Rosy Cushion Rose

Rosy Cushion is a strong shrub rose with quite stiff stems. My big rose book puzzles me, though - it seems to be describing a slightly different rose, both in form and flower colour. Perhaps it's just a trick of the strong, warm New Zealand sunlight!

Thorny Cushion?

My Rosy Cushion rose, complete with legible label, is of medium height, and the flowers are exactly the same colouring and tones as the smaller Ballerina roses I grow by the nearby pond. My rose book implies that it has some usefulness as a ground cover rose - certainly not in my garden! The name may conjure up images of a soft, low, comfortable rosy bed - a romantic notion, until you see the many thorns!

This might seem a rather odd thing to say, but Rosy Cushion seems to have a symmetric, mathematical pattern of growth. It's always easy to prune - there are no random, odd-angled canes to bother the secateurs.