Rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant'
Helianthemum 'Henfield Brilliant' ·
Flowers of glowing brick-orange with a boss of yellow stamens, over a low mound of narrow, silvery-grey leaves.
- Size
- 10 in tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Late May to mid July
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Carpet
A bed built around rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant'
The planner designed this bed around rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' × 9, orange
- 2 Sea thrift × 8, white
- 3 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 3, tan
- 4 False sunflower 'Summer Nights' × 3, yellow
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Gloriosa daisy × 3, red
- 7 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 3, purple
- 8 Spring starflower × 12, blue
Why this plant
- The only open bowls. The others are globes, spires and daisies. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only orange.
Why here
- On the front edge. At 10 in it frames the bed without hiding it, and it is in leaf all season. It finishes 66% of the edge.
- 9 plants in 2 runs (5 and 4). Runs of different lengths make the edge a frame, not a ruled line.
- Fine leaf against bold. Silver sage is beside it: the strongest contrast of leaf there is.
Why now
- In flower for 7 weeks. From late May to mid July.
- Fills a gap. For one of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
- One of two evergreens. They are what the bed has to show from November to March.
Planned as an English border: 5 of the 6 groups (83%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The back corners are held by false sunflower 'Summer Nights' and little bluestem 'The Blues', the tallest plants on the plan. Something is in flower for 27 weeks, from early April to early October.
The planner's own design check: 15 Excellent, 1 Good, 1 Satisfactory. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' goes in a border
At 10 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is low (6 to 12 in).
Its job: carpet. A groundcover planted in threes and fives to cover the soil: along the front, and just behind it.
The hottest colour among the rock roses, set off by its own grey foliage. It suits a gravel garden with blue grasses and lavender.
- Hot colour for a gravel garden
- Dry walls and banks
- Evergreen grey foliage
What to plant with rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Blue fescue: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; happy in the same dry soil.
- English lavender 'Hidcote': purple against orange, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for four weeks; spires rising out of its mound; tall enough (18 in) to stand behind it.
- Woolly thyme: its grey-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; low enough (2 in) to stand in front of it; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant'
Does rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' need sun or shade?
Rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled.
What zones does rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 8. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °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 rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late May to mid July. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 5 | Late May to mid July |
|---|---|
| Zone 6 | Late May to mid July |
| Zone 7 | Mid May to early July |
| Zone 8 | Early May to early July |
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 rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' be planted?
18 in (45 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 24 in (60 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 10 in (25 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' plants do I need?
At 18 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 5 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 17 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as threes and fives, along the front and just behind it.
In the bed above, the planner used nine in two groups.
Is there a native plant like rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant'?
Rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Woolly yarrow: the same job in a bed and the same flowering time; 6 in narrower, yellow, not orange.
- Seaside daisy: the same job in a bed and the same size; flowers late May to late August, lavender, not orange.
- Three-toothed cinquefoil: the same job in a bed and the same flowering time; 4 in shorter, 6 in narrower.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What flowers after rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant'?
Rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' is over by mid July. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Lilyturf: from early August to mid September, 16 in tall.
- Black-eyed Susan: from mid July to mid September, 24 in tall.
- Ornamental onion 'Millenium': from mid July to late August, 18 in tall.
What does rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' look like in winter?
Rock rose 'Henfield Brilliant' keeps its grey-green leaves all winter, so it is one of the plants that hold a bed together from November to March, when the perennials have gone.
More Helianthemum
- Rock rose Helianthemum nummularium
- Rock rose 'Wisley Primrose' Helianthemum 'Wisley Primrose'
In these guides
- Low plants for the front of a border
- Groundcover plants
- Evergreen perennials, ferns and grasses
- Silver and grey-leaved plants
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial (groundcover)
- Size
- 10 in (25 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Low (6 to 12 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Late May to mid July; open bowls; orange, red
- Leaves
- Fine texture, evergreen; grey-green
- Shape
- Mat-forming, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. 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.