Groundcover Roses.
The easy care advantage!

Groundcover roses are those modern shrubs that grow wider than they grow tall. They average up to two feet high by 4 feet wide although many have canes that cover a much wider area. They should be disease resistant and easy care. Most repeat bloom with deadheading, although the blooms tend to be small.

Ground cover roses are a perfect choice for large un-kept areas of open ground. You find them around stores and garages as well as in centre of the road median plantings. Homeowners use them in the more awkward laandscaping sites although the tendency now is to contain them in large barrels or pots. This tends to cut down on their spread and produce a denser growth.

Two popular groups of groundcover roses are the Carpet roses and the County roses. This last one goes by several different names. Both are classified as Modern Shrub Roses (MS).

Flower Carpet Roses

Flower Carpet roses all have dense foliage whch completely covers the ground up to about 3 feet. They have massive clusters of single white, unscented flowers that drop as they fade, but re-bloom in waves. They are supposed to be disease resistant but small areas of blackspot do occur. They go by very creative names. For example, the five I know of are called: Pink, Red, White, Yellow and Apple Blossom! Creative titles eh!

Apple Blossom is the most impressive with massive clusters of pale pink blooms. Pink is somewhat smaller and has bright pink flowers. Red is a little more open in style but with smaller deep red flowers. White spreads dense foliage and has thick white flowers. Yellow is a more open growth bush with somewhat larger yellow flowers. Pink and White provide the best "Groundcover" while red is used extensively in shopping area planters and along roadways. The best way to grow Carpet roses, I am told, is in crowded groupings.

County Roses

County Roses go by a variety of names. Besides the Counties of England naming (such as Kent or Surrey) you may come across such names as Baby Blanket, Pyrenees or Mainaufeuer. Some have equivalent names in French and/or German. Again these are classed as Modern Shrub roses (MS)and they spread foliage across the ground with long horizontal canes, sometimes up to 3 feet long. They rarely grow higher than they are wide. Blooms are small but often in massive clusters and most are unscented. They repeat bloom.

They were first developed in Germany and Denmark during the 80's and 90's and today there are more than 20 varieties all of which were designed to be disease and pest free. Each, of course, is named after an English County.

Wiltshire is a double deep pink, while Kent is a semi double white. Sussex is a single apricot color and Norfolk has small clusters of yellow blooms.

All these Groundcover roses provide an attractive, relatively hassle free display of summer blooms while spreading easily over the landscape. Look for these roses in planters and medians in your town or if you have a troublesome area needing a colorful groundcover, consider the humble rose. And don't forget those planters: these roses are an easy way to fill them.

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