Flower Carpet Rose Amber
Whether or not you are a fan of them, the Flower Carpet Rose Amber and others in this series of Roses gives a grand show.
I was always very reluctant to try out these Flower Carpet Roses. My concern was that ground cover Roses simply did not appeal to me. If I had taken the time to read about them I would have been aware that they weren’t simply ground hugging plants, in fact I am very pleased to now have a few of them in the garden.
The picture above, is that of the very first bud to open on Flower Carpet Rose Amber, and what beautiful shades of orange, yellow and peach it has.
As you can see above, further into the Summer season the shading of colours were less pronounced but nevertheless still very attractive.
There are a good few of these Roses available, bred by the German Rose breeder Noack Rosen. Amber is one of the next generation flower carpet roses where it is said that the refined breeding has produced improved heat and humidity tolerance on top of its already existing disease resistance. Well I am happy regarding the disease resistance however the heat and humidity thing is of little consequence in Aberdeen, seems to me Noack has introduced a cold resistance tolerance which he perhaps is unaware of.
Below is a list of some of the Flower Carpet Roses available.
Some of the traditional gardeners who grow Roses may perhaps be a little reluctant about having Roses such as these in their gardens. However, personally I am reminded of the late Gardeners World Presenter, Geoff Hamilton who would refer to some plants as good doers.
Well, Amber in our back garden has been a very good doer, displaying masses of blooms in this its second year. Smothered in buds in June and because of the cold wet Summer they did not open until the first week in August, last year it was early July when the show started.
Taking all things into consideration Flower Carpet gets the thumbs up from me. This fully hardy Rose bears masses of blooms in Summer and is said to carry over a thousand blooms in a good year. Height is about 2/3ft 60/90cm with a spreading habit. Reported to be virtually disease resistant, and as for pruning in late Winter, well it couldn’t be easier, simply cut it back to a third of its height or even less and Bobs yer uncle.
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This one below, Flower Carpet Rose White was added to the front garden in Spring of this year. The height of the white form is expected to be 2ft, this is shorter than Amber making it more suitable for the front garden.
The semi double flowers of pure white have a yellow centre and have fitted in perfectly with the perennials and annuals in the borders.
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This white variety did remarkably well in its first year considering the weather and the fact that they were not planted until mid April.
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Finally, Flower carpet Gold, shown below, brightening up the West facing border in the back garden before being overwhelmed by the Stipa Arundinacea.
I don’t think I am colour blind but Flower Carpet Gold I found to be a pleasing shade of lemon rather than gold. It was flowering away nicely before becoming smothered, due to the ornamental grass which grew much more vigorously than expected. I will possibly shift these two Roses, I believe the flower carpet series perform very well in containers.
The Mail Order links which I provide normally did not open in a separate window or tab, they do now thanks to Esther of Esthers Boring Garden for drawing my attention to this. Oh by the way, visit Esther, you will be anything but bored.
On the other hand now that I have had a little time to think of it. Does it really have an advantage opening in a separate window, I mean we all know clicking the back button will take us back to the page which we just left. I would be really keen to hear your views on this.
— Mail Order —
We do of course have some of the more traditional Roses in the garden which I will talk of at some time.
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Apart from the numerous garden birds which visit regularly we have Hedgehogs, Squirrels, and the Wood mouse often shows an appearance, even young Deer I have spotted walking up the avenue where we live. However one evening last week after dark and when the outside light was switched on to encourage Purdee to come indoors, here is what we saw looking back at us.
Well, I suppose it may be a common sight for some folks, but this is the first time the Fox has visited us.
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The council people killed them off a couple of years ago, but look whose back, we are happy enough to have you share the bird feeders.
Oh, I should let you know, the reason for a cull on the Grey Squirrel is because of the threat to our not so strong red ones.
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If I go back fifteen years or so the Wood Pigeons did not visit gardens in town. Now they are a common sight. This is the first time I have seen them feeding on the Rowan berries.
