Discover 7 roses loved by pollinators

Rose bush Friendly 'Sweet Meinatope'

The Rosier Friendly® ‘Sweet Meinatope’, an innovation from Meilland, offers alluring dog-rose flowers, with a soft pink fading to a pearly white and opening to a heart of yellow stamens. They attract bees and birds thanks to their abundance of pollen and nectar, before turning into vermilion-red hips. Awarded the Silver Medal at the Bagatelle competition in Paris in 2019 and the ADR label in Germany in 2021, this robust and healthy variety benefits from exceptional natural resistance to diseases and pests.

With a bushy habit and a mature height of around 80 cm to 1 m, it features matte green deciduous foliage in winter. The flowers, single and reminiscent of ancestral dog roses, unfold in large pyramidal clusters from May to October–November, unfazed by cold.

Suitable for ecological cultivation, ‘Sweet Meinatope’ requires little maintenance, relying on watering during dry periods and annual pruning. It thrives in all climates and soil types, provided they are not too dry or poor. In natural, ecological gardens or those with a somewhat wild look, in borders, a low hedge or in groups, pair it with shrubs such as evergreen Ceanothus or the buddleias.

David Austin Kew Gardens rose

The English rose ‘Kew Gardens®’ is a must-have variety for rose enthusiasts, named after London’s iconic Kew Gardens. Its immaculate white blooms confer on this upright, thornless shrub a majestic presence, with dark green, healthy, disease-resistant foliage.

Reaching a height of 1.5 m with a spread of 1 m, Kew Gardens displays an upright habit. From early summer to the first frosts, its flowers unfold in large corymbs, offering almost continuous flowering. The buds, a delicate pale apricot, open into five-petalled white blooms, surrounding a soft lemon-yellow heart.

Perfect as a backdrop in borders, the Kew Gardens rose tolerates root competition well, making it ideal for borders of shrubs with showy flowers or foliage, such as Cotinus coggygria ‘Grace’.

In a cottage garden setting, it pairs elegantly with other English roses and a range of perennials and annuals, such as gypsophila, nigella, foxgloves and hardy geraniums.

Decorative shrub rose 'Isalia'

Rosa glauca

The Rosa glauca, also known as Rosa rubrifolia, is a botanical species known for its exceptional foliage offering bluish or purplish hues depending on light exposure. Its small, vivid-pink flowers contrast beautifully with the foliage, while its glossy red fruits decorate the shrub for much of the winter, both attracting bees and birds in search of food.

This hardy shrub thrives in full sun as well as in partial shade, creating a striking contrast in shrub borders or when planted as a solitary specimen. Its presence in the garden adds an undeniable touch of natural charm.

Originating from the mountains of Central Europe, Rosa glauca, despite the simplicity of its flowers, is not outshone by cultivated rose varieties and has even been honoured with the prestigious Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society. Rosa glauca is a favourite choice for plant enthusiasts seeking to combine aesthetics with biodiversity. Pair it with the grey foliage of Artemisia at its base and shrubs such as Weigelas and Deutzias.

Rose 'Flying Carpet'

The rosebush ‘Tapis Volant’ is a landscape rose variety distinguished by its robustness, its abundant flowering and attractive hip production. With a spreading and slightly trailing habit, this shrub transforms into a floral carpet, unfurling bouquets of pink and white eglantines with golden centres, exuding a delicate fragrance. These flowers bloom for five to six months in successive waves. Its disease resistance makes it a perfect choice for gardeners, even beginners, in beds, borders or pathways.

The rosebush ‘Tapis Volant’, awarded several honours, including the Certificate at The Hague and Le Roeulx, as well as the Gold Medal at Courtrai, exhibits rapid growth and a bushy habit. It reaches a height of 60-70 cm with a spread of 1.50 m, with dark green leaves, sometimes tinged with red, disease-resistant. Flowering begins in June and continues throughout summer and autumn, with pyramidal clusters of 30 to 50 pink and white flowers, attracting bees and pollinators with their fruity and musky fragrance.

The rosebush ‘Tapis Volant’ can be planted alone or in groups, and pairs harmoniously with other ground-cover roses, as well as with nepetas, snapdragons and perennial sages, for example.

Rose Friendly® 'Pink Meissalu'

The Rose Friendly® ‘Pink Meissalu’, a Meilland creation dating from 2021, offers simple, vivid dog-rose flowers, rich in pollen and nectar, in bright pink with a white centre and a heart of yellow stamens. They turn into vermilion-red hips. This bush rose, easy to grow and highly disease-resistant, adopts a balanced and well-branched habit.

‘Pink Meissalu’, with a bushy habit, as wide as it is tall, reaches about 80 cm to 1 m in all directions at maturity. Its green, matte leaves, deciduous in winter, support simple flowers that recall ancestral dog-roses, blooming in large pyramidal clusters from May to October–November.

‘Pink Meissalu’ integrates perfectly into an ecological gardening approach, without resorting to phytosanitary treatments and warmly welcoming wildlife. Requiring little maintenance, it is suitable for all climates and soil types, provided they are not excessively dry or poor. Ideal in a border, a low hedge or in a group of three, it harmonises with a variety of bushes such as the Vitex or the buddleia, with annuals sharing a philosophy of sustainable gardening, as well as with bulbs for naturalising and with grasses, to create a welcoming and living green space.

Rosa Decorosier 'New Vesuvia'

The Decorosier shrub rose ‘New Vesuvia’® presents itself as the evolution of the Vesuvia variety, with larger flowers and a deeper red. Belonging to the landscape roses category, it excels as a groundcover thanks to its low and dense habit.

Classed among modern, shrub and landscape roses, ‘New Vesuvia’ forms a dense bush 70–80 cm high with a dome-shaped, slightly spreading habit 90 cm to 1 m wide. It flowers from May to October with velvety red flowers of 6-7 cm in diameter. Although scentless, these flowers attract a multitude of pollinating insects thanks to their golden-yellow stamens. The foliage, evergreen or not depending on climate, is a dark glossy green.

The groundcover growth of ‘New Vesuvia’ is particularly effective at concealing soil on a bank or along the edges of paths. For maximum visual impact, pair it with single perennials such as the campanulas, lavenders or stachys to create a flowering, natural-looking and informal landscape in front of a bed of flowering shrubs or foliage with colour.