In short
- A botanical species, not a hybrid - it grows on its own roots, so there is no problem with suckers breaking out from below a bud union.
- The thick, wrinkled, leathery leaves translate into markedly better resistance to blackspot and powdery mildew than in hybrid tea roses - though this resistance is not absolute.
- Extremely frost-hardy: American sources put the lower limit at USDA zone 2, that is below the whole scale used in this atlas; it copes less well with hot, humid summers, hence the upper limit of around zone 7b.
- Hips 2-2.5 cm across are among the largest in the genus Rosa and are rich in vitamin C, but the content varies greatly - figures quoted for rose hips range from several hundred to several thousand mg per 100 g of fresh weight.
- It spreads by root suckers; the Polish General Directorate for Environmental Protection classes it as a widely established and moderately invasive species - do not plant it in the coastal belt or beside protected areas.
Botanical data
- Family
- Rosaceae (Rosaceae)
- Height
- 1–2 m
- Width
- 1–2 m
- Habit
- Upright
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Position
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil
- Sandy, Humus-rich
- pH reaction
- pH 5.5–7.2
- Moisture
- Dry, Moderate
- Bloom
- June–October
- Hardiness
- USDA 3a–7b
- Propagation
- From seed, From cuttings, By runners
Characteristics
A shrub with erect, densely branched stems reaching 1-2 m in height and forming dense, impenetrable clumps roughly as wide as they are tall. The specific epithet refers to the leaves: odd-pinnate, usually made up of 5-9 leaflets, thick and leathery, with deeply impressed veins that give the blade its characteristic wrinkled texture. The upper surface of the leaf is dark green and glossy, the underside downy, and in autumn the whole foliage turns yellow and orange. The stems are covered with a dense, painful armour of straight, needle-like prickles and bristles - the feature thanks to which even a low hedge of this species works as a real barrier. The flowers are single, five-petalled, about 6-8 cm across, purple-pink, more rarely white, with a boss of golden stamens in the centre and a strong, spicy clove scent. Flowering begins in June with an abundant flush and repeats more weakly, in bursts, until the first frosts, which is why a single shrub often carries flowers and ripening hips at the same time. The fruit - botanically a hypanthium - is flattened-globose, 2-2.5 cm across, orange ripening to red, and is among the largest in the genus; it ripens and is ready for picking from August to October, and the hips themselves stay on the stems into winter. From the hybrid tea rose (Rosa x hybrida) the species differs in almost everything except the genus. Rosa rugosa is a true species, offered by nurseries on its own roots or raised from seed, so neither suckering from below a bud union nor mounding up for winter applies to it. The thick, wrinkled leaf blade is a harder surface for fungal spores than the smooth leaf of the tea hybrids, hence its markedly higher resistance to blackspot and powdery mildew compared with hybrid tea roses - but this resistance is not absolute: in wet summers and in dense, airless plantings both of these diseases, and rust as well, can appear. The plant spreads by underground root suckers, so a single shrub in time turns into an extensive thicket - at once its greatest asset on banks and dunes and its greatest problem in a small garden.
Popular cultivars
- ‘Rubra’
- A form of the species with single, deep pink-purple flowers - the version of the rugosa rose most often found in the trade. It sets large, brick-red hips freely.
- ‘Alba’
- The white-flowered form of the species, with a conspicuous boss of yellow stamens. The flowers are single and fragrant, and it fruits just as freely as the pink form; height and habit are unchanged from the type.
- ‘Scabrosa’
- A cultivar in the rugosa group with exceptionally large, single flowers in purple-carmine, up to 12 cm across, and very large, scarlet hips. It grows more strongly than the species form - reaching about 1.8 m in height and width - and flowers almost continuously through summer and autumn. Holder of the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
- ‘Fru Dagmar Hastrup’
- A Danish seedling of the rugosa rose from the early 20th century, listed in catalogues and in the RHS register also under the name Frau Dagmar Hartopp. The flowers are single and pale pink with golden stamens, repeating through summer and autumn; the hips are large and brick-red and often appear alongside the later flowers. The shrub is compact, usually lower and denser than the species form. RHS Award of Garden Merit.
