Floribunda rose vs Shrub rose

More resistant than hybrid teas, but black spot in wet summers, powdery mildew in warm humid weather and rust still occur, and susceptible cultivars are half bare by late summer. A resistant cultivar gets by with a few preventive sprays and clearing away fallen diseased leaves; a susceptible one needs treating every two to three weeks. In spring aphids sit on shoot tips and buds, rose sawfly larvae eat the leaves and rose chafers feed on the flowers. In Central Europe the graft union and canes can be killed in hard winters without snow cover: set the union a few centimetres below soil level and mound 20 to 30 cm of soil over the base in late autumn. Remove suckers from the rootstock at their origin. Prune the canes back by half to two thirds (to 5 to 7 buds) in spring and cut off spent flower clusters in summer; a hedge also needs pruning every year.

Black spot, powdery mildew and rust can strip susceptible cultivars, many English roses among them, by midsummer: those need several preventive sprays a season, whereas resistant cultivars (ADR-rated ones, for example) stay healthy without spraying if you clear fallen leaves and give them an airy position. In spring aphids cluster on shoot tips and buds, rose sawfly larvae chew or roll the leaves and rose chafers and other flower beetles eat into the blooms; a big bush usually grows out of the damage. Most cultivars are winter hardy in Central Europe, though the cane tips may die back in a hard winter. Plants sold in the region are nearly always budded onto a wild rose rootstock: set the graft union about 5 cm below soil level when planting, mound 15 to 20 cm of soil over the crown in autumn, and tear off at the base any suckers from the rootstock (smaller, paler leaves), because they overtake the cultivar. Pruning is light: in early spring cut out dead and old canes and shorten repeat flowerers by about a third, then deadhead in summer.