Low-growing, groundcover roses are at home in many landscape applications. They make a wonderful wide border, cover inclines and create handsome transitions between perennials and shrubs. Many groundcover varieties offer superb disease resistance thus making them low to no-maintenance garden plants.
Groundcover roses are available in most any color but their height may vary from one to four feet tall. It would be nice if homeowners could choose their ideal height plus disease resistance in every color of rose but that is not yet possible. Therefore, determine what is most important to you – bloom color and fullness, height (and controlling it) or disease resistance. This will help you select a low-growing variety you will enjoy for years to come.
One of the latest introductions to the market are Drift roses. Bred by Conrad Pyle, (as were Knock-outs), Drift roses are truly a low-mounding shrub growing 18 inches tall. They bloom almost non-stop with new flushes of flowers every five weeks; foliage has been consistently clean in plants I’ve observed from Houston…
