Pastels and subtle neutrals have been the trend for a while, but maximalism is back! Bright-colored roses create intimate, energetic spaces in the garden. Vibrant flowers around your entryway can also make it look more inviting and welcoming to guests.
Some colors even make us feel more cheerful! Are you ready to spruce things up and have more fun with colorful roses?
In this article, I’ll suggest 14 bright-colored roses in the most radiant shades for your garden. The trick when playing with color (and you should!) is cultivating balance.
For a cohesive look, pair your brightest shade with complementary colors (opposites on the color wheel) or analogous shades (next to the color on the wheel). Sounds too confusing? I’ll give suggested pairings for each rose on the list for a foolproof look. Let’s dig in!
‘Fragrant Cloud’
A highly regarded rose, ‘Fragrant Cloud’ has stunning coral-red blooms and a captivating fragrance.
‘Fragrant Cloud’ has stunning coral-red blooms worthy of a florist bouquet. While the saturated tones make a big impact, this variety offers much more. As you might expect from its name, ‘Fragrant Cloud’ delivers on scent: a captivating mix of citrus, spice, sugared almonds, and damask roses.
‘Cloud’ is a fantastic rose for the cutting garden, with big (5-6 inch) showy blooms that appear in flushes all season. Crowned World’s Favorite Rose in 1981, it’s a genetic parent of many popular varieties and a World Federation of Rose Society’s Hall of Fame inductee.
To balance the look, plant ‘Fragrant Cloud’ with blue flowers or species with gray-green foliage. Try hardy geraniums, tall blue delphiniums, and silvery dusty miller. If you want even more wow, pair it with luminous orange California poppies, colorful coleus, and crocosmia.
‘Easy Does It’
This is a low-maintenance, disease-resistant rose with beautiful peachy pink and orange blooms.
‘Easy Does It’ is a carefree variety from Week’s Easy to Love collection. It brings all the glow of a summer sunset to your garden with vivid peachy pink, deep orange, and hints of yellow.
‘Easy’ stays true to its relaxed name. This rose is low maintenance, disease-resistant, and highly floriferous throughout summer. It’s a full, bushy shrub adorned with pretty scalloped blooms with a mild lemon tea perfume.
Pair ‘Easy Does It’ with blue flax and forget-me-nots as the perfect simple costar to this flamboyant shrub. If you want to amp it up, try vibrant orange wallflowers or hot pink dianthus. This is a fast-growing, reliable option for beginners who don’t want to stress over the health of their roses!
‘Grape Jelly’
‘The Grape Jelly’ cultivar thrives in hot spots, producing abundant fuchsia blooms and golden stamens all season.
Do you have a baking hot spot in your garden where nothing wants to grow? Try ‘Grape Jelly,’ a cute powerhouse that can’t get enough blazing sun. This floribunda can grow into a tall, upright shrub or be trained as a small climber to maximize bloom production (training lateral canes creates more flowering shoots).
‘Grape Jelly’ is loaded with semi-double fuschia blooms, occasionally highlighted with white. The golden stamens add even more punch. Best of all, it’s seldom without blooms from spring through frost.
Bring out the purple in ‘Grape Jelly’ by pairing it with lavender or Russian sage. Pair it with lemony-green sedums and chartreuse spirea to balance its showy tones.
‘Sunsprite’
Add instant curb appeal with compact and cheerful ‘Sunsprite’ roses in vibrant yellow.
Could your house use more curb appeal? Plant pots of compact and cheerful ‘Sunsprite’ outside the front door for an instant makeover. These bright-colored roses beam with ruffled blooms in pure, zesty yellow.
‘Sunsprite’ stays compact at only 2 to 3 feet and is rarely without color. The blooms are small, fully-double, and perfumed with a strong citrus fragrance that matches its happy hue. This variety is from German breeder Kordes, a name known for steady performance and healthy roses.
Plant 5-7 ‘Sunsprite’ roses in a border for unabashed sunny charm, or give the eye a place to rest by underplanting with purple and yellow ‘Johnny Jump-Up’ violas and violet creeping phlox.
‘Stiletto’
This vigorous hybrid tea rose has long-stemmed and radiant raspberry-pink fragrant blooms.
If yellows aren’t your thing, you might prefer the radiant raspberry pink of ‘Stiletto.’ This large blooming, unusually vigorous hybrid tea shines from a distance and keeps the flowers coming all summer.