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A pair of Bullfinches at the garden feeder, occasional visitors who usually prefer to pick off the young buds on some of the trees
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Seems like in the last few years the Song Thrush abandoned us. Very pleased to see its return in October of this year.
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Not so many years ago the Goldfinch was another garden bird which did not frequent town gardens. Now this most colourful of British birds is a very common sight. The first time I spotted five of them by the garden pond I thought they must surely have escaped from an aviary.
© 2012 – 2017, Alistair. All rights reserved.
Oh Alistair you have lots of visitors, but the fox looks so scary! I wont bother with the squirrel but that fox will keep me indoors. The roses are great!
The Fox does look scary Andrea, however I think he would scarper if we tumbled upon him. (well perhaps)
Your roses are very beautiful and the ‘criiter’ photos are great as well. Our gold finch is quite different from yours… the males are a brilliant yellow with black highlights and no red at all. They change in color a lot come the winter months. Thanks for the tour of your flora and fauna! Larry
Hi Larry, I have seen pictures of your Goldfinch and yes it is quite different. Off to see what you are saying about Martagon Lilies.
I do prefer links opening in a new page. Love the carpet roses and I have a red one that even can deal with rabbits feeding on the canes all winter. Some winters it dies all the way back and grows again from the ground up. I adore foxes and other critters and would love our resident fox to come into the fence and take care of the voles.
Thanks Donna, looks like the Carpet Roses are even more resilient than I thought.
I love carpet roses, although I couldn’t find the amber when I was looking for it. Now, of course, I’ve filled that spot! They really are wonderful roses, and easy care is a big plus in my book. As for opening a new page, I do think it makes a big difference. I remember when I first found a garden blog. It linked to another garden blog, which linked to another garden blog, etc. I got so excited, opening links one after another, but I soon realized that some of the blogs I was unable to go back to due to their closing when I opened the next one. Your critters are wonderful, and I love the photos of the pigeons among the berries.
Thanks Holley, I am well and truly coming around to the idea of links opening in a new tab.
The first rose in particular looks lovely Alistair! And it’s always nice to see wildlife in the garden, especially birds. We have a few resident woodpigeons in our area, and last year they even nested on top of the pergola (fortunately our cats left them alone).
That surely is well behaved cats.
Bobs my uncle!
Yes, I am a scourge of a rose grower. I too like flower carpet roses, not so much knockout roses however. I have Flower Carpet red, mainly for the bright red blooms and glossy foliage and of course the simplicity of care.(Notice I didn’t say low maintenance?)
What a coincidence Greggo, you also having an uncle Bob that is. Simplicity of care, such well structured wording.
Love your critter captures. The fox is priceless. They can be a bit feisty too. You have such pretty birds in your garden.
Myra has taken to putting food out for the fox at night, I am having second thoughts of this.
This is Flower carpet Roses??? Wow! I’ve mostly seen yellow and pink. These are gorgeous! The amber one reminds me of my rhododendron Honey Butter with its wonderful shade of peach! The fox is adorable! And birds love your place! Something good is going on there if animals come back! What a delightful post Alistair! Thank you!
Thank you Tatyana, the links which I have provided will serve me well if I decide to get some more of these Roses.
Firstly how fascinating to have a fox visit 🙂 – need to get the BBC into your garden for autumnwatch! and those pesky squirrels certainly keep us amused at the feeders as long as they don’t raid too much on you. I had a wood pigeon nest in the garden…….something happened to stop them staying and there’s still one egg that didn’t hatch in the nest.
As for your carpet roses Alistair I have the red as a standard and the yellow one as groundcover. The yellow standard died in the winter of 2010 but I think it was due to frost getting into the graft. The groundcover one took a real beating with those harsh winters but fully recovered. Your photographs are beautiful especially of each of the rose varieties.
Hi Rosie, I suspect that you get lower temperatures in Winter than we who are close to the coast.
I am astonished at the fox! Wonderful images of him too. I’ve never ever seen one. I wonder if the coyotes we have, who sing almost every night, discourage the presence of foxes…. Really I think that your having foxes AND hedgehogs is completely unfair. But your gardens are so pretty they probably can’t help themselves.
