Species Rugosa Roses

Rose Lust

Roses, roses, roses.  They’re talked up and worshiped everywhere.  Even people oblivious to flowers recognize roses.    

Like so many gardeners, I wanted roses.  What’s a cottage garden without roses?  It’s a cottage garden without roses.

Why didn’t I have roses?  A few personal reasons: laziness, principles, prices and pickiness.  A few garden reasons: limited space, limited sunlight and soil conditions.

How could I have roses with so many reasons I shouldn’t have roses?

Rugosa roses.  That’s how.

Rose Acquisition

Organic Gardening magazine hyped up the rugosa unlike any other gardening publication.  Actually, this was the only article I’d read devoted to rugosa roses.  Most books and magazines didn’t even mention them.

That snubbing endeared them to me even more.

I didn’t think about the difficulty of finding a reputable nursery that sold these out of favor, out of fashion flowers.

Well.  I found a nursery that sold bare root rugosa roses.  Or so it claimed.  A lustful gardening neophyte is inclined to believe anything.

Five bare root rugosa roses for $25 won’t come with prompt delivery and stellar customer service.  You might have to demand your plants after several weeks.  Your plants might arrive out of planting season and poorly packaged.*  It might be obvious that one plant was hacked into four.  And when they bloom, only one might be the color you ordered.  

That’s a lot of mights.

Yeah, I expected a lot for the price.  No other nursery online sold white rugosa roses at the time.  None.  That’s how they got me.

After all the drama, I got what I wanted.  Mostly.  Which explains the many rugosa roses photographs.

Growing Roses

In old gardening guides and manuals,  roses are high maintenance divas.  They need constant attention and pampering to perform.

I prefer self possessed, self sufficient plants.  You know, like sedums.

Rugosa roses fit that profile.  

Species rugosa roses are also known as beach roses.  Grown on sandy soils, they’re rampant.  My soil was clay, the opposite of sand.  If the roots are inclined to run, then they'll slow motion run in clay.  The clay kept them in check.

I planted all the rose shrubs on a northwest facing bed with groundcovers and underplantings that changed over the years. I didn’t do much to keep them alive.  They lived up to the hype as low maintenance roses.  I didn't spray, feed or water these shrubs once they established themselves.

Rugosa Roses:  Almost Perfect

One can’t have everything.  Species rugosas won’t fill my vases with roses.  Even if I could get to the flowers before the bees, the stems are armed with fierce prickles.  

The prickles are why I planted them in an area with no foot traffic.  I can see making a security hedge with rugosa roses.  I pity the fool who tries to maneuver through a wall of rugosas.  Ouch!

So no roses for bouquets.   But I got rose petals and rose hips for kitchen experiments.  That’s something.

About the colors shipped to me.  Opinions about the pink rugosa swayed my choice.  “The pink is a vulgar magenta,” they said.  Insecure, I caved in to snobby gardener peer pressure.  And I chose white, Rose (Rugosa Rose 'Alba').  Three of the five survived: one white, two pink. 

The pink petals made visually believable rose syrups and sugars.  White petals, not so much.  I hadn’t considered that.  Thanks for the correction, Universe.

Adding rugosa roses to the garden didn’t compromise my organic gardening principles.  Natural vigor made them immune to blackspot and mildew.   All they needed was seasonal pruning.

On warm spring days, the scent of roses wafted through open windows.  

I’ll end on that note.

Why Grow Rugosa Roses

I'm in no way affiliated with heirloomroses.com.  But I checked out their website and it looks like a reliable source for roses of all kinds, especially rugosa roses.  The internet has come a long way indeed.  So…grow these environmentally friendly roses!  Seriously, I used an exclamation point.

• Thrives in poor soil

• Drought tolerant

• Disease resistant; they shrug at what takes other roses down

• Cold hardy, flowering isn’t affected by early spring frosts

• Repeat flowering when first hips crop is harvested: mid spring and late summer

• Smells like a rose is expected to smell; I refuse to grow an unscented rose

• Spectacular crop of rose hips twice in a growing season

• Bumble bees adore the simple, pollen rich flowers

• Birds and small mammals eat the hips (if you don’t)

• Deer won’t touch them.

• Leaves turn yellow in fall rather than drop all their leaves

*”Heeling in” is the solution to this problem.  Dig a v-shaped trench deep enough in the soil to accommodate the roots.  Place the plants in the trench diagonally and cover the roots.  This a temporary home until planting season or finding a permanent planting spot.  Proper planting should be done as soon as possible.