Child's play is a hybrid miniature shrub in the rose family (Rosaceae) bred by F. Harmon Saville of the United States and introduced in 1991. Parentage is seed: Yellow Jewel x Tamango ® and pollen: Party Girl. This upright bushy well-branched shrub grows 1-2 feet tall and wide. Plant in full sun in average well-drained garden soil. Deadhead to promote reblooming. Prune in late winter to remove dead, diseased or crossed canes. Child's play has 1.5-inch wide white flowers with pink recurved petals, none to a mild spicy fragrance and will bloom nearly continuously through fall. The dark green leaves are semi-glossy on canes with prickles. Use this rose in a container, in the border or in groups for a ground cover. It can be used in an English, cottage or cutting garden. In 1993 it received both the All-American Rose Selection and the AEO Excellence Award. Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: Good disease resistance but susceptible to blackspot . See pests of roses to the left. Deer will browse roses. VIDEO Created by Elizabeth Meyer for " Trees, Shrubs and Conifers " a plant identification course offered in partnership with Longwood Gardens. More information on Rosa .
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.
Fills a similar nicheRosa Cupcake™ 'SPIcup'Rosa Gourmet Popcorn 'WEOpop'Rosa Minnie Pearl™ 'SAVahowdy'
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)
Soil texture
Clay; High Organic Matter; Loam (Silt); Sand
Soil pH
Acid (<6.0); Neutral (6.0-8.0)
Soil drainage
Good Drainage | Moist
Available space
12 inches-3 feet
NC region
Coastal; Mountains; Piedmont
Mature size
Height: 1 ft. 0 in. - 2 ft. 0 in. | Width: 1 ft. 0 in. - 2 ft. 0 in.
Growth rate
Medium
Maintenance
Medium
Canopy layer
4 - Herbaceous (1-3 ft)
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Erect
Texture
Medium
Foliage
Deciduous
Leaf color
Green
Leaf type
Compound (Pinnately , Bipinnately, Palmately)
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf margin
Serrate
Leaf feel
Glossy
Hairs present
No
Leaf detail
Semi-glossy dark green compound leaves
Flower color
Pink; White
Flower value
Fragrant
Flower shape
Crown; Cup
Flower size
1-3 inches
Flower detail
The flowers are 1.5 inches wide with 18-24 petals and appear in clusters or singly. They are white with pink edges and recurved petals. Fragrance none to mild spicy. It will rebloom throughout the season.
Bloom time
Fall; Spring; Summer
Stem color
Green
Stem detail
Green canes with prickles
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Unknown
Attracts
Bees
Landscape Use
Landscape location
Container; Patio
Landscape theme
Cottage Garden; Cutting Garden; English Garden; Fairy Garden
Design feature
Border; Mass Planting
Garden tags
#English garden #minature rose #long bloom season #cutting garden #border front #white flowers #container plant #pink flowers #shrub rose #mass planting #fragrant flowers #cottage garden #fairy garden