Rosa Douceur Normande

Rosa Douceur Normande is a remarkable half-shrub half-landscape rose. This repeat-flowering bush tolerates shade and is resistant to diseases, cold, and drought. Its flowering, in the form of large single roses with a vibrant salmon colour, is particularly abundant and regular from late spring to the first frost. With an upright, yet bushy and flexible habit, it will work wonders in a small hedge, a large shrub border, or even simply in a large pot on a patio.

Rosa Douceur Normande was derived from the Asian climbing rose R. wichuraiana. While modern roses are often criticised for their stiffness and weak disease resistance, Douceur Normande has the purple, flexible, and thorny branches of its vigorous ancestor. Its glossy foliage is disease-resistant.

It is also known as 'Coral Meidiland', 'Goose Fair', 'Sandton City' or 'Stadt Hildesheim'.

Obtained in 1993 by Alain Meilland, this somewhat unclassifiable rose is still classified as a cluster-flowered rose. It forms a superb slightly spreading bush, often wider than tall, with flexible branches. Its average size reaches 1.2m (4ft) in height and 1.3m (4ft) in width. In warm regions, it can easily reach 2m (7ft) in height and 4m (13ft) in width. From May until the first frost, it bears clusters of 4 to 5 single roses with undulated margins, 6cm (2in) wide. Their colour is somewhere between bright pink and orange. The lighter centre of the flower with a small white eye is filled with numerous golden yellow stamens. The fragrance is discreet, if not absent. Small orange hips form after flowering if faded flowers are not removed. Its dark green foliage displays red veins. This variety offers excellent resistance to rust and black spot disease. It only requires annual pruning in late winter. It received the award for landscape rose at Bagatelle in 1993. 

With its vivacity, simplicity, and vigour, Rosa Douceur Normande will undoubtedly find its place in any garden. Robust and reliable, it adapts to all soils that are not too dry and all climates (even hot ones). It will integrate perfectly into a large shrub border or a landscaped hedge, in the company of Japanese quinces, berberis, Mexican orange blossoms, or other landscape or botanical roses like Emera, Opalia, Swany, and Rosa officinalis. Left unrestricted, it will form a beautiful flowering dome with blurred shapes, creating an incredibly elegant display in front of a border of flowering shrubs composed of abelias, kolkwitzia, mock oranges, elderberries, brooms, laburnums, and lilacs. In Mediterranean climates, it could form a large ground cover in shaded areas.