There’s something special about yellow roses. After all, the famous folk song isn’t called “The Cream Rose of Texas.”
With their sunny coloring, yellow roses somehow manage to be dramatically elegant and humbly cheerful at the same time.
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Not all yellow roses are worthy of song, however. Some fade as they age, others are prone to diseases like black spot, or simply have disappointing blossoms.
Then there are those standouts that deserve all the poems, songs, and homages that we can give them.
Up ahead, we’ll go over 13 exceptional options, including:
13 of the Best Yellow Rose Varieties
Whether you want a rambler to cover your cottage or you’re looking for a petite stunner to amp up your patio, there are many plucky yellow bloomers that will provide a bright, colorful display.
If you’re not totally familiar with the various terms, like “double flowers” or “everbearing,” head to our growing guide for a quick primer.
We also have a guide to rose classifications that will help you understand what we mean when we say “grandiflora” or “floribunda.”
Here are 13 of the top yellow rose varieties to add to your landscape:
1. Charlotte
Easily one of the most popular and beautiful English shrubs out there, ‘Charlotte’ is all dressed up in her finest yellow gown.
Each fragrant blossom has pale, buttery petals on the exterior surrounding ruffled clusters of bold lemon on the interior.
‘Charlotte’ maintains a compact, upright growth habit without pruning and tops out at about five feet. While it can be grown in Zones 5 to 10, you should provide winter freeze protection in Zone 5.
Named after one of David Austin’s granddaughters, ‘Charlotte’ won an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in 2002.
Make a dash over to Burpee to nab a bare root plant for your garden.
2. Ch-Ching!
Rose lovers in warm climates are sometimes out of luck, but those looking for a sunny stunner have hit the jackpot with this cultivar.
‘Ch-ching!’ (aka ‘WEKyesir’) is a grandiflora with four-inch, bright yellow blossoms that feature a spicy, fruity fragrance.
The flowers form in large clusters and bloom repeatedly throughout the growing season. All that, plus it can grow anywhere from Zone 5 to 10 and is extremely disease resistant.
A sport of ‘Strike It Rich,’ this cultivar tops out at five to seven feet tall.
Nature Hills Nursery carries this sunny beauty in #2 containers.
3. Gold Medal
‘Gold Medal’ (aka ‘Aroyqueli’) has full, six-inch fragrant blossoms that start out as copper-orange buds that open up into golden yellow before fading to cream, for an ever-evolving display.
This grandiflora is a repeat bloomer with sunny clusters of blossoms on plants that grow five to six feet tall.
Very disease resistant and hardy in Zones 5 to 9, ‘Gold Medal’ is nearly thornless and bears on long stems, so it’s perfect for a cut flower garden.
Visit Nature Hills Nursery to grab this grandiflora for your garden in a #2 container.
4. Golden Celebration
Some roses become modern classics right away, and ‘Golden Celebration’ is one of those. David Austin crossed his popular ‘Charles Austin’ cultivar with ‘Abraham Darby’ to create this perennial gardener favorite.
This cultivar has a sweet, strong fragrance and unusually deep yellow, very full blossoms that appear in multiple blushes throughout the season.
It’s a reliable grower that reaches around four feet tall with dark, glossy green foliage.
When rosarians are asked to list off some of their favorite roses, this one regularly makes the list. Curious to see why?
Head on over to Amazon to grab a live plant in a one-gallon container for your garden.
5. Graham Thomas
‘Graham Thomas’ is named after a legendary horticulturist. It would take all day to list the awards this cultivar has won, so I’ll just summarize by saying that it was named the World’s Favorite Rose in 2009 and sits in the World Federation of Rose Societies Hall of Fame.
This cultivar has also nabbed numerous local rose society awards in the UK and in almost every state in the US. And it’s an Award of Garden Merit winner, naturally.
What makes ‘Graham Thomas’ so special, you ask?
Let’s start with the large, full blossoms that develop in clusters. It’s a repeat bloomer that flowers in flushes from spring to frost, and the petals are deep yellow with a heady tea fragrance. Not bad, so far, right?
It’s also incredibly tolerant of a range of climates, from Zone 5 to 10, and on top of all that, it is super disease resistant.
‘Graham Thomas’ grows to a lovely five feet or so tall. Basically, it’s your picture-perfect yellow rose. If you’re going to start anywhere with an English rose, this is an excellent option.
Burpee has bare root plants, so you can bring this winner home to your garden.
6. Happy Go Lucky
If a rose could embody the joy of doing cartwheels in the grass on a sunny summer day, it would be ‘Happy Go Lucky,’ aka ‘WEKsirjuci.’
A cross between ‘Strike It Rich’ and ‘Julia Child,’ this grandiflora has buttery yellow petals and a spicy fragrance.
It’s a repeat bloomer that’s also disease resistant, with glossy green foliage. ‘Happy Go Lucky’ grows to five feet tall in Zones 6 to 10.
Nature Hills Nursery carries this Rose Hills International Rose Trials gold medalist in #2 containers so you can bring the joy of summer home to your garden.
7. Julia Child
To paraphrase the queen of the kitchen herself, everything is better with butter.