Foxes have a reputation of being a bit sleekit Linnie. Not exactly relevant to your comment, but I just thought you would like to know. Honestly my head is full of s—-y information leaving little room for what is important.
Alistair, I wish you could come and visit my garden in London, here’s foxes, squirrels and wood pigeons wherever you turn, it’s like a mad zoo at times! Especially the foxes are a pest, as the urban foxes are not afraid of humans, they just stand there looking at you when you come out in the garden. I had a whole fox family living next door last year, using my garden as their day-lounge, sleeping in my flower beds and coming right up to my back door using the steps as their toilet. I solved the problem by persuading the house owner next door to let me clear the garden for brambles and weeds and put some nice plants in, it helped, the foxes moved on! As for feeding the foxes, hmmm…a big no-no here in London, but if you enjoy having the foxes coming back every evening then…
Loved your info about Flower Carpet Roses, I have seen them on mail order, but haven’t tried any, perhaps I could grow some in between my large rose bushes? Or would they compete too much with each other? I have been thinking of getting some perennials to fill in between my roses as they are quite bare down at the ground, perhaps Flower Carpet Roses will look better.
Helene, when my daughter lived in London I remember the foxes could be a nuisance. I like hardy Geraniums in amongst the Roses. It can make the feeding of the Roses a bit awkward though. If your large Roses are well spaced apart I would think Flower Carpet could look quite good.
don’t know about carpet roses, but that glowing amber coloured rose has me hooked. I adore your wildlife photos The fox, although beautiful, has bad associations. They kill native animals, and are an introduced unwelcome species here.
At the moment the fox is a bit of a novelty, but I suspect they could be a nuisance.
I have more than enough pigeon visitors. I wonder if they scare the small birds away, except for the brave robins. Your song thrush would be welcome in my garden any time. Does it really sing?
b-a-g, the song thrush in my opinion out sings all the other garden birds in Spring
I am certainly a fan… have many in my own gardens. Your images are delightful Alistair.
I have flower carpet pink and white – both do well in a bed that is exposed to the east and north, flowering for months well into the autumn. The pink is very lopsided though, with one much stronger branch going off at an odd angle. I need to work out how to shape it.
Laura, tidy up to your hearts content with flower Carpet Roses, late Feb or early March. Wayward branches can be cut back at any time.
Alistair, your photos are beautiful, especially the birds and the squirrel is too cute for words! A fox in my garden would scare me though 🙂
Christine, we are less excited at the Fox turning up. Apparently in the housing estate which is nearby a fox has been seen going for a cat.
Beautiful roses, Alistair. I like the yellow ones best, I think — difficult to choose. We have foxes, too. For that reason my husband wont allow me to have chickens (which I would love). P x
Pam, everyone loves chickens, historically foxes and chickens are a no no, so my childhood comics told me.
Hey old pal. Seems quite a juxtaposition to have thorny ground cover roses and all the wild life in the same post. Amber seems to have more soul than the others. Wish same coloring was in a Knockout.
Best,
Patrick
Patrick, juxtaposition, I like that one, I would use it but no doubt I would get it wrong.
Loved all the wildlife shots. We have lots of foxes and they don’t pose any problems. One of our cats used to run around the yard playing with them. I think links in a new window are better. Sometimes you start clicking away and forget to go back to the blog you were originally reading. I want to provide links but not lose readers mid-post.
Thanks Carolyn, new window seems to be the way to go for most.
Where would we be without good doers? And just because something is a good doer, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t desire it too!
Beautiful photos of your garden visitors – I am delighted to see the Song Thrush has returned!
I guess there are some good doers which would not be quite so welcome.
Nice to read about the carpet roses. I’ve often wondered what they were really like, not believing the advertisement blurb.
You’ve got a lot of visitors in your garden there.
I remember when I was a child, goldfinches could only be seen for sale in pet shops. Now they are more common in our gardens than sparrows.
Crystal, The Goldfinches in our garden are also more numerous than the common sparrow. In fact the sighting of a sparrow is becoming very infrequent.