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Here's our pick of the best blooms:

1 Papa Meilland is one of the most loved red roses. It's a hybrid tea rose with large, dark velvety crimson flowers, which have a sensational perfume. The blooms feature long strong stems - perfect for cutting.

2'Mister Lincoln' is a famous hybrid tea rose bred in America. It bears picture-perfect, large crimson-red blooms with lots of petals, glorious deep colour and a perfume to match.

3'La Sevillana' is a floribunda rose which bears its flowers in clustered heads rather than singly. It makes a fabulous red-flowered hedging rose - prune it back and feed it after the first flush of flowers and it will bloom for months.

4'Red Pierre de Ronsard', released only last year, is being acclaimed as one of the most glorious red roses to appear in recent times. A climber, it produces masses of old-fashioned, burgundy-red double-cupped blooms with a soft fragrance.

5'Sir Donald Bradman' was released in 2003 in honour of Australia's famous cricketer, who was still alive at the time. It bears exceptionally beautiful cupped blooms with the tightly packed petals reminiscent of many old rose forms.

Perfect rose growing

If you're a first-time rose grower, you need to know their basic requirements before you plant. Follow these three rules and you can't go wrong:

1 Sun lovers: roses need lots of sunshine - the recommended amount is at least six hours a day. If you have to choose between morning and afternoon sun, morning is best as it dries dewy leaves sooner, reducing the chance of fungal diseases.

2 Soil savvy: roses need good drainage, so avoid planting them in soggy or waterlogged soils. Regardless of whether your garden soil is clay-based or light and sandy, make sure you add plenty of organic matter, such as compost and cow manure, and dig it in well.

3 Big feeders: to produce their best display, roses need lots of feeding. At planting, apply a controlled-release fertiliser formulated for roses, to supply several months of gradual nutrient supply. Rose-specific fertilisers are generally higher in potassium, to encourage increased flower production, so add potash if you're using a general fertiliser. If you skimp on feeding, you're missing out on potential blooms.