red-leaved rose
AKA Rosa rubrifolia
Seldom do you grow a rose primarily for its foliage but today’s pick of the week is precisely one of those. Anyone who is familiar with this charming species will agree that its beauty lies in the overall picture: purple-tinged, glaucous (from the Latin glaucus meaning bluish-grey) leaves, reddish-blue new shoots and stems, and clusters of bright pink flowers with white centres and golden yellow stamens, they all combine to make this an exceptional rose.
It doesn’t stop there either – abundant, pillar-box red hips are produced in the autumn and these are loved by birds.
Rosa glauca will attain approximately 1.8m in height, so in a border I would place it towards the back, but it would also look at home in a cottage garden, or as a stand alone specimen in a gravel garden. It’s thornless, very tolerant of part shade and of poor soil and an added bonus is that occasionally you will come across a self sown seedling which of course will come true.
Introduced in the mid 1800’s (it is native to mountainous parts of southern and central Europe) this unassuming rose would add value to even the smallest garden; being of open habit with arching stems, it allows for many planting opportunities, whereas most shrub roses guard their own space rather fiercely. A couple of purpled leaved hylotelephium at its feet and a scrambling blue geranium such as ‘Jolly Bee’ (aka Rozanne) would be good partners, as would a Group 3 not-too-vigorous clematis.
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