Rosa 'Alexander von Humboldt' - Shrub Rose

The 'Alexander von Humboldt' rose bush from the Nectar Garden collection is a brand-new variety of landscape rose with a low, spreading habit. It is known for its endlessly vibrant flowering and excellent natural disease resistance, as the German ADR label attests. These qualities make it a fantastic radiant, robust ground cover and easy to cultivate. Its clusters of small, single, shiny red flowers with a golden heart bloom for 5 to 6 months against a very attractive dark green foliage. It is perfect in sunny borders, cascading over walls, or large containers on the patio or balcony.

The flowers of Rosa (x) polyantha Alexander von Humboldt (KORhumalex), gathered in terminal clusters, come from the polyantha rose, an old hybrid derived from Rosa multiflora and Rosa chinensis. This variety, introduced in 2019 by the rose breeder Kordes, is part of a series of roses dedicated to biodiversity, being decorative, highly remontant, disease-resistant, and appreciated by pollinating insects. Holder of the ADR label, this rose also won the Silver Medal at Bagatelle.

This small bush has a low, spreading habit, distinctly wider than tall and partly inclined. In a few years, it will reach approximately 40 cm (16in) in height with a spread of 60 cm (24in). The 5-6 cm (2in) single flowers, with 5 petals and flat cup-shaped, are abundantly produced continuously from May to October if the soil remains moist. They are of a bright carmine red that attracts without being too much, enhanced by a beautiful golden stamen. Their colour perfectly withstands the sun's assault. They bloom in very large numbers, in clusters, without interruption as long as there is no frost. This vigorous and highly disease-resistant variety develops elegant, well-furnished foliage with small round leaflets and a shiny dark green colour. Its stems are thorny.

Bred by Kordes, Germany, 2018.

The 'Alexander von Humboldt' rose adapts to all soils that are not too dry and all climates, making it suitable for many regions. Ideal as a border for a path or flower bed, in a rock garden, or on a slope where it will cover the ground. It can also be planted in groups of 3, arranged in a triangle, in the centre of a small raised flower bed. Plant it en masse or combined with other white, mauve, or pink ground cover roses to highlight the path or the beds of light or opulent shrubs and perennials. It can also be paired with perennial geraniums (Geranium Blue Cloud, Anne Folkard, Nimbus, Rozanne, Orion), bellflowers (lactiflora, rapunculoides), catmints, snapdragons, lavenders, or other Stachys. Left to grow freely, it forms a wide cushion that enlivens any setting. Position it at the top of a wall, with silver basket, red valerian (Centranthus ruber), Nepeta fassenii, and creeping baby's breath.