Does your garden need a makeover? Whether you’ve moved into a new place, want to transform an old space, or need to cover an unsightly spot (maybe the view of your neighbor’s yard?), fast-growing roses will get results.
Like all perennials, most rose varieties take a few seasons to reach maturity. But if you can’t wait a few years for a rose to wow you, these vigorous cultivars are ready to make an impact in less time.
So, inpatient gardeners, are you ready for an impressive rose bush, fast? Let’s look at 17 rapidly-growing varieties that will make your garden vision come to life.
‘New Dawn’
Voted “World’s Most Popular Rose” in ’97, ‘New Dawn’ is a tough, disease-resistant climber with shell pink double blooms.
This pedigreed climber was voted “World’s Most Popular Rose” at the 1997 World Convention of Rose Societies. Train it over a garden arch or along a wall for a swoon-worthy display of blooms in no time.
This hybrid wichurana rose climbs 3 to 4 feet in its first season, increasing its growth rate each subsequent year. It will reach a max height of 15 to 20 feet in just a few seasons, looking good while it gets there. ‘New Dawn’ is tough and rarely fazed by pests and disease. It soars despite poor soils and limited water.
‘New Dawn’ produces shell pink double blooms with a mild apple fragrance. While the individual flowers don’t last long on the bush, they appear in such great quantities that you won’t mind. This is the rose if you’re looking for a soft romantic ambiance!
‘Roseraie de l’Hay’
Sturdy & fragrant ‘Roseraie de l’Hay’ grows up to 12ft tall and wide, with vibrant violet-crimson blooms.
‘Roseraie de l’Hay’ is an excellent representative of the sturdy and fragrant rugosa class. A perfect option for a natural hedge, this large shrub rose will grow up to 12 feet tall and 6 feet wide. The clove-scented blooms are a vibrant violet-crimson hue.
‘Roseraie’ puts on its first stunning flush in the spring with smaller repeats throughout the season. Its beautiful bright green, leathery foliage is highly disease resistant. This attractive and bushy cultivar adds interest even when not in bloom.
This variety is a good choice for those in cold winter climates. ‘Roseraie’ (French for rose garden) can bloom even after a frost or two. It’s hardy down to zone 4 and rarely experiences winter damage.
‘Spirit of Freedom’
The graceful lilac-pink English rose, ‘Spirit of Freedom,’ is a small climber that offers enchanting lemon-myrrh-scented blooms.
From famed UK breeder David Austin, this graceful English rose produces full, chalice-shaped blooms in an unusual shade of lilac pink. ‘Spirit of Freedom’ is a small climber at only 8 feet tall and a less intimidating introduction to growing vertically.
When trained up a fence or trellis, ‘Spirit of Freedom’s’ flowers nod delicately on their stems, giving admirers below a perfect view of the swirled blooms. The scent is equally enchanting, with hints of lemon and myrrh.
‘Spirit of Freedom’ has the old-world charm Austin’s roses are known for, combined with a strong and healthy disposition. It can grow several feet in just a few months. This variety will give you an abundance of luxurious blooms from spring through frost!
‘Blushing Knock OutⓇ’
Popular and low-maintenance, ‘Blushing Knock Out Ⓡ’ is covered in pale pink blooms all summer without deadheading.
I’ve been a complete snob about the Knock OutⓇ series of roses. The fact that I often see them in supermarket parking lot plantings doesn’t help the cause. But even I must admit that these best-selling roses are popular for a reason.
Disease-resistant, low-maintenance Knock OutⓇ roses are a newbie rose gardener’s dream. ‘Blushing Knock OutⓇ’ is the most aesthetically pleasing of the bunch. It quickly grows into a 3-4 foot tall shrub, smothered in pale pink open blooms.
‘Blushing’ is self-cleaning, meaning it doesn’t require deadheading (removal of spent blooms) to produce flowers all summer long. Though not fragrant, it’s a reliable landscape rose. Plant this for easy, dependable flowering.
‘Nootka’
Choose the ‘Nootka’ native rose for its showy pink blooms and its wildlife-friendly and drought-tolerant nature.
Just how impatient are you? ‘Nootka’ is a North American native rose that can grow 6 feet tall in just one season. It has a single bloom period of about two months in spring to early summer and lots of gorgeous foliage for most of the year.
‘Nootka’ has showy medium pink single flowers, often featuring a white center. Bees and other wildlife love it. If you want a drought-tolerant, bullet-proof rose for your native garden, this is a sure bet.
Wild roses can spread on their own roots, so make sure you’re okay with some baby ‘Nootka’ roses appearing in the rose bed. Mine spreads out beautifully in the back of my wildflower meadow. It’s a robust shrub with long arching canes and stunning fall color. You’ll love the crop of red hips it sets in fall. Leave them to feed the birds, or bring them inside for pretty winter decor!
