However, it's surprising how many are still flowering.
Several of the David Austin English roses have a late flush of flowers; the soft yellow Charles Austin and Graham Thomas are both good autumn flowers.
Fruit
Autumn is a season in which many roses produce attractive and colourful fruit.
Hips (or heps), as the rose fruit or seed pods are often called, are most prominent on wild or old fashioned roses.
Rose hips come in an array of forms.
They may be prickly or have a clear skin.
Usually red, the fruit can also be orange, green, brown or black. Size can vary from the small currant-sized hips of Rosa spinosissima to the larger cherry-sized fruit of Rosa rugosa.
Rose hips not only look good but also have traditional medicinal uses.
Modern roses are not generally known for producing good hips as a number of the modern cultivars are sterile.
To ensure good displays of hips, spent flowers late in the season should not be removed and any pruning should be left until spring.
Autumn tonings
Roses are generally deciduous and many of the species roses have nice autumn foliage.
Thorny stems
The extremely thorny stems of the Moss roses that are hidden by foliage in the spring and summer become a feature in autumn and winter.
- Linda Hellyer is curator of the rose garden at Dunedin Botanic Garden.
