Helianthemum – Popular Shrubs for the Garden
The Sun Roses are charming little plants, that are very useful for many places in the garden, but practically indispensable for helping to clothe dry, sunny banks or, because they grow a mere 9 inches or so tall, for planting in sunny pockets in the rock garden.
Helianthemum nummularium (Helianthemum chamaecistus) is a native plant that has inch-wide yellow. The many hybrids and varieties are very indeed, especially as they are easy to grow and have a wide colour range.
Named kinds include Helianthemum ‘Ben Afflick’ which has orange and buff flowers, Helianthemum ‘Firedragon’ with crimson, Helianthemum ‘Marigold’, double yellow and Helianthemum ‘Rose of Leeswood’ with double flowers of a soft pink.
Left to themselves these plants are inclined to become straggly, but this can generally be overcome by hardafter flowering is over, usually in late July. This is not necessary merely for the sake of tidiness, but will encourage new flowering growth to appear. Sometimes this summer pruning may even cause the plants to produce more flowers in the autumn.
These shrubs do well in poor, but well-drained soils and their only real requirement is a sunny place, where they will produce their flowers freely without much attention. They dislike cold, wet soils.