Rose (Mutabilis) or Earth-Kind Rose

Mutabilis was named Earth-Kind rose of the year by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in 2005. Roses names as Earth-Kind have been studied for years and shown to be the easiest to grow, needing very little attention. This is a very large shrub rose that does not need pruning unless you want to keep it in bounds or shape it where you have it. Of course, remove any dead canes that you have. It works great as a screen! With that, this is a large rose that needs room.

The flowers on this are very large, and they’re known as “single,” meaning that they have only one row of petals. It’s also known as the “butterfly rose.” When flowers open they start out gold in color, then they turn to pink and then crimson. Often petals on the same flower will be different in color. So you’ll have one plant with multiple colored flowers. The flowers are not fragrant, but their multiple colors and profuse number of blooms really do make up for that. It blooms from spring all the way through late fall, and even into warm winters.

Unlike most other roses, it’s not particular to its soil. It can take anything from very well-drained sandy soil to very heavy clay.

It’s very resistant to most pests and diseases, so it doesn’t need to be sprayed for diseases. It also doesn’t need much water or fertilizer. In fact, all you really need to do is replace the mulch yearly around your roses. That mulch will decompose and provide enough nutrients for your Earth-Kind roses.

It needs full sun to grow and bloom well. (Producer note: my Mutabilis performs well in early shade with late sun. More sun does give you lusher foliage and more flowers).