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Redleaf rose

Rosa glauca ·

Redleaf rose (Rosa glauca) in flower
Photo: Wouter Hagens, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

A rose grown for its leaves, which are a smoky, glaucous purple-grey on arching, nearly thornless, plum-coloured stems. It has small, single pink flowers and a heavy crop of red hips.

Size
6½ ft tall, 5 ft wide
Zones
3 to 8
Light
Full sun
Flowers
Early June to late June
Pets
No toxicity recorded
Job in a bed
Anchor

A bed built around redleaf rose

The planner designed this bed around redleaf rose when this page was made: a 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) cottage garden in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why redleaf rose stands where it does.

A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed at eye level in late June: Redleaf rose, Verbena 'Homestead Purple', Winter heath, Sweet coneflower 'Henry Eilers', Southernwood, Rock cress, Fountain grass 'Little Bunny', Hardy gladiolus, Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation', Easter lily.
A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) cottage garden in zone 6, full sun, seen from the path in late June.
1. Redleaf rose14. Sweet coneflower 'Henry Eilers'44. Sweet coneflower 'Henry Eilers'44. Sweet coneflower 'Henry Eilers'46. Rock cress66. Rock cress66. Rock cress62. Verbena 'Homestead Purple'22. Verbena 'Homestead Purple'22. Verbena 'Homestead Purple'23. Winter heath33. Winter heath33. Winter heath33. Winter heath33. Winter heath36. Rock cress66. Rock cress66. Rock cress66. Rock cress65. Southernwood55. Southernwood55. Southernwood510. Easter lily1010. Easter lily1010. Easter lily1010. Easter lily109. Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation'99. Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation'99. Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation'99. Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation'98. Hardy gladiolus8. Hardy gladiolus8. Hardy gladiolus8. Hardy gladiolus7. Fountain grass 'Little Bunny'77. Fountain grass 'Little Bunny'77. Fountain grass 'Little Bunny'73. Winter heath33. Winter heath33. Winter heath35. Southernwood52. Verbena 'Homestead Purple'26. Rock cress66. Rock cress66. Rock cress610. Easter lily109. Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation'98. Hardy gladiolus9. Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation'98. Hardy gladiolus10. Easter lily10
From above, to scale. Each circle is one plant, as wide as the room it needs.

The plants

  1. 1 Redleaf rose × 1, pink
  2. 2 Verbena 'Homestead Purple' × 4, purple
  3. 3 Winter heath × 8, white
  4. 4 Sweet coneflower 'Henry Eilers' × 3, yellow
  5. 5 Southernwood × 4, grey-green leaves
  6. 6 Rock cress × 10, white
  7. 7 Fountain grass 'Little Bunny' × 3, cream
  8. 8 Hardy gladiolus × 6, pink
  9. 9 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 6, purple
  10. 10 Easter lily × 6, white

Why this plant

  • The only open bowls. The others are dense clusters, bells, daisies and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
  • Part of the bed's structure. Shrubs and grasses keep their shape when the perennials die down. So do winter heath and fountain grass 'Little Bunny'.

Why here

  • Anchors a back corner. At 6½ ft it is the tallest plant here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
  • A step in the back row. Next to southernwood (3½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
  • One plant, alone. A shrub is seen as an object, and needs clear ground around it.

Why now

  • In flower for four weeks. From early June to late June.
  • Part of the bed's peak. With verbena 'Homestead Purple', hardy gladiolus and ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' in early June: 4 kinds at once. No week has more.

Planned as a cottage garden: 33 of the 33 plants (100%), bulbs aside, stand alone or in groups of no more than five, small enough for the kinds to mingle. The bed is balanced: the left half carries 55% of the visual weight and the right half 45%. The most in flower at one time is 4 kinds, in early June.

The planner's own design check: 8 Excellent, 8 Good, 1 Satisfactory.

Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.

Where redleaf rose goes in a border

At 6½ ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is very tall (5 to 6½ ft).

Its job: anchor. A shrub that gives the bed permanent structure. Planted singly, as soon as the front edge is laid; everything else is arranged around it.

The leaf colour is unique and makes pink, purple and white flowers beside it look better. It is healthy and needs no spraying. It self-seeds a little.

  • Foliage colour in a mixed border
  • Hips in autumn
  • Cut foliage for arrangements

What to plant with redleaf rose

Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:

  • Catmint 'Six Hills Giant': in flower together for four weeks, from early June; low enough (3 ft) to stand in front of it.
  • Lady's mantle: in flower together for four weeks, from early June; low enough (18 in) to stand in front of it.
  • Cranesbill 'Rozanne': in flower together for four weeks, from early June; low enough (18 in) to stand in front of it.

Questions about redleaf rose

Does redleaf rose need sun or shade?

Redleaf rose grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).

It wants ordinary well-drained soil, of average fertility, and little watering once settled.

What zones does redleaf rose grow in?

USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).

Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.

Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.

When does redleaf rose flower in my zone?

In zone 5 it flowers early June to late June. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.

Roughly when redleaf rose is in flower
Zone 3Mid June to early July
Zone 4Mid June to early July
Zone 5Early June to late June
Zone 6Early June to late June
Zone 7Late May to late June
Zone 8Late May to late June

Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.

How far apart should redleaf rose be planted?

4 ft (120 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 5 ft (150 cm), so a group knits into one patch.

It grows 6½ ft (200 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.

How many redleaf rose plants do I need?

Usually one. At 4 ft (120 cm) across, it is a plant you place, not one you mass. For a hedge or screen, set them 4 ft apart: three plants for a 10 ft run.

In the bed above, the planner used one in one group.

Is redleaf rose poisonous to dogs and cats?

No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to the ASPCA.

"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.

Is there a native plant like redleaf rose?

Redleaf rose is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:

  • Snowberry: the same job in a bed and the same colour; 2½ ft shorter, flowers mid June to mid July.
  • Ninebark 'Little Devil': the same job in a bed, the same flowering time and the same colour; 3 ft shorter, 8 in narrower.
  • Virginia rose: the same job in a bed, the same flowering time and the same colour; 20 in shorter, medium leaves, not fine.

Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.

Will redleaf rose spread?

It seeds itself about; the risk of it taking over is moderate. Self-seeds freely. Remove the spent flowers to limit seedlings.

What flowers after redleaf rose?

Redleaf rose is over by late June. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:

  • Delphinium: from late June to mid July, 5 ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
  • Hardy hibiscus: from late July to mid September, 5 ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
  • Hollyhock: from early July to late August, 6 ft tall.

What does redleaf rose look like in winter?

Redleaf rose drops its leaves and stands as bare branches. That is when to see its shape, and to prune it if it needs pruning.

More Rosa

In these guides

Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8

In flower in: June

Every fact on record

Type
Shrub
Size
6½ ft (200 cm) tall, 5 ft (150 cm) wide
Plant
4 ft (120 cm) apart
Height class
Very tall (5 to 6½ ft)
Place in the bed
Back
Flowers
Early June to late June; open bowls; pink
Leaves
Fine texture, deciduous; purple, blue-green
Shape
Vase-shaped, self-seeding
Hardy in
USDA zones 3 to 8
Light
Full sun
Soil
Average, well-drained
Water
Low
Feeding
None needed

Checked against ASPCA poison lists. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.