- ‘Hansa’
- A rugosa hybrid from 1905 with semi-double, purple-red flowers and a very strong clove scent. It repeat-flowers and, despite the fuller flower, still sets orange-red hips. It grows vigorously and becomes bare at the base with age, so it needs renewal pruning more often than the species form.
- ‘Blanc Double de Coubert’
- A French hybrid from 1892 with semi-double, snow-white, strongly scented flowers and healthy foliage that turns yellow in autumn. It sets very few hips or none at all - this is not a cultivar to grow for fruit. In time it becomes bare at the base and needs renewal pruning.
Growing and care
Watering
Once established it needs practically no watering - it tolerates drought and free-draining, sandy soil. Watering is needed in the first season after planting and during long dry spells on extremely poor sand. It does not tolerate permanently waterlogged ground.
Fertilizing
Nitrogen feeding is better avoided - it encourages shoot growth and root suckers at the expense of flowering and fruiting.
Planting
Free-draining, preferably sandy soil with an acid to neutral reaction; it needs no enrichment with compost and no deep preparation of the planting hole. Heavy, compacted and seasonally waterlogged soils are unsuitable - on such ground the shrub grows poorly and dies out. The key decision concerns containing its spread: plant it with a root barrier sunk 40-50 cm deep, or in a place where the suckers are regularly cut down by the mower or stopped by a hard path.
Pruning
Pruning is minimal. Remove dead, broken and crossing stems, and every few years cut one or two of the oldest, woody stems right down to the ground so that the shrub renews itself from the base. A hedge can additionally be evened up by shortening the new growth by ten to twenty centimetres. At the same time, remove any root suckers coming up outside the space allotted to the plant - dig them out with a piece of root, since simply cutting them off achieves nothing.
Companion plants
Good companions
Obie rośliny znoszą piasek, wiatr i zasolenie, więc sprawdzają się w jednym pasie wiatrochronnym na ubogim gruncie; rokitnik dodatkowo wiąże azot atmosferyczny.
Klasyczny krzew na nieformowane żywopłoty o zbliżonej sile wzrostu i tych samych wymaganiach — słońce i przepuszczalna gleba — więc nie przegrywa konkurencji z odrostami róży.
Niewymagający krzew na słoneczne, suche i piaszczyste stanowiska, kwitnący przez całe lato; wypełnia niższe piętro nasadzenia, nie potrzebując dodatkowego podlewania.
Bad companions
Płożąca bylina o płytkiej darni zostaje przerośnięta przez odrosty korzeniowe róży, a tych nie da się wykopać bez rozerwania kobierca floksa.
Róża pomarszczona tworzy zwarte, silnie konkurencyjne zarośla, które zacieniają i wypierają gatunki wydmowe — Generalna Dyrekcja Ochrony Środowiska wskazuje ją jako zagrożenie dla nadmorskich wydm szarych, wrzosowisk bażynowych i lasów mieszanych na wydmach nadmorskich, a poza wybrzeżem dla wydm śródlądowych.
The evidence level indicates whether the relationship is backed by research, observation, or gardening tradition.
Diseases and pests
Rusty-orange to brown, powdery clusters of spores on the underside of leaves, matched on the upper side by yellow spots. Heavily infected leaves turn yellow and drop prematurely, and the plant weakens. It affects roses and mallows among others, and some rusts have an alternate host (for example pear rust and juniper). The pustules (clusters of summer spores, the so-called uredinia) break through the leaf skin and release an orange-rust powder that rubs off onto the finger - this is the most reliable identifying feature. In high summer they appear mainly on the underside of the blade, along the veins and on the leaf stalks, and in some species also on green shoots and sepals. In late autumn the clusters darken to brownish-black - these are the overwintering spores (telia) by which the fungus survives winter on plant debris. Rusts are highly host-specific: a given rust usually infects only one species or genus of host, which is why the rusts of rose, mallow and marsh mallow, bean, leek and garlic, mint, pelargonium or lawn are different, non-interchangeable fungi. The general symptom - yellowing and premature leaf drop - weakens the plant and limits flowering and yield, though it rarely kills it within a single season.
