Rosa polyantha 'Mona Lisa' - Shrub Rose

The 'Mona Lisa' Rose (Meilyxir) is a new polyantha rose bush that stands out for its exceptional resistance to diseases and the radiant colour of its flowers, which are vermillion red. Its excellent health has earned it the prestigious German ADR label, and its vigour and beautiful floribundity have been rewarded with 1st prize from the National Horticultural Society of France. Its beautiful double roses, gathered in bouquets, bloom from June to October on a small, low, compact bush, well supplied with medium green foliage. Plant it in your borders, flower beds, or a patio pot. A handful of its flowers dipped in a vase is a true decoration for the house. Combine them with white, pink, or even mauve roses!

'Mona Lisa' or 'Meilyxir' is a modern bush rose with clustered flowers introduced by the Angevin rose grower Claude Michel in 2008 and distributed by Meilland. This variety forms a low, dense, upright bush, quickly reaching about 65 cm (26in) in height and 45 cm (18in) in width. It produces green, sturdy, thorny branches, which bear abundant, ample, healthy foliage with a medium matte green colour. Throughout the summer, if you take care to remove faded flowers, the plant produces successive waves of large buds that open into beautiful double flowers measuring 9-10 cm (4in) in diameter. They are composed of 80 petals of an intense red. This variety is scentless. The flowers are grouped in bouquets of 3 to 5 and carried at the end of long shoots from the current year or emerging from 2-year-old stems.

This 'Mona Lisa' rose is an easy plant to grow by everyone, everywhere. It fits just as well in a nice pot on the terrace or balcony as among perennials or other small bushes, along pathways or even on the edge of flower beds. The colour of its flowers, bright, enlivens any decor for months. To accompany it, consider catmints and small gauras that are just as generous. Some light-flowering perennials (autumn asters, foxgloves, penstemons), grasses, lavenders, or perennial geraniums (Rozanne, Pink Cloud) are ideal for enhancing its beauty. It will be superb planted in groups of 3 surrounded by silver foliage (Cinerea maritima, Dusty Miller, Artemisia 'Valerie Finnis'...)