Stone beds are often planted with shrubs and grasses. However, bloom lovers lack color in the green and white rock garden. Roses in the stone bed add fragrance and color to the rock garden. But not all roses like the nutrient-poor, dry soil. Find out below which roses are suitable for the stone bed.
Roses add color to the stone bed
Which roses thrive in a stone bed?
Rose is not just rose. Since roses have enchanted mankind with their beautiful, fragrant flowers for quite some time, numerous breeders have bred increasingly sophisticated varieties for very different locations with very different requirements. There is a huge range of rose varieties, from non-hardy, sensitive roses to very hardy, robust roses.
The stone bed is characterized by certain factors:
- Dryness,
- sandy, nutrient-poor soil
- and blazing sun.
Heat-resistant, robust varieties that require few nutrients and are easy to care for are therefore suitable for the stone bed.
If you have the opportunity to enrich the soil with nutrients and water it on hot summer days, you will have many more roses to choose from for your rock garden.
Five drought-tolerant roses for the stone bed
These roses can cope with full sun, nutrient-poor sandy soil and drought:
| rose | botanical name | flower color | heyday | growth height | features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| burnet rose | Rosa spinosissima | White with a yellow center | May to June | Up to 1m | Native wild rose |
| Gallica Rose / Vinegar Rose | Rosa gallica | Pink to dark red | June to July | 0.70 to 1.50 m | Small, bushy shrub rose |
| dog rose | Rosa canina | whitepink | June to July | 2 to 3m | Most common wild rose |
| Potato Rose / Apple Rose | Pink rugose | pink | June to September | 1.20 to 1.50 m | Wild rose, strongly scented |
| sand rose | pink carolina | pink | June to August | Up to 1.50 m | Small in stature, wind resistant, undemanding, wood for feeding birds |
5 slightly more demanding rose varieties for the stone bed
The following rose varieties can cope with drought and blazing sun, but should be spoiled with compost once or twice a year.
| rose name | flower color | heyday | growth height | features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ground cover rose 'Mainaufeuer' ® | blood red | June to September | 30 to 60cm | Often flowering, rain-hardy and extremely heat-tolerant, semi-double |
| Rambler rose 'Super Dorothy' | pink | June to September | 2.20 to 2.80 m | Very hardy and floriferous |
| Shrub rose 'Ghislaine de Feligonde' | Yellow, orange or off-white | May to September | 1.50 to 2.00 m | Often flowering, double, almost thornless |
| Shrub rose 'Light Queen Lucia' | lemon yellow | June to September | 1.20 to 1.50 m | Often flowering, semi-double |
| Shrub rose 'Romance' ® | pink | June to October | 1.20 to 1.50 m | Double flowers, resistant to mildew, floriferous, fragrant |