Rose black spotBlack to dark-brown spots with ragged margins on rose leaves, surrounded by yellowing of the leaf blade. Infected leaves drop in large numbers, weakening the plant and reducing flowering. The disease intensifies in wet seasons and where air circulation is poor. The spots are usually round, from a few millimetres to about 1-1.5 cm across, and their most important diagnostic feature is the radially fringed, feathery margin - the mycelium spreads beneath the leaf cuticle in all directions, producing the characteristic 'star-shaped' edge (hence the German name Sternrußtau). Under heavy infection the spots merge into larger, irregular patches, and the surrounding yellowing spreads across more and more of the blade until the whole leaf turns yellow and drops. Small, dark conidial fruiting bodies (acervuli) appear on the upper surface of the spots, while the underside of the leaf remains free of any coating. Symptoms appear first on the lower, oldest leaves and gradually move up the shrub, because the spores are carried by water splashing up from the soil and from lower leaves. Small, purplish-red discolorations and blotches may appear on young, green shoots. Prolonged wetting of the leaves for several hours is required for the spores to germinate and infect, which is why the disease breaks out after warm, rainy spells. Repeated defoliation exhausts the shrub, limits flowering and worsens winter hardiness.
Powdery mildewA white, powdery coating on leaves, shoots and buds. The leaves turn yellow, become deformed and drop prematurely. The coating develops on both sides of the leaf blade, is often clearly visible from above, and can easily be rubbed off with a finger — it is the superficial mycelium of an ectoparasite that draws nutrients from the epidermal cells by means of feeding structures (haustoria). At first single, round, white spots appear, which in time merge and cover the entire leaf surface and the young growth. Young leaves and the current season's shoots are the most susceptible; heavy infection causes them to pucker, stiffen and stop growing, and on buds it leads to deformation or death of the flowers. On the fruit of some species (gooseberry, apple, cucurbits) the coating leaves russeting or a corky skin. Towards the end of the season, small, dark fruiting bodies (chasmothecia, formerly called cleistothecia) — the pathogen's overwintering structures — appear within the coating. The disease affects many plants, including roses, oak, privet, lilac, cucurbits, cereals, grapevine, apple, gooseberry, phlox and coneflowers, with each of these hosts being infected by a specialised species of fungus.
AphidsSmall (1–3 mm) soft-bodied insects, green, black or pink, feeding in clusters on young shoots and the underside of leaves. They excrete sticky honeydew. The diagnostic feature that distinguishes aphids from other small sucking insects is the pair of siphunculi (tubular projections) at the rear of the abdomen together with a tail-like cauda; a single colony usually holds wingless forms (parthenogenetic females) alongside winged migrants that fly onto new plants in summer. In summer aphids reproduce parthenogenetically and viviparously over many generations, so the population builds up explosively; in autumn many species produce a sexual generation that lays overwintering eggs on the host, and host-alternating species move between a winter host (often a tree or shrub) and a summer host (a herbaceous plant). Feeding symptoms include curling, crinkling and distortion of young leaves, stunted growth, yellowing, and the shedding of buds and fruitlets. Abundant honeydew coats the leaves, and the sooty mould fungus that develops on it forms a black film which limits photosynthesis; the honeydew is fed on by ants, which in return defend the colony against predators. Aphids are also important vectors of plant viruses (mosaics among them), transmitting them from plant to plant even during a brief probing puncture.