‘Stiletto’ has fully double, swirled rosette blooms with an intense jam and honey scent. Each sits atop a long, sturdy stem, perfect for arranging (cut them just as flowers begin to open for the longest vase life!). A great-looking shrub, ‘Stiletto’s’ glossy green foliage is an elegant garden accent too.
‘Stiletto’ will steal the spotlight in a pot all on its own, but you can highlight its carmine pink color by interplanting with ‘Sensation Pink Echinacea’ and pink muhly grass. Try it with the spring-green bells of Ireland or with lady’s mantle for a lush look that lets the rose be the star.
‘Baby Love’
Compact ‘Baby Love’ is a prize-winning rose with canary-yellow blooms and a licorice scent.
‘Baby Love’ is a miniature rose ideal for maximizing limited space. Only have a balcony or patio to work with? Throw a couple of these perpetual bloomers in decorative containers, and suddenly you have a joyful little conversation space (the conversation might even be about your green thumb).
‘Baby Love’ is both a Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit and Royal National Rose Society Gold medal winner. It has a naturally full, rounded shape and bright canary-yellow single blooms. It’s all sweet simplicity, with the lightly fringed petals lending a unique style. Lean in for a delicious licorice scent.
This gorgeous mini would look stylish in glossy navy pots or a mixed border with deep purple salvias. Keep it in full sun for the most blooms, and enjoy cutting cheerful bouquets all season (the snipping’s made easier by thornless canes!).
‘Tangerine Skies’
Enhance your garden with a vibrant ‘Tangerine Skies’ climber that blooms generously and pairs well with purple flowers.
Add more oomph to your garden via a splash of vertical color! ‘Tangerine Skies’ is a luscious pumpkin-orange climber that reaches up to 8 feet tall. It repeats with generous flushes during the spring and summer, extending into fall in warm regions.
‘Tangerine’ produces abundant clusters of sweetly-scented double blooms. Like most climbers, the number of blooms is increased when the long canes are trained horizontally along a support structure. As a midsize climber, ‘Tangerine Skies’ is perfect for a garden fence or trellis.
‘Tangerine Skies’ takes time to develop strong roots and mature into a heavily-flowering mature plant. Be patient, and you’ll be rewarded with a wall of color! In the meantime, complement the glossy green foliage with purple veronica and ‘Blazing Star’ Liatris, or stay in the orange family with marigolds and the ‘Firefly Peach Sky’ yarrow.
‘Frida Kahlo’
Vibrant ‘Frida Kahlo’ roses showcase crimson and yellow stripes that shine in heat and are ideal for containers or mixed borders.
Can’t decide between red or yellow? Don’t! Bold ‘Frida Kahlo,’ named for the innovative Mexican artist, glows a bright crimson with golden yellow stripes. Like its namesake, each swirly bloom has a distinctive and striking look.
‘Frida’ loves the heat and is an excellent choice for warm zones. It stays compact at 3 feet tall and will shine in containers or a festive mixed border. This rose is a gorgeous workhorse with panache, releasing a pleasant fruity scent and featuring high resistance to pests and disease.
Plant ‘Frida’ with red and yellow flowers for a splashy, fun look. Try lemony lance-leaf coreopsis and red strawflowers for lots of bright texture. To tame the bright-colored roses down a bit, consider anise hyssop and ornamental alliums.
‘Flower Carpet Pink Supreme’
Spread ‘Flower Carpet Pink Supreme’ for intense waves of hot pink—perfect for hedges or sunny garden beds.
Do you crave masses of color and blankets of blooms? Imagine bright-colored roses covering your ornamental beds like a carpet. ‘Flower Carpet Pink Supreme’ is a groundcover variety that gently spreads to create waves of intense hot pink in the garden.
Plant several of these in a row for a high-impact hedge, or use them to fill a sunny garden bed. ‘Flower Carpet’ roses are designed to spread (each plant will slowly grow 3-4 wide). They bloom continuously starting in spring, with no need to remove spent blooms.
I love the look of these best in mass plantings, but they also look gorgeous in a large container. Soften them by interplanting with white bunny tail grasses and sweet alyssum, or embrace the neon pink and plant as many ‘Pink Supreme’ roses as your heart desires!
‘Ringo Ⓡ’
Multicolored ‘Ringo’ is a compact, easy-care shrub with large blooms and a bright bullseye center.
From Proven WinnersⓇ comes the floriferous landscape shrub ‘Ringo,’ a multicolored easy-care variety. ‘Ringo’ has large, open blooms highlighted with a bright, contrasting bullseye. The overall look reminds me a bit of tropical hibiscus.