‘Easy Does It’
‘Easy Does It’ is a floriferous, easy-care rose with peachy blooms and mild fragrance.
I know. I recommend this variety all the time! This floriferous shrub rose checks all the boxes: glowing peachy color, vigorous health, and rapid growth. As promised, ‘Easy Does It’ is an easy-care variety with lots of bloom power.
The large double blooms range from deep mango to salmon pink, with standout scalloped petals. The mild lemon tea fragrance adds to the appeal.
‘Easy Does It’ quickly grows to its full height of 3 to 4 feet. It resists diseases like black spot and powdery mildew, even when they plague other roses in the garden. Plant several of these in a row for major curb appeal, or let them fill containers with cheerful colors.
‘Ramblin’ Red’
Vivid scarlet climbing rose, ‘Ramblin’ Red,’ blooms spring to frost, stays under 10ft, and is easy to train and vigorous.
‘Ramblin’ Red’ is a hardy climbing rose that shows off vivid scarlet blooms with bright golden stamens from spring ‘til frost. The foliage begins burgundy before turning a deep forest green.
‘Ramblin’ will give you the red rose arbor of your dreams in short order. It stays under 10 feet, so plant one on each side and allow them to meet in the middle for the most impressive display. Pliant canes make it easy to train.
This cluster-flowering variety has a mild sweet scent and gets completely loaded with semi-double blooms. ‘Ramblin Red’ is noticeable even from a distance. Carefree and vigorous!
‘Queen Elizabeth’
This is a highly recommended, popular rose with big, fragrant pink blooms, exquisite form, and rapid growth.
‘Queen Elizabeth’ is one of the world’s most popular roses. A gold medal and World Federation of Rose Society’s Hall of Fame winner, it’s hard to receive a higher recommendation.
Pick it because you want a garden worthy of royalty, you like big, pink, fragrant blooms, or because it grows 3 feet tall and beautiful in just a few months.
The list of attributes is long and includes exposition-worthy form, reliable repeat flushes, and unique woody perfume. ‘Elizabeth’ makes picture-perfect bouquets, too. While this grandiflora generally enjoys good health, it can get black spot in humid regions. Water at the base of the plant and avoid wetting the foliage to keep it healthy and radiant.
‘Altissimo’
The single blooms of ‘Altissimo,’ with its large ruby-red flowers and yellow centers, steal the show with minimal effort.
I usually favor petal-packed cabbage-style roses, but the velvety elegance of ‘Altissimo’s’ single blooms makes me rethink everything. This climber features large, ruby-red flowers set off by jewel-like yellow centers. It steals the show with a minimum of fuss.
‘Altissimo’ will earn compliments in its first year, treating you to continual blooms all season. Up the drama by training its canes horizontally along a sturdy support, which maximizes the number of flowering shoots.
This floribunda has a yummy clove scent and makes a long-lasting cut flower. It’s healthy, with few disease or pest issues. ‘Altissimo’ will even thrive in partial shade, so jump on this beauty to brighten up your gloomy garden corners!
‘Reine des Violettes’
‘Reine des Violettes’ is a fragrant heirloom. Its cupped blooms range from pink to lavender, offering regal luxury to the garden.
‘Reine des Violettes’ is a dreamy heirloom rose with heavy cupped blooms. French for “Queen of the Violets,” it adds a sense of regal luxury to the garden.
Reine’s flowers range from violet-toned pink to intense lavender. The entire plant has an intriguing peppered floral scent, including its attractive gray-green foliage. Give this showstopper regular feedings of organic fertilizer for the best results.
‘Reine’ can be trained as a climber (an effort eased by thornless canes!) or left to sprawl horizontally. If you go this route, consider ‘pegging,’ a technique where long canes are bent and fixed to the ground to encourage more robust flowering.
‘Clair Matin’
‘Clair Matin’ is a floribunda rose with waved, strawberry pink blooms, providing maximum seasonal impact.
Pointed coral buds unfurl into strawberry pink, waved blooms on this luscious cluster-flowering floribunda. Generously blooming all season, ‘Clair Matin’ (French for “clear morning”) provides maximum impact in a soothing palette.
Large open blooms with showy stamens encourage pollinator visits and perfume the garden with a gentle sweetbriar fragrance. Though it grows tall (up to 12 feet), its rigid structure convinces many gardeners to grow it as a wide shrub rather than a climber.
‘Clair Matin’s’ ethereal, fragile look is deceptive. This rose is cold-tolerant and rugged. Let it bulk up for at least two years before pruning it back to maintain your desired shape.
‘Sally Holmes’
‘Sally Holmes’ is a famous hybrid musk rose with creamy, sweetly-scented flowers in abundant sprays.