SawfliesThe larvae strongly resemble the caterpillars of butterflies and moths, but have more pairs of abdominal prolegs (six and more) and single ocelli on the sides of the head, by which they can be told apart. They often feed gregariously, skeletonising the leaves or eating them down to the veins, and can strip a gooseberry or currant bush bare within a few days. The host plants are gooseberry, currant, rose, plum and pine. Symptoms: besides the defoliation of leaves, the larvae of fruit-dwelling species (e.g. on plum) bore into the young fruit set and cause it to drop. Adult sawflies are small (a few millimetres) hymenopterans without a distinct 'wasp waist' — the abdomen is broadly joined to the thorax, which distinguishes them from wasps and bees; the females have a saw-like ovipositor (hence the name 'sawflies'), with which they cut into the tissue of a leaf or fruit set and lay their eggs inside it. The larvae are most often green, matching the colour of the leaf, in some species with dark warts or spots; their prolegs lack the grasping crochets that the caterpillars of moths have, and when disturbed the larvae of many species raise the rear end of the body into a characteristic 'S' shape. The most damaging groups are: the gooseberry sawfly (Nematus ribesii) on gooseberry and currant, stripping the bush from the inside out; the slug sawflies (genus Caliroa) on pear, cherry and plum, whose slimy, slug-like larvae graze away the upper skin of the leaf (windowing), so that the leaf turns brown as if scorched; the fruit sawflies of the genus Hoplocampa on plum and apple, tunnelling galleries into the young fruit set and leaving moist, foul-smelling droppings; and the conifer sawflies (Diprion, Neodiprion) on pine, feeding gregariously on the needles. Life cycle: the adults emerge in spring, the larvae feed for several weeks, after which they descend into the soil or leaf litter, where they pupate in a cocoon and overwinter as a larva (prepupa); depending on the species, 1–3 generations develop in a season.
Toxicity
| For whom | Level | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Humans | None | The hips and petals are edible. The achenes, together with their stiff hairs, are removed from inside the hip - they irritate the skin, the mucous membranes and the digestive tract. |
| Dogs | Mild | The plant is not poisonous, but the stems are densely covered with straight prickles and bristles that injure easily. |
| Cats | None | — |
History and origin
The species was described by Carl Peter Thunberg in Flora Japonica (1784) from plants collected on the Japanese coast. In the wild it grows on the sands and dunes of the coasts of East Asia, as far as Sakhalin, the Kurils and Kamchatka. It reached Europe in 1796 and throughout the 19th and 20th centuries was planted wherever other shrubs failed: to stabilise dunes and embankments, along roadsides and as hedging in seaside towns. From the end of the 19th century breeders raised numerous hybrids from it, known collectively as rugosa roses. In Poland the first record outside cultivation dates from 1913, and today the species is established throughout the country. The General Directorate for Environmental Protection classes it as a widely established and moderately invasive alien species with strong competitive ability, and lists the priority habitats it threatens: coastal grey dunes, crowberry heaths and mixed woodland on dunes, and away from the coast - inland dunes. Birds carry the seeds and the hips drift on the sea while remaining able to germinate - hence the speed with which it colonises the shore. The rugosa rose was not included in the Polish Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 9 December 2022, so formally there is no ban on growing or selling it; given the documented threat to dunes, however, we advise against planting it in the coastal belt, near dunes, or beside protected areas and their buffer zones. In the United Kingdom the rules are stricter - the species is listed in Schedule 9 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act, which makes planting it out into the wild an offence.
Uses
Its basic use is as an informal hedge and barrier: the dense, prickly stems form a screen that neither people nor game will push through, and the shrub needs neither clipping nor watering. It performs on banks and embankments, in roadside strips exposed to salt, and in gardens on pure sand where most ornamental shrubs fail. For a hedge, plants are set 60-80 cm apart in a single row; as a specimen, allow at least 1.5 m of space, accepting that the clump will spread anyway. Spread is contained either with a root barrier sunk 40-50 cm deep, or by closing the perimeter of the planting with mown lawn or a hard surface. The hips are picked from August to October, once they have taken on their full colour; after frosts they soften and taste sweeter, but over-ripe fruit has less vitamin C. They are processed into preserves, juices, syrups and teas, always after removing the seeds and the irritant hairs from inside; the petals are suitable for syrup and preserve. Bear in mind that only shrubs whose spent flowers are left in place will bear hips, and that cultivars with double flowers set fruit poorly or not at all. Do not plant it on seaside plots, beside protected areas or on the boundary with open country, from where seeds and suckers will escape the garden.
Trivia
- The Japanese name of the species, hamanasu, means roughly 'seashore pear' and refers to the edible hips; the plant is the official floral emblem of Hokkaido.
- The German name Kartoffel-Rose, or 'potato rose', comes from the resemblance of the wrinkled, dull-veined leaves to potato haulm.