Though new to the market, ‘Ringo’ has already made a name for itself. This splashy beauty has six international awards, including the Royal National Rose Society’s Certificate of Merit. It is one of the best bright-colored roses for low-maintenance gardens.
‘Ringo’ is a compact (3-4 feet tall) floribunda with blooms that begin banana yellow with a red bullseye. As the blooms age, they take on hints of pink, salmon, and white. This is a fun, evolving plant filled with warmth. To top all its good looks, ‘Ringo’ adds a healthy and hardy disposition. Plant it with intense blue lithodora for a gorgeous complementary palette or scarlet cardinal flowers to highlight the fun bullseye effect.
‘The Impressionist’
This is a unique myrrh-scented climber with frilly blooms in pink, orange, and apricot.
‘The Impressionist’ descends from two famous parents- highly awarded, golden yellow ‘Graham Thomas,’ and florist favorite ‘Distant Drums.’ The result is a rose with unique coloration, excellent health, and delicious fragrance.
This myrrh-scented climber has frilly blooms with pink, orange, and pale yellow outer petals. The centers are rich apricot. It’s a great performer, too, with heavy repeat flushes, resistance to rust and mildew, and drought tolerance. ‘The Impressionist’ will keep flowering despite partial shade, though the bloom size may decrease.
Amp up the warmth of ‘The Impressionist’ with towering pink hollyhocks in the background. If you’d like a cooling effect, try floaty azure Blue Star Amsonia.
‘Joseph’s Coat’
A dynamic climber, ‘Joseph’s Coat’ has big, blousy blooms that change from cherry red to pink, yellow, or orange.
Like Ringo Ⓡ, ‘Joseph’s Coat’ is dynamic, with color changes throughout the bloom cycle. Cherry red buds unfurl to reveal big, blousy semi-double blooms that are pink, yellow, orange, or a combination. It’s a winning climber to brighten up any obelisk, fence, or trellis.
A popular variety since its debut in the 1960s, ‘Joseph’s Coat’ is a tried-and-true bloom machine. Try it as a cut flower and let the fruity scent perfume the indoors. Not a good candidate for humid, rainy regions, this rose is somewhat susceptible to black spot.
Robust and golden black-eyed Susans would be a perfect pairing to keep up with the spicy colors of ‘Joseph’s Coat.’ More grounding and restful would be a companion plant with blue flowers, like the pretty racemes of blue wild indigo.
‘Oso Easy Mango Salsa’
‘Oso Easy Mango Salsa’ is a resilient, short shrub covered in eye-catching ruby-mango blooms.
This robust and sassy little rose is another hit from Proven Winners Ⓡ. ‘Oso Easy Mango Salsa’ is a short (2-3 feet) mounded shrub covered in semi-double blooms from spring through frost. It’s resilient, grows well in most climates, and needs very little attention to look good.
Clusters of small, eye-catching ruby-mango flowers exude a sweet scent that adds to the fruity cocktail vibe. Perfect for patios and entryways, this is a dependable and striking rose that won’t let you down.
Plant ‘Oso Easy Mango Salsa’ in a mixed border with glittery blue sea holly for a showstopping combination. If you’d like to keep it bright, add some coral penstemon or ‘Pink Profusion’ salvia.
‘SunbeltⓇ South Africa’
The bold and unfading ‘Sunbelt South Africa’ rose has big gold blooms, disease resistance, and lemon-candy perfume.
If you like the look of luxe Tuscan gold, you’ll love ‘SunbeltⓇ South Africa, from Kordes’ Sunbelt Ⓡ series. This bold and unfading rose has big, densely-petaled blooms throughout the summer, even in scorching hot locales.
‘South Africa’ is an upright shrub with lemon-candy perfume. It stays disease-free in both wet and drought-prone climates. This grandiflora is a multi-gold medal winner that you can depend on to give your garden a bold look all season.
Keep to the golden theme by putting ‘South Africa’ in a bed with pollinator-favorites ‘Tuscan Gold’ heliopsis and shrubby St. John’s Wort. Throw in some ‘Blue Cushion’ English lavender to bring a calming shade to mellow all that shine.
Final Thoughts
The garden is a place where we can experiment and express our creativity. If big, bright colors bring you joy- go all out and embrace them! The trick with bold shades is to stick to an intentional palette. This keeps the look cohesive and pleasing to the eye.
All the roses in this list provide intense color for a lively summer garden. Plant them as a focal-point perennial you can depend on each year, and modify the intensity of the palette with fun companion plants. All that’s left to do is bask in the cheerful ambiance and enjoy your roses!
