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Separated into a separate group at the end of the twentieth century, ground cover roses rapidly gained popularity. It is not surprising, because it is these flowers that can be called universal for decorating any personal plot: they are planted in flower beds, in single plantings, they can fill an empty space between tree groups or cover a hatch. And the gentle slope of the ground cover roses that bloom all summer will not only decorate, but also protect against erosion and washing out of the soil.
General information about ground cover roses
Although ground cover varieties from the group of shrub roses were isolated about three decades ago, this does not mean at all that they did not exist before.
Origin of ground cover roses
Today, several new varieties of ground cover roses appear on the market every year. Most of them are distinguished by repeated abundant flowering and excellent winter hardiness. Ground cover varieties owe their origin to two types of rose hips – Vihura Rosehip and Wrinkled Rose, which is often called Rosa Rugosa.
Briar Vihura
Both parents have an attractive appearance and high resistance to adverse weather factors.
Rose hip wrinkled
Classification of ground cover varieties
Details about the roses of this group are described in our article.
We will only repeat briefly that those varieties that are short in stature and have a spreading crown, forming a dense canopy of shoots and leaves, are called ground cover roses. They are divided into four subgroups:
- Small creeping bushes with shoots covering the ground no more than 1,5 m, up to 45 cm high.
- Large bushes with creeping shoots that grow more than 1,5 m wide, 45 cm high and above.
- Small drooping shrubs up to a meter high, capable of covering an area of about 1,5 m.
- Large shrubs over one meter tall, with drooping shoots growing over 1,5 m wide.
The first and second subgroups have horizontal shoots that can take root in the knees and quickly cover a vast area. Varieties belonging to the second group can be grown as climbing roses. The last two subgroups can often be classified as bush or climbing varieties. So do not be surprised if in different catalogs you find the same variety assigned to different groups.
Growing ground cover roses
You can learn more about caring for them from our article.
And you can also watch a video about caring for ground cover roses:
We want to point out that ground cover varieties require minimal care. It is important to give them enough space when planting so that they do not intertwine branches and do not jam other plants. Roses of the first two groups can be tied to supports, and drooping tall bushes can be grown as scrubs.
All of them need only sanitary pruning.
Varieties that bloom all summer
When we look at the description of varieties of roses, we can often read in the “flowering” column that they are blooming once, repeatedly and constantly. Let’s take a closer look at this issue.
- With a single flowering, everything is clear – the roses faded once, even if for a long time and abundantly, in the future we can see only single random buds on their bushes.
- Constantly blooming – it also seems to be understandable. These roses should bloom all season.
- Repeat flowering varieties are those in which the first wave of flowering, after a short break, is followed by a second wave, sometimes even more abundant than the previous one. With good care, the roses of this group sometimes bloom continuously until the very frost.
That’s just for some reason, not always constantly and re-blooming varieties fulfill their obligations. Often, after the first lush wave of flowering, only single miserable buds appear on the bushes, and rather small ones.
So read again how to properly care for roses – there should be 7 dressings (!), And, not counting foliar ones. Only those who have rich, fertile soils can neglect this rule, and even then they should not cancel top dressing, but only reduce their number.
Varieties of ground-covering roses
Naturally, we want roses to bloom all summer long. This can only be achieved with proper care and adherence to the feeding schedule. In the case of ground cover roses, this is not at all difficult, as we have already said, they have excellent vitality, and are absolutely not capricious. Winter-hardy varieties that bloom until frost will be presented to your attention. We decided to group them by color, for this group the standard colors are red, white, pink, the rest are uncharacteristic for ground cover roses, it is just right to call them exotic. We will give a brief description of the variety, post a photo for clarity.
Red varieties
Red roses will decorate any garden. They will successfully create a bright spot on the lawn or flower bed, and the towering varieties will invariably attract attention.
Apaches
Self-cleaning variety with bright red simple flowers 6-8 cm in size, collected in 5-10 pieces. Forms a compact bush no more than 80 cm high, about 70 cm wide, belongs to the third subgroup. This rose blooms constantly, feels good in the fifth zone, is resistant to diseases and soaking of buds.
Martha Wynyard
This variety blooms late, but then its semi-double buds with a faint smell completely cover the shoots until frost. A bush 60-75 cm high spreads shoots by 1,5 m, forms a huge flowering pillow. Rather raspberry than red flowers in diameter do not exceed 4 cm, most often collected in 5-10 pieces. Climatic zone – fifth, good resistance to disease. This variety holds low and high temperatures well.