- Roses produce practically no nectar - insects visit them for pollen. The value of the shrub to pollinators therefore depends on the structure of the flower: the single, five-petalled flower of the rugosa rose, with its exposed boss of stamens, supplies pollen all summer long, while cultivars with double flowers, in which the stamens have been transformed into petals, supply far less.
- The hips float on water and stay able to germinate even after several dozen weeks adrift at sea - this is the main mechanism by which the species colonises successive stretches of coast.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a rugosa rose and a hybrid tea rose?
They are two different categories of plant. The rugosa rose is a botanical species: it grows on its own roots, has single, five-petalled flowers, thick wrinkled leaves, densely prickly stems and sets large hips. The hybrid tea rose (Rosa x hybrida) is a group of garden hybrids with large, double flowers, budded onto a rootstock in the nursery. There are three practical consequences: the rugosa is markedly more resistant to blackspot and powdery mildew, it needs neither mounding up for winter nor the cutting out of suckers from below the bud union, but in return it spreads by root suckers of its own. Pruning is completely different too - see the next question.
How and when should you prune a rugosa rose?
In late winter or early spring, and very sparingly. It is enough to remove dead, broken and crossing stems, and every few years to cut one or two of the oldest stems right down to the ground so that the shrub renews itself from the base. This is the fundamental difference from garden roses: hybrid tea roses are cut back hardest, to little more than ten centimetres above the ground, floribunda roses somewhat more gently, while a rugosa rose treated that way loses its natural habit and almost all of its crop of hips. A hedge can be evened up, but not in summer - clipping during the season removes the developing hips.
Are rugosa rose hips edible, and when should they be picked?
Yes, they are edible and are among the fruits richest in vitamin C grown in Polish gardens. The exact content varies greatly, though: for rose hips the literature quotes figures from several hundred to several thousand mg per 100 g of fresh weight, depending on the species and cultivar, the picking date, the method of drying and the storage time. They are picked from August to October, once they have taken on their full red colour; after frosts they soften and taste sweeter, but over-ripe fruit can contain up to 40% less vitamin C than fruit picked at harvest maturity. Before processing, the inside has to be hollowed out - the seeds are surrounded by stiff hairs that irritate the skin and the digestive tract. The flesh is suitable for preserves, syrups, juices and dried material for teas.
Is it allowed to plant a rugosa rose, given that it is an invasive species?
Yes. The rugosa rose was not included in the Polish Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 9 December 2022 on the lists of invasive alien species, so there is no ban on growing, propagating or trading it - unlike knotweeds or Sosnowsky's hogweed. That does not change the fact that the General Directorate for Environmental Protection classes it as a widely established and moderately invasive alien species, threatening coastal grey dunes, crowberry heaths and dune woodland, and away from the coast - inland dunes. We therefore advise against planting it in the coastal belt, near dunes, in protected areas and their buffer zones, and in open rural landscape. In an ordinary garden inland, with a root barrier and well away from natural habitats, it is an acceptable choice.
How do you stop a rugosa rose spreading around the garden?
The shrub spreads by underground root suckers, which come up even several metres from the parent plant. Two things work: a root barrier sunk 40-50 cm deep at planting, and removing the suckers together with a piece of root every year - cutting them off above ground only prompts the plant to send up more. It also helps to close the planting off with mown lawn or a hard path and to avoid nitrogen feeding, which increases suckering. On shrubs growing close to natural habitats it is also worth deadheading the spent flowers to limit the spread of seed by birds.
Sources
- Plants of the World Online (POWO) — Rosa rugosa Thunb.Database (GBIF, POWO…)
- RHS — Rugosa rosesInstitution / botanical garden
- Generalna Dyrekcja Ochrony Środowiska — Rosa rugosa, róża pomarszczona (karta gatunku obcego)Institution / botanical garden
- NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox — Rosa rugosaInstitution / botanical garden
- Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder — Rosa rugosaInstitution / botanical garden
- Cendrowski A., Kalisz S., Mitek M., „Właściwości i zastosowanie owoców róży w przetwórstwie spożywczym”, Żywność. Nauka. Technologia. Jakość 2012, 4 (83), 24–31Scientific article
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