Flutterbye Rose

Each flower here begins as a slim, pointed bud brushed gold and rose. It opens nearly flat, holding five to six petals around a ring of stamens, the slender pollen-bearing tips at the center. A single bloom lasts only a few days and softens in color as it ages. Yet the shrub always carries buds and flowers of every age at once. That mix is what layers so many warm tones across one plant on the same day. The leaves deserve a look, too. They are glossy, deep green, and stay unusually clean through the season, a backdrop that makes the shifting colors stand out.

New canes grow long and flexible rather than stiff and upright. Left on their own, they arch over into a broad, mounding shrub. Tied to a post or trellis, the same canes can climb as a low pillar in mild-winter regions, reaching ten to twelve feet. The open, single flowers keep this rose useful for wildlife. Native bees and other insects gather the exposed pollen, and the plant blooms from late spring into fall. Its glossy leaves also resist the black spot and mildew that weaken many roses. Cold is the real limit. Flutterbye performs best in Zone 6 and warmer, and it needs full sun and regular water rather than dry desert conditions. In Zone 5, the canes often suffer winter dieback and recover slowly.

American rose breeder Tom Carruth developed this variety, and Weeks Roses introduced it in 1996. The trade name plays on the word butterfly, a nod to the light flowers poised on thin stems. Gardeners often set it beside ‘Mutabilis’, an old China rose whose single blooms drift from yellow to pink in a similar way. In both, the color simply shifts as each flower ages in the sun. The familiar name is a trademark; the registered variety name is ‘WEKplasol’. One practical note: like most roses, the canes carry sharp prickles, the curved points usually called thorns. Gloves and long sleeves make pruning and training much easier.