Purple Haze
This is one of the best reblooming red ground cover roses despite being a simple flower. It has a rich red color and a perfect shape. The number of buds up to 6 cm in diameter in the inflorescence is 3-5. A bush no more than 70 cm high, reaches a meter in width, is intended for cultivation in zone five, has a high resistance to diseases, and an average resistance to wetting.
White varieties
White roses will be appropriate everywhere. Their varieties can be combined with any shrubs or flowers of other colors – they will refresh and dilute even plantings with ineptly chosen colors.
Arctic
It fully justifies its name, as it is grown even in the fourth climatic zone, it easily withstands frosts up to 35 degrees. This rose up to 60 cm high, about 120 wide can be grown as a ground cover. White, medium-double flowers 4-5 cm in size, rosette-shaped, collected in 5-10 pieces and almost odorless. Flowering – repeated, if you do not keep the plant on a starvation diet, this rose will bloom constantly until frost. To soaking resistance – medium, to diseases – high. According to reviews, it does not need to remove faded buds.
Diamond Border
A rather tall bush up to 90 cm wide can stretch up to one and a half meters. The flowers are snow-white, with a slight pleasant aroma of wild rose, semi-double, no more than 10 cm in diameter, collected 5-10 cm each. It blooms again, it has a high resistance to diseases. The rose would be perfect if it weren’t for the low wet resistance.
White Flower Carpet
This is one of the best white ground cover rose varieties. It rarely grows up to 50 cm in height, about 125 wide. It belongs to the first subgroup, grows in the fifth zone, has continuous flowering and high resistance to wetting and disease. The flowers are snow-white, semi-double, up to 6 cm in size, collected in inflorescences of 3-15 pieces.
Pink varieties
Delicate pink flowers sometimes look touching, and sometimes defiant. See how different they can be depending on the shade.
Bluewunder
A repeat blooming shrub that can be grown as a groundcover. In height, the bush reaches 70-80 cm, and in width without pruning it can stretch for two meters. Semi-double flowers with wavy petals are almost odorless, reach 6 cm and are collected 5-10 at the tops of the shoots. The variety is intended for cultivation in the fifth climatic zone, resistant to diseases and soaking.
Poplar
Rose Cordes is a kind of quality mark. A dense compact bush up to 40 cm high, 50 wide is distinguished by excellent health, resistance to wetting and is intended for the fifth climatic zone. Saturated pink simple flowers with a yellow center have a diameter of 3-4 cm and are collected together in 5-10 pieces, bloom continuously on the bush until frost.
Lavender Dream
This rose has very small semi-double flowers of cold dark pink color. They reach only 2-3 cm in diameter, are collected in clusters of 5-10 pieces, but during the first flowering they almost completely cover the bushes. After some fading, the flowers reappear, though not in such amazing quantities. The bush reaches a height of 60-70 cm, a width of about 100. Medium resistance to diseases, intended for the fifth climatic zone.
Roses with exotic coloration
If you want to surprise someone, then yellow or orange ground cover roses are just what you need. There are not so many of them, so their presence in the garden is always admired.
Amber Cover
A hardy and healthy variety belonging to the third subgroup is excellent for our conditions. The bush grows in height no more than 60-90 cm, drooping leafy shoots with a small number of thorns are spread over 1,5 m. The size of amber-yellow spherical semi-double buds reaches 10 cm, the number of flowers in the brush is up to 5-10 pieces. This rose blooms continuously, smells like wild rose and grows well in the fifth climate zone. Resistance to wetting and disease is very high.
Jazz
Rose with bronze-orange flowers up to 4 cm in diameter, which are collected in 3-5 pieces. Great for landing in arrays. It reaches a height of 60-70 cm, the shoots first stretch up and then droop. It blooms repeatedly, self-cleaning and has a high resistance to disease, medium – to soaking.
Lemon Maidiland
Pale yellow semi-double flowers up to 5 cm in 3-5 clustered together and have a faint aroma. A compact bush with small glossy leaves rarely reaches a height of 50 cm, grows by half a meter. A re-blooming variety designed for cultivation in the fifth zone, it has a high resistance to diseases and wetting.
Conclusion
I hope we’ve convinced you that ground cover roses are beautiful. They are worth growing on every site, and given the ease of care and ease of propagation, these varieties can be recommended even for low-maintenance gardens.