Shrub Rose 'Ruby Meidiland'

A neighbor grows this rose, and when it came into bloom it stopped me in my tracks.

The flowers are a clear deep brilliant...Read More red and don't go blue as they fade. They occur in sprays of 7 or so. The petals are slightly lighter and pinker on the reverse. The petals drop cleanly before turning brown. Flowers are larger than they're usually described---I measure between 2 1/4 and 2 1/2 inches. Bloom is nearly continuous.

This is sold as a ground cover, and while I wouldn't try to use any rose as a groundcover---trying to weed through a bed of roses would be a nightmare---its stems tend to lean attractively downhill. 2' tall by 6' across. My neighbor has planted a single specimen on top of a steep bank, and the stems beautifully display the flowers horizontally at eye level.

This plant is very black spot resistant here in Boston (Z6a). It doesn't get sprayed, and at the end of summer I see hardly a trace of black spot. The foliage is attractive.

I don't know why this rose isn't more easily available. It's much nicer than the Knockouts, and it's easy-care.

Bred by Alain Meilland, released in 2001. USPP # 13,500 2003.

All roses are susceptible to rose rosette disease.

The cultivar name is 'MEIpreston'. "Ruby Meidiland" is a registered trademark.

This is a very cool rose when in full flower. It actually stops cars on our street. It is very tough and pretty hardy. Ruby Meidiland...Read More also stays pretty compact. The weight of the flowers can weigh branches down from time to time though. The leaves on this cultivar are robust enough alone to grow it even if it didnt flower. I hope this one doesn't disappear into obscurity because there are many shrub roses out there. I prefer this plant over the knockouts by far because the flowers are smaller and very numerous so it provides color without coarse flower heads.

I find the only problem with this shrub is that it is capable of contracting rose rosette virus, as many are. I had one of my three catch it. It appears on this shrub with green leaves with purple veins. The branches will dwarf and get very thorny. Appearance of the disease needs immediate removal and destruction of the infected plant.

The disease is spread by microscopic mites that are capable of riding winds up to a mile and infecting many plants. Despite a month or two of nearby exposure to the virus my 2 other roses remained healthy. I waited another year to replant so the virus wasn't living in any root segments left behind.