Not the plant you're looking for? Search over 300,000 plants

Rosa 'Penelope' (HM)
  • RHS AGM

rose 'Penelope'

Large, bushy rose about 1.5m tall, with copious amounts of dark green foliage and stems, both shaded plum-red. Clusters of fragrant, large, semi-double, creamy-pink flowers 8cm across, with slightly frilled petal edges, almost continuously in flower from summer to autumn; rounded coral-pink hips follow

Buy this plant
Size
Ultimate height
1–1.5 metres
Time to ultimate height
2–5 years
Ultimate spread
1–1.5 metres
Growing conditions
Chalk
Clay
Loam
Sand
Moisture
Moist but well–drained, Well–drained
pH
Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
Colour & scent
StemFlowerFoliageFruit
Spring Red Green
Summer Cream Pink Green
Autumn Cream Pink Green Orange Pink
Winter
Position
  • Full sun
  • Partial shade
Aspect

South–facing or West–facing or East–facing

Exposure
Exposed or Sheltered
Hardiness
H5
Botanical details
Family
Rosaceae
Native to the UK
No
Foliage
Deciduous
Habit
Spreading branched, Trailing, Bushy
Potentially harmful
Fruit are ornamental - not to be eaten. Wear gloves and other protective equipment when handling
Genus

Rosa can be deciduous or semi-evergreen shrubs or scrambling climbers, with usually thorny stems bearing compound pinnate leaves and solitary or clustered flowers. Flowers may be followed by showy red or purple fruits in some varieties.

Name status

Accepted

Horticultural Group
Hybrid Musk roses are vigorous shrubs with long, arching stems bearing glossy foliage, with large clusters of small fragrant double flowers in summer and autumn

How to grow

Cultivation

Grows best in full sun with fertile, humus-rich, moist but well-drained soil. For best flowering apply a balanced fertiliser and mulch in late winter or early spring and a balanced fertiliser again in early summer - see rose cultivation. Tolerant of poor soil and shade; suitable for hedging

Propagation

Propagate by hardwood cuttings in autumn or by chip budding in summer

Suggested planting locations and garden types
  • City and courtyard gardens
  • Cottage and informal garden
  • Cut flowers
  • Flower borders and beds
  • Hedging and screens
Pruning

See pruning group 21 (shrub roses)

Pests

May be susceptible to aphids, rose leafhopper, glasshouse red spider mite, scale insects, caterpillars, large rose sawfly and rose leaf-rolling sawfly may be a problem. Deer and rabbits can cause damage

Diseases

May be susceptible to rose black spot, rose rust, replant disease, rose dieback, and rose powdery mildew and sometimes honey fungus May also be susceptible to disorders rose blindness and flower balling

Get involved

The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.