In this case, we’re talking about the buttery blooms of the floribunda known as ‘Julia Child.’ The full blossoms appear repeatedly throughout the year, and while some yellow roses fade as they age, these hold their color.
They also smell good enough to eat (and why not try them, since Rosas have edible flowers) with a sweet, licorice fragrance.
This plant can handle the heat of the kitchen, as well. It grows happily in Zones 5 to 10, but prune it back well in the fall in climates on the colder end of the spectrum.
Otherwise, you don’t need to do any pruning or deadheading to enjoy the full splendor. A disease-resistant and naturally compact shrub that stays under four feet tall, I can’t imagine a reason why you wouldn’t want this one to be a part of your rose garden.
If you feel the same, you can find plants available at Fast Growing Trees.
8. Lady Banks
This lady has a lot going for her. Nearly thornless, R. banksiae ‘Lutea’ aka Lady Banks rose is a climber that can reach 20 feet tall and her light yellow blossoms appear in massive clusters.
On top of that, the flowers have a mild floral fragrance. And we’re not done extolling her virtues just yet: She’s also drought-tolerant, disease-resistant, and a vigorous grower.
If you’ve dreamed of having a climbing option that smothers an arbor or wall in sunny blossoms, you can’t go wrong with this one. Her only failing is that she blooms just once and then she’s done for the year, so enjoy her presence while you can.
Sound like something you’d like to have around? Fast Growing Trees carries this classic.
9. Molineux
For sunny blossoms from spring until frost, look to ‘Molineaux.’ Named after David Austin’s favorite soccer team, it checks all the boxes.
Disease resistant? Yep. Vigorous repeat bloomer? Check. Multi-award-winning, nearly thornless, and incredibly fragrant? Check, check, and check!
The blossoms are fully double and packed with canary yellow, tea-scented petals.
The shrub itself matures to a compact three feet or less. This sport of ‘Graham Thomas’ grows well in a range of climates, from Zone 5 to 10.
You can find bare root plants available at Burpee.
10. Poet’s Wife
The clusters of bright, fully double lemony blossoms of ‘Poet’s Wife’ are combined with an equally attractive citrus fragrance.
The sunny petals fade over time to a pleasing pale yellow. Regardless of whether you live in Zone 4 or Zone 11, this four-foot shrub will keep performing with its disease resistance, vigorous growth, and repeat blooming.
Want to bring a little poetry to your home? Burpee has bare root plants just waiting to liven up your space.
11. Strike It Rich
This cheerful stunner is the parent to many award-winning and grower favorites because it is hardy, versatile enough for Zones 5 to 10, blooms continuously (everbearing), and has a compact growth habit – all in a four- to five-foot-tall package.
And we haven’t even talked about the blossoms, yet.
Quite frankly, you’ll be fairly certain that you’ve struck gold when you see them.
They’re a rich, buttery, golden yellow with pink-tinged outer petals, and a sweetly spicy, fruity fragrance.
You can pick up plants in #2 containers from Nature Hills Nursery.
12. Sunny Knock Out
If roses seem too fussy and delicate for your liking, try something from the Knock Out brand.
These plants are reliable, self-cleaning, highly disease-resistant, and maintain a compact shape of under five feet tall without any pruning. They also do well in Zones 4 to 11.
The single, fragrant flowers start out as bright yellow and maintain that coloring throughout their lifespan in cool regions, or fade to cream in warmer areas. It’s a repeat bloomer that performs all summer long.
Make this plant a sunny addition to your garden by heading to Nature Hills Nursery for a #2 or #3 container.
13. Yellow Brick Road
Follow the yellow brick road to the emerald foliage of this shrub rose from the Easy Elegance brand. It’s an easy-to-care-for repeat bloomer that puts out heaps of fragrant, lemon yellow roses with buttercream outer petals, from spring until frost.
‘Yellow Brick Road,’ aka ‘BAloud,’ stays petite at under three feet tall, so it fits well in containers or a small corner of your yard. It’s also disease resistant and needs hardly any maintenance to maintain its compact shape.
If you live in Zone 5 to 9, you’re lucky enough to be able to grow ‘Yellow Brick Road,’ so head to Nature Hills Nursery for a bare root plant.
Yellow Roses Add Sunny Cheer to Any Garden
So there you have it, 13 of the sweetest little rosebuds that Texas (and the rest of us) ever knew. From climbers to minis, there’s a whole lot of variety among roses that offer up yellow blossoms.
Which of these beauties is calling your name? Let us know in the comments section below! And if we missed your favorite, let us know that, too.
Now that you’ve (hopefully) found the perfect choice for your garden, you might want to know a bit more about how to care for it. If so, check out some of our other rose guides next:
Hi, can you tell me which of the 13 yellow roses you highlight could grow well trellised against a fence (versus in a bush)
Thanks!
Hi Keren, ‘Lady Banks’ is the only climber on this list. If you’d like a few other options, ‘The Pilgrim’ is an excellent David Austin option. ‘Golden Showers’ is reliable with classic, fragrant blossoms. You can grab that one at Nature Hills. Hope that helps!