Sally Holmes Rose Bushes

Sally Holmes Rose Bushes

Sally Holmes is a wonderfully floriferous shrub rose with compact clusters of creamy-white single blooms that have prominent golden stamens, accessible to bees. These appear in flushes that last from early Summer for up to five months, into Autumn, and have a delicate but definite fragrance. The buds are the palest apricot-pink.

She has the advantage of nearly thornless stems and attractive, healthy, glossy dark green foliage. With her versatility, robust nature and good disease resistance, she makes the grade for the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

See our full range of shrub roses.

Features

• Colour: Creamy-white
• Flower size: Large, single flowers
• Type: Modern shrub
• Height/spread: 150 x 150cm
• Flowering: Repeat flowering, June-October
• Fragrance: Light scent
• Thornless
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Growing Sally Holmes

This vigorous shrub rose thrives in rich, moist and well-drained soil in a sunny spot, and will tolerate poorer soils and partial shade well.

Deadhead regularly to promote prolific flowering and prune in late winter to early spring by up to one third.

Garden Design Ideas

At 1.5 metres each way, she is ideal for the middle of a border or shrubbery, and can be used as hedging.

For a beautiful cottage border, underplant with spring bulbs like Crocuses, Daffodils and Tulips, and combine with herbaceous perennials such as Geranium, Salvia and Nepeta, especially in classic cottage border colours like purples, pinks and whites. With her open single flowers, she is perfect for a nectar border surrounded by pollinator-friendly plants like Cerinthe, Echinops, Lavender, Honeysuckle and other single-flowered shrub roses like Ballerina.

History & Trivia

This beautiful hybrid musk shrub rose was bred by Robert A. Holmes. A cross between Ivory Fashion (a floribunda bush) and Ballerina (a hybrid musk), she was introduced by Fryer's Roses in 1976.

Hybrid musks are wonderful in borders with their large clusters of soft shaded blooms on long, arching branches. Disease-resistant and usually with a beautiful fragrance, they are fabulously easy to garden with.

First described as 'hybrid musk' by breeder Reverend Joseph Pemberton in 1917, this group of shrub roses now includes some outstanding cultivars, many of which have bagged the prestigious RHS Award of Garden Merit.