Creamy, sweetly-scented flowers smother this famous hybrid musk rose, producing sprays of up to 60 blooms apiece. ‘Sally Holmes’ is beloved for its jaw-dropping flushes even in nutrient-poor soil and low light.
Crowned “World’s Favorite Rose” at the 2012 World Federation of Rose Societies Convention, it won’t let you down. This rose is a tough pollinator favorite that keeps on giving all season.
‘Sally’s’ thornless canes can climb up to 12 feet in the right conditions (and it loves warm climates), but it usually stays around 6 feet tall. Each spray makes a beautiful bouquet and rivals the head of a hydrangea.
Grow it at the base of a large arch, or let it provide a gorgeous backdrop for your shorter perennials. Don’t miss it if you love white in the garden.
‘Fru Dagmar Hastrup’
This is a compact hybrid rugosa rose with clear-pink single blooms and wrinkled foliage.
‘Fru Dagmar Hastrup’ takes all the hardiness, disease-resistance, and distinctive looks of rugosa roses and fits them into a compact shrub reaching only 5 feet max. This small hybrid rugosa has perfect clear-pink single blooms and light green wrinkled foliage.
‘Dagmar’ is trouble-free and constantly in bloom. It boasts a strong spiced old rose fragrance.
‘Fru Dagmar Hastrup’ is easy to maintain and turns heads every season. Intense red hips decorate the shrub in fall, accented by the leaves, which turn a brilliant orangey-red.
‘Rhapsody in Blue’
‘Rhapsody in Blue’ is a unique, smoky plum-colored rose that matures from hot pink buds to undeniably purple flowers.
You must see ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ in person to appreciate its unique smoky plum color. Don’t be alarmed when hot pink buds appear- they’ll soon mature into an undeniably purple flower that turns even cooler in tone over time.
‘Rhapsody’ was the Royal Horticultural Society’s Rose of the Year for 2003 and still gets plenty of attention today. It blooms all summer, exuding a rich, clove-spice scent.
Best for temperate climates, ‘Rhapsody’ tends to languish in the heat. Keep it happy, and you’ll have a large free-flowering shrub that doesn’t look like anything else in the garden.
‘Buff Beauty’
‘Buff Beauty’ is a fast-growing shrub with pompon-style honey-colored blooms and a captivating musk and tea scent.
Honey-colored ‘Buff Beauty’ grows quickly, becoming a 15-foot tall hedge-like shrub with clusters of pompon-style blooms.
Treasured for its captivating musk and tea scent, this rose is breathtaking when the arching canes drape over a tall fence. The frilly apricot blooms appear in flushes throughout the season.
‘Buff Beauty’ is a hybrid musk, a class known for shade tolerance, disease resistance, and outstanding fragrance. If you love golden tones in the garden, this Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit recipient is a must-have.
‘John Davis’
This is a cold-hardy rose with copious double pink blooms and reliable repeat blooming.
‘John Davis’ is a Canadian-bred rose from the Explorer series, renowned for its remarkable cold-hardiness. Fortunately, gardeners in warm climates can grow it, too, because no one should miss out on these copious blooms!
During its spring flush, ‘John Davis’ is so smothered in double pink flowers that it’s difficult to see the foliage peeking underneath. This rose can stop traffic.
‘John’ is a reliable repeat bloomer. It’s untroubled by pests or disease and grows rapidly to its full height of 7 feet tall. With spicy-sweet fragrance, glossy leaves, and showy red canes, you’ll find much to love about this robust rose that works equally well as a short climber or hefty shrub.
‘Eden’
‘Eden’ is a tenacious rose with big, deeply-cupped blooms in cream and rosy pink.
I almost had a heart attack this year when my ‘Eden’ died back to the ground after a particularly harsh winter. There was no need to panic. A month or so later, this tenacious beast of a rose is just as tall as ever!
Why was I so attached? For the same reason, pictures of ‘Eden’ grace the cover of many rose catalogs. The beauty of this rose is like a fairy tale.
‘Eden’ has big, deeply-cupped blooms in rich cream contrasted by centers in rosy pink. It looks too perfect to be real. Even better, this rose has a strong constitution. It pumps out dazzling bloom clusters from spring through frost, rebounds quickly from wild weather fluctuations, and just plain dazzles. It got into the Rose Hall of Fame, and you should get it into your garden.
Final Thoughts
I know that no one wants to wait years for the garden they envision to take shape. Speed things up a bit by planting varieties known for rapid growth, and you might get the bountiful blooms you’re dreaming of in record time.
All of the roses on this list have the potential to grow quickly, but they can’t get there on their own. Good care via regular fertilization, deep infrequent watering, and 6-8 hours of sunlight will help them develop into healthy and impressive mature plants. The longer you wait, the longer it’ll take! Time to get planting and enjoy your roses.
