Simple tips for cultivating sun roses

Sun rose offers multitudes of fresh-looking, 2.5-centimetre-wide (one-inch-wide), single or double rose-like flowers that cover the low-growing, shrub-like plants in late spring to early summer. Here are some quick tips to help you grow and cultivate sun roses.

• The sun rose flowers in clear, bright colours, including yellow, white, peach, red and orange top stems clothed with small, grey-green leaves.
• Sometimes called rock rose, this flower delights in tumbling over stones, so it is a mainstay in sunny rock gardens.
• And because of its short stature, sun rose is also delightful as an informal edging plant or an accent at the front of a border.
• In container gardens, display sun rose alongside hens and chicks in broad, shallow clay pots and troughs.

• Sun roses prefer a lean, well-drained, neutral to slightly alkaline soil. If your soil is heavy clay, amend it with sand and organic matter to lighten it. For acidic soil, add garden lime according to package directions.
• Set out potted plants in spring, or in fall where winters are mild. Allow 60 centimetres (25 inches) between plants so they will have room to sprawl as they mature.
• Keep the soil barely moist for a few weeks until the plants show signs of growth.
• Shear them back by half their height after they have finished flowering in early summer and expect a second flush of flowers in late summer or fall.
• Sun roses benefit from protection from cold winter winds and accumulated ice or snow. In early winter, cover them with evergreen boughs loosely piled over the crowns, or growing points, and remove the boughs first thing in spring.

Sun roses tend to be short-lived, especially in regions with cold, wet winters, such as along the Atlantic Coast.

• Take eight-centimetre-long (three-inch-long) stem cuttings in late summer and root them in moist soil under fluorescent lights indoors or in a partly shaded cold frame outdoors.
• After cuttings root, keep them fairly dry through winter and hold them in a cold frame, or in an indoor space that remains above freezing, until spring.
• Tough-leaved sun roses are nearly impervious to pests and diseases, with the exception of fungal root rot when they are grown in cold, wet soil.

• Popular hybrids are a mix of Helianthemum nummulariu, which is also called frostweed, and several other species that hail from high altitudes and exposed, rocky outcrops. In mild winter climates the plants are often evergreen and can spread twice as wide as the same varieties grown in colder climates, where they become dormant in winter. Hardiness varies slightly with each variety.
• For a sun rose with fire-engine red flowers, consider 'Henfield Brilliant', which grows well, particularly on the West Coast. Plants reach about 25 centimetres (10 inches) tall and 50 centimetres (20 inches) wide.
• For a hardier plant, try 'Raspberry Ripple'. It's a good bet in Zone 5, with attractive grey-green leaves and red-and-white flowers.
• Other good choices include 'Cerise Queen', which has double cherry red flowers; 'Annabel', which has double pink flowers; and 'Ben Nevis', which blooms with buttery yellow flowers.

These low-maintenance flowers are ideal for the busy gardener. Remember these tips and get the most out of your sun roses this season!