Roses for cutting

Imagine filling every vase in the house to overflowing with blowsy roses dripping with colour and scent. Well, if you grow your own roses for cutting, you can have that luxury every day.

Almost any roses look lovely in a vase, but for truly show-stopping displays look for varieties with long, sturdy stems, scent and long-lasting flowers. Here are five of our favourites from the range in our garden centre.

'William Shakespeare 2000': such a dark crimson it looks almost black, and strongly scented, this modern rose is disease resistant and long lasting in the vase.

'Princess Alexandra': one of the best cutting roses, with single headed magenta flowers on very long stems. It lasts over a week indoors.

'Charles de Mills': vibrant and intensely-coloured in rich purple, this old-fashioned rose lasts ages once cut and has a rich perfume.

'Souvenir du Docteur Jamain': this sumptuous old-fashioned rose is still a favourite today for its crumpled double blooms in rich velvety claret and exquisite scent.

'Iceberg': among the most reliable roses you can grow, with pure white flowers that just keep coming: the more you pick, the more it produces.

Please ask the staff in our garden centre in Basingstoke for more information and advice about growing roses as cut flowers.