The hybrid tea is what most of us mentally see and smell when we hear the word “rose”, but it is not the only variety enjoyed and grown by modern rosarians. (This term was coined in 1864 to describe cultivators of roses).

Most of the following varieties can claim the hybrid tea as one of its parents:
*Polyantha:
This low-growing bush, whose name in Greek means “many flowered”, resulted from a cross between the hybrid tea and the species rose Rosa multiflora. It produces abundant clusters of small blossoms from late spring through early fall.
*Floribunda:
An offspring of the polyantha and the hybrid tea, this bush, too, has a long blooming season. Its slightly larger blossoms look more like hybrid tea blooms, and the bush grows no more than five feet tall.
*Grandiflora:
As its name suggests, this cross between the floribunda and the hybrid tea grows tall – sometimes more than six feet – but its blooms from a happy medium between those of its parents.
*Miniature roses:
These compact plants, descended from a species rose called Rosa chinensis minima, are tiny in both bush and bloom. Bushes range from six inches to four feet in height, blooms from a quarter inch (the size of a pea) to two inches (the size of a lime) in diameter. The smallest of these plants are called micro minis.
*English rose, also known as David Austin roses:
The nostalgia for the pre-hybrid tea roses that grew in great-grandmother’s garden prompted English hybridizer David Austin to develop roses combining the large, cabbage-like form of older varieties with the hardness and disease resistance of modern roses. These are providing to be very popular with adventurous American gardeners who are looking to branch out from the hybrid tea.