Miniature roses actually started with the original China (Old Garden Rose) rose,’ Roulett’i, found in a windowbox in Europe. Since that time, crosses have been made with all types of roses to come up with a rose bush that produces blooms of a small size, and stems and leaves in smaller proportions. Because some of the larger roses are used in the crosses, size was forgiven in certain cases of exceptional roses, and miniature roses began appearing with blooms rivaling some Floribunda blooms. Because of this a new category was established, Mini-Flora Roses, to cover the larger blooms, larger leaves and/or larger bushes. But generally speaking a miniature rose will have a diminutive bush and smaller bloom. You can even purchase Micro Mini Roses with an even smaller bush and very small bloom – roses such as ‘Hat Pin’,’ Dot Com’, ‘Jelly Bean’, ‘Si’, ‘Cinderella’ and’ Elizabeth Abler’ to name a few. Miniature roses are normally quite hardy as they are on their own roots, not grafted onto a rootstock of another type of rose.