Wild roses

Sorts of wild roses

These are varieties which occur in the wild. They all have single flowers and produce hips. Most are used mainly in public green spaces. There are over one hundred species. Examples include:

Rosa gallica, the French rose, only grows 1 metre high but forms a lot of suckers. Large pink flowers in June.

Rosa moschata, the musk rose, from Turkey, can reach a height of eight metres, white musk-scented flowers in June.

Rosa moyesii, from Western China, grows to three metres and flowers from pink to blood red from June onwards. Enormous quantity of orange hips (small ‘bottles’).

Rosa multiflora from Japan forms sprays of small white scented flowers. Then orange-red hips. Extremely prickly, good as an impenetrable boundary, up to a height of two metres.

Rosa nitida from North America only reaches a height of fifty centimetres. Small pink flowers from June, then orange hips. Good as edging or low hedge.

Rosa pimpinellifolia, the burnet rose, flowers white, pink or yellowish in May-June. Black hips. Hybrids of this species are particularly used.

Rosa rubiginosa, this is the famous sweet briar, the leaves of which give off a fresh apple scent. Up to three metres tall, originates from Europe. A lot of curved thorns, bright pink flowers, orange-red hips.

Rosa rugosa, the Japanese rose or ramanas rose, from China. Up to a metre tall, with wrinkled leaf and with thorns and brushes on the shoots. Large deep pink flowers, thick orange to red hips. Perfect as an impenetrable hedge.

Roses as a hedge

Ideal candidates are wild species such as Rosa canina, R. glauca, R. moyesii, R. rubiginosa, R. rugosa, R. pimpinellifolia, as well as cultivars of these species in the form of shrub roses such as the R. rugosa varieties ‘Dagmar Hastrup’ (pink flowers) and ‘Hansa’ (dark red). R. nitida is very suitable for low hedges, R. virginiana for high ones. Of course you can also train climbing roses against mesh or wire.

Full of vitamins

Wild roses in particular produce a lot of rosehips. The flesh of these contains an enormous amount of vitamin C. The hips of Rosa rugosa are even specially cultivated for this. They are used to produce high vitamin drinks, including in syrup form, and the well-known rosehip jam, for which you can find various recipes on the Internet. Rosehip jam is very easy to make at home.