Peonies are one of my absolute favourite garden flowers, with their pretty, bowl-shaped ruffled blooms, heady scent and spectrum of colours. But as much as I love seeing them come into bloom in my garden, the one thing I hate about peony season is that it just doesn’t last long enough. So in my quest for a longer-flowering alternative with the same appeal, I’ve been recommended these expert-approved gorgeous garden rose varieties that you’d swear were peonies.
Garden roses are bred to provide beauty and fragrance in a garden setting. Unlike standard roses used by florists, which tend to be small, pointed, and petals rotated around a single centre, garden roses are larger, with ruffled petals that swirl around multiple centres to form bigger, more rounded blooms, with every stem a little bit different. Garden roses also come in an abundance of colours, are highly fragrant and are available throughout the year, making them an ideal swap for peonies, whose lifespan is limited.
