Rosa x polyantha 'Naturen' (Nectar Garden) - Shrub Rose

The 'Naturen' rose bush from the Nectar Garden collection is a new variety of landscape roses created by Kordes, promising a bright future in our gardens. Naturally resistant to rose diseases like all creations from the German rose breeder, this bush is also very floriferous from late spring until late autumn. It produces a quantity of small, unpretentious flowers that are original in their pink-purple colour with a golden yellow centre, as well as interesting orange fruiting at the end of the season. Its dense habit and abundant foliage occupy the space well, keeping unwanted weeds at bay. Full of cheerfulness, appreciated by bees and birds, and undemanding, this colourful little rose will enhance any flower or shrub border in all styles of gardens.

Rosa x polyantha 'Naturen' flowers come in terminal clusters, derived from the polyantha rose, an old hybrid of Rosa multiflora and Rosa chinensis. This variety, first introduced in 2015 at the Parc de la Tête d'Or, is part of a series of roses dedicated to biodiversity, being both decorative, highly recurrent, disease-resistant, and appreciated by pollinating insects. Most of them, including 'Naturen' in 2015, have obtained the highly selective ADR label that rewards the most resistant varieties among other criteria. Since 2012, rose candidates for the EDR label have been evaluated under natural conditions, without any phytosanitary treatment, for three years in 11 trial stations spread throughout Germany and judged by independent experts.

This vigorous small bush has a dense and bushy habit. It will reach a height of approximately 70 cm (28in) and a spread of 50 cm (20in) in a few years. The 4-5 cm (2in) flowers, single to semi-double, are abundantly and continuously produced from May-June to October, provided the soil remains moist (intense summer drought will not kill the plant, but will prevent it from flowering). They open charmingly, like wild roses, with petals in a deep pink-mauve colour at first bloom. At full bloom, the petals turn into a vibrant raspberry pink and open widely, revealing a small white throat housing a beautiful heart of golden stamens. They bloom in great numbers, in clusters, as long as there is no frost. The last flowers, pollinated by insects, give way to large round fruits of orange colour, the hips, sought after by birds. This variety develops dense foliage, divided into small, ovate leaflets with finely toothed edges in a dark green colour. Its stems are thorny.

The 'Naturen' rose adapts to all soils that are not too dry and all climates, allowing it to be planted in many regions. It has a great effect as a border plant or in a flower bed, planted in groups or mixed with other small flowering shrubs. Its original and vibrant flower colour can be combined with white, pink, red, blue, or even purple blooms. To accompany it, choose perennial geraniums (Geranium Blue Cloud, Anne Folkard, Nimbus, Rozanne, Orion), bellflowers, catmints, lavenders, perennial salvias, red valerians (Centranthus ruber), or chamomiles. You can also create lovely borders with this 'Naturen' rose by planting one rose bush every 50 cm (20in).