The Wild Rugosa Rose

I have lived around Rugosa roses most of my life. Most people who visit coastal areas are familiar with these  thickets of fragrant and very thorny rose bushes that are covered in white or magenta flowers during the summer and have shimmering deep orange to crimson seed – pods in the fall. The bushes thrive growing wild often spreading by rhizomes in the sands and dunes that are closest to the ocean. The plants also reproduce by seed. No other wild rose bush has such a density of thorns on each stem. This characteristic makes the Rugosa rose easy to distinguish from any other. The single or multi-floral blossoms waft an impossibly sweet scent towards the discerning nose while providing bees and insects with the sweetest nectar imaginable.

When I moved inland the first bush I bought was a Rugosa rose because I have never smelled a rose that was more fragrant than this one. Although they do not grow as prolifically in the Maine Mountains as they do on the coast, it is still possible to have beautiful healthy blossoming bushes gracing your yard, and over the years I have watched mine spread slowly through the sandy soil, the new shoots always trying to catch the sun. Each June I look forward to picking richly perfumed flowers for the house. This year the roses bloomed late and caught the first heat wave that hit Maine. I was disappointed to have the roses peek for such a brief moment in time, although there will be a second bloom later this summer. Even so, the scent of blooming roses outside my window awakened me at dawn for a week.

Imagine my surprise when I moved to Northern New Mexico and discovered Rugosa roses thriving at gas stations! My respect for these tough denizens of the wild increased as I witnessed the bushes blooming along highways under a fierce southern summer sun. I was determined to buy one for the casita…

It wasn’t until Mother’s Day while visiting greenhouses that my friend Andrew spotted a few small bushes in an area that was overflowing with hundreds of pots of more cultivated roses. I was so excited to have found what seemed to be a lost friend because I had asked about buying these roses earlier in the spring only to discover that no one seemed to carry them. Frankly, I was surprised, because if these bushes thrived in unlikely places like gas stations in Santa Fe, I assumed they would probably grow well just about anywhere. I have developed a deeper respect than ever for tough plants after living in the desert!

Needless to say, I returned home that day with a small blooming Rugosa rose that I tenderly planted in front of the south - facing porch. The bush had just a few blooms left on it so I bent down to smell the deep magenta flowers instead of picking some. By the time I left for Maine the bush had developed small green seed-pods called rose hips. Because I have a drip system in place, I am hopeful that the bush will thrive although I know from personal experience that planting these roses can be the trickiest part of growing them.

When I researched Rugosa roses for this article I was astonished to learn that they originated and are native to Asia and Siberia with smaller populations native to this continent, Europe and Africa.

The rose as a species according to fossil evidence is 35 million years old. Apparently, garden cultivation of roses began some 5,000 years ago, probably in China. And in this country some 150 varieties, including Rugosas, eventually spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from Alaska to Mexico. I have a pale pink wild rose that grows wild in Iren’s Bosque in Abiquiu and here on my property too and now I know why!

These plants have been around for a very long time. Roses are survivors and even with Climate Change upon us, most wild species will probably remain extant because this rose hybridizes so easily with others, wild and cultivated. Rose growers also love them because they also are incredibly disease resistant, tolerant of poor soil and salt.  

Sadly, many cultivated roses have lost their scent. They are also ignored by pollinators, another reason why I prefer wild roses to those that are cultivars. All wild roses have fruits and seeds but most are tiny.

However, the Rugosa produces delicious nutritious edible seed pods for humans and non-humans alike. The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked because the hips are sweet. If one has the patience to make rose hip jam as I have, the rewards are considerable. The fruit is a fairly large size for a rose with a relatively thick layer of flesh and is rich in Vitamin C. Inside the seeds are a good source of vitamin E, and can be ground into a powder and mixed with flour or added to other foods as a supplement. The petals of the screened-dried Rugosa rose also make fragrant long lasting indoor bouquets – potpourri. It is also possible to make a tea combining the fruit with some leaves that is very pleasing to drink.

When the hips ripen in early autumn I plan to make a honeyed sun tea that combines rose hips and mint leaves from my southern garden. Just the thought makes my mouth water.