and flowering through high temperatures better than a less heat-tolerant variety. Comparatively, a drought-tolerant plant may be capable of enduring periods of limited water better than another variety.

The Easy Way to Remember It: 

Resistance = better at limiting a problem.

Tolerance = better at enduring a difficult condition.

When choosing roses for your garden, understanding these terms can help you interpret a rose's characteristics more realistically. Neither term means the rose is immune or unaffected by the challenge.

What Is Balling?

Sometimes a rosebud looks absolutely perfect- until it refuses to open.

Balling occurs when a rosebud begins to open, but the petals become stuck together and fail to unfurl normally. The petals may become stunted, brown, bruised-looking, mushy, or stuck together, leaving you with a flower that looks as though it is trying to bloom but simply cannot quite get there.

The good news? Balling is not necessarily a sign that your rose is unhealthy. In many cases, it is simply a response to unfavorable conditions. High humidity, persistent rain, heavy dew, seasonal insect numbers, and poor air circulation can all contribute.

If you suspect that this is what's happening to your roses, you can learn more information on our comprehensive blog all about balling here: Why Are My Rose Buds Balling & Browning?

Deadheading

Deadheading means removing spent flowers from a rose. Depending on the variety and your goals, removing spent flowers can prevent the plant from putting energy into developing hips and seeds and can encourage another flowering cycle in roses capable of repeat bloom.

We recommend deadheading if you are not interested in your rose producing rose hips (check to see if your rose produces hips under its product description), but instead would like more blooms from your repeat-blooming rose varieties. There are even specific handy tools out there for this specific purpose called Deadhead Pruners. 

Reblooming or Repeat-Blooming

A repeat-blooming rose produces multiple flushes of flowers throughout the growing season. Some varieties bloom continuously, while others bloom in distinct cycles, and it is important to note that "repeat-blooming" doesn't necessarily mean flowers constantly without interruption. Some roses produce several distinct flushes, while others seem to flower almost continuously when conditions are favorable. There are a variety of factors, such as deadheading, weather, nutrition, sunlight, and the individual rose variety, which can all influence how frequently a repeat-blooming rose flowers.

Once-Blooming

A once-blooming rose produces one primary flush of flowers each year, often in spring or early summer. Many historic roses fall into this category. Once-blooming does not mean the rose produces only one flower but rather that the plant has one primary flowering period each year.

Fragrance

When rose descriptions discuss fragrance, they're referring to the scent produced by the flower. Rose fragrance can range from fruity and citrusy to spicy, musky, tea-like, myrrh-like, or classically "rosy." 

We like to say here at A.R.E., "Fragrance is in the nose of the beholder". It is arguably one of the most relative aspects of rose growing. What one person may consider an "exceptionally strong-smelling rose," another could sniff and scoff at, calling it "a light fragrance at best". Everyone's olfactory receptors may vary, and a variety of factors can influence the fragrance of a rose, including temperature, time of day, weather, flower age, and even the number of flowers open at any given time. 

And perhaps the most useful beginner lesson: not every rose has a strong fragrance, and fragrance is not an indicator of whether a rose is "better." Some varieties are grown primarily for flower form, color, disease resistance, habit, historical significance, etc.

Basal Break

A basal break is new growth emerging from the base of a rose. Unlike a rootstock sucker, a desirable basal break is growth from the rose itself and can develop into a strong new cane, generally making it a welcome sight because it can help build a fuller, more vigorous framework of younger canes. They are especially valuable on established roses as older canes naturally age and may eventually become less productive.

For beginners, the easiest way to remember the difference is:

Basal break = desirable new growth from the rose.

Rootstock sucker = growth from below the graft union on a grafted rose.

Dormancy

Dormancy is a period when a plant's visible growth slows significantly or stops altogether in response to environmental conditions, particularly changes in temperature and day length. During winter, roses in colder climates may lose their leaves and enter a pronounced period of dormancy. In warmer climates, however, roses may experience a much less dramatic dormant period and can retain some leaves or continue growing slowly through winter.

Because roses respond to their environment, dormancy can look different from one region to another. A dormant rose isn't dead or inactive; it is simply experiencing a period of reduced visible growth and activity while environmental conditions are less favorable for active growth.

Understanding dormancy is especially important when learning about seasonal rose care. Pruning, fertilizing, watering, and other garden tasks may need to be adjusted depending on your climate and whether your roses are actively growing or entering dormancy.

Keep Growing Your Rose Vocabulary

The more you understand the language of roses, the easier it becomes to understand your plants. Whether you're reading a rose description, troubleshooting a problem, planning your garden, or talking with fellow gardeners, knowing these basic terms gives you a much stronger foundation for success.

And don't worry if you don't memorize everything at once. That's what this page is for!

Bookmark this guide and come back whenever you encounter an unfamiliar rose gardening term. As your garden grows, so will your vocabulary, and your confidence as a rose gardener.

Happy gardening! 

If you have any other questions regarding more details on rose information, please see our other blogs or reach out to us at gardenquestions@weareroses.com. We would also love to know if you have any ideas for what terms we can add to this page to help other fellow beginner gardeners!