Rugosa roses are an easy to grow rose known for their large hips used in food and wellness recipes. We answer the most common questions for growing rugosas, as well as share the most common ways we use them. 
Rugosa roses are a main feature of our medicinal and edible herb garden. To learn more about planting your own medicinal herb garden, be sure to check out our book, The Do It Yourself Homestead
I Hate Roses
Well, let me clarify – I hate growing roses. A decorative rose (grown for cutting to put into floral arrangements) is like a pretty woman; high maintenance and bossy in the garden. Now before you prize rose growers start jumping all over me, let me just say that I love rose blooms.
I just don’t want to have to grow roses. I’m too busy and too practical to grow a rose unless it’s making my life better in some way. That’s why I love rugosa roses, or rosa rugosa.
My Favorite Things about Rugosa Roses
What are my favorite thing about rugosa roses? Here are five things.
Rugosa roses grow like weeds.
Really. We originally planted ours because they’ll get six feet tall and as wide, forming a living fence to keep out the unruly teenage boys that walk our street on the way home from school. There was no way I was going to kiss the feet of my city in order to get a fence permit and I certainly couldn’t afford to pay for a fence anyway.
As long as I keep the rugosas under control with heavy pruning, I’ll have a lovely, fragrant fence. The thorns will keep careless youngsters from trampling my herb garden, too.
Rugosa roses aren’t too picky about soil, either. I’ve grown mine in dark, brown soil and nasty clay. Here are a few things to keep in mind to help them grow better, though:
- Rugosas benefit from balanced nutrition and will yellow if they’re starved altogether.
- However, several inches of rich compost once or twice a year should do the trick.
- You can also use traditional rose food if you really feel your plant is struggling. I favor compost as plant food simply because I have a barn full of straw and poop that needs to be put to use.
- Do not over-fertilize as this can actually stress your rugosa.
- To have a good harvest of blossoms and hips, the roses will need 6-8 hours of sunlight. However, they will grow in part shade with fewer blooms and hips resulting.
Rugosa roses grow in nearly any climate.
I bought my rugosa roses from Raintree Nursery, where I buy a lot of my nursery stock and you can follow their link in order to read up on how to grow them.
Bottom line:
- rugosas will pretty much grow in any zone (usually rated down to zone 2 or 3)
- and any soil (though light and loamy will be best)
- and in nearly any amount of light
You usually don’t need to fertilize them, either. In fact, over fertilizing them can cause them to stress out. Here are a few more tips:
- Do be sure to mulch them and keep them evenly moist – something I recommend for nearly every plant except desert-flourishing ones.
- As I said the roses will produce more blossoms, and therefore more hips, in direct sun (6-8 hours a day), but they will flower in part shade.
- In the hottest climates, you will probably want to give them a bit of afternoon shade.
Rugosa roses are easy to maintain.
Rugosas aren’t finicky like other roses but:
You DO need to PRUNE rugosa roses heavily, so don’t plant them if you’re not going to do that.
USE GLOVES for pruning and harvest!
Do not try to harvest these rugosa rose hips without the help of a good, thick pair of gloves because rugosa rose thorns are thin, amazingly sharp and they cover (yes, cover) the stems of the plant.
Be aware that rugosa roses self-propagate prolifically with underground runners, which I happen to love about them because I love getting new plants for free. However, here are some recommendations for dealing with their vigor.
- If you don’t want the rugosas self-propagating via runners, use a sharp shovel and cut ambitious runners at least two feet from the outside perimeter of the plant. You may dig up the baby plants and relocate them or give them to friends.
- If you only want to kill the baby plants, wherever you see new rugosa runners popping out of the soil cut them off several inches under the soil line and chop them up. This won’t prevent the rugosa from sending out more runners, but the plants are easily controlled using this method of runner decapitation.
- Again, watch for thorns as you clean up.
Reminder to self: We do not grumble that rose bushes have thorns but are grateful that thorn bushes have roses. And hips.
FYI, if you’re looking to add some other red/pink flowers to your garden to mix with rugosas, Joybilee Farm has a great post on such flowers with the added bonus that they attract hummingbirds!
Rugosa roses smell and taste divine.
The petals of the rugosas range from dark pink to light pink to white as there are a few different cultivars you can choose from. All of them are very fragrant and will attract pollinators and neighborhood admirers alike.
Use the petals to make Rose Petal Ice Cream – click this link.
You can also learn to make rose sugar with these petals (another tip that’s outlined in The Do It Yourself Homestead.).
Those lovely petals can also be used in special beauty recipes like this one from Nitty Gritty Life – Rose Facial Mask.
And please, don’t miss the opportunity to use your rugosa roses to make this decadent Rose Petal Dark Chocolate Bark Recipe from Simply Beyond Herbs.
Rugosa Roses produce large, delicious hips.
The best thing these rugosa roses do is produce the most large and luscious hips you’ve ever seen on a rose. Plus, the rugosa rose hips are very sweet. Here are a few things to know about rugosa rose hips:
- The hips ripen at the end of fall and there are subtle differences amongst the varieties.
- Some hips are bright red when ready to harvest and some are more orange. You’ll get used to how yours look when ripe.
- You can also feel them for ripeness. When they’re soft, they’re done.
- Rugosa rose fall foliage is lovely to behold as well, and once the leaves start turning, the hips should be about ready.
- The hips typically ripen in bunches, and I usually just pull of a bunch in one handful.
So far I’ve harvested two 5-gallon bucketfuls off of about ten plants (2 yrs old) and I’m still not done. I dry them on open air racks for the most part because my dehydrator is in use almost 24/7 at this time of year.
Other Rugosa Rose Questions Answered
Is Rosa Rugosa Invasive?
Good question and the answer is that it can be. If your climate is just right, rugosas can multiply easily which they do via underground root runners. Even if your climate is only mildly supportive of their growth, the plant will sucker.
This is why rugosas make an excellent hedge or fence rose.
How Do I Stop My Rugosas from Spreading?
Rugosas have gained in popularity of the last years, especially amongst gardeners or the sustainable or permaculture variety. Herbalists love them, too.
If you’re blessed to have to many rugosas, learn to pot them up and sell them for a sweet and easy homestead side hustle. If you can beat the prices for rugosas at the online garden catalogs, you’ll have a very loyal customer base.
Ten years ago, I was paying around $3 for one rugosa plant; now I’m paying $25!
If you don’t want to sell your extra rugosas, take a sharp shovel in the fall and simple cut away the baby rugosas that are popping up in various places around the mother plant.
Be sure to check with your local gardening friends first to see if they’d like to come harvest the plants before you kill them.
Should Rugosa Roses be Deadheaded?
That depends on whether you want rose hips. If you want hips, don’t deadhead because the base of the flower will turn into the hip (which is actually the plant’s seed pod).
If you don’t want rose hips, or as many rose hips, you can try to keep up on deadheading rugosas. They bloom vigorously, so good luck with that.
How Fast Do Rugosa Roses Grow?
Rugosas follow the general rule of all perennial plants, especially the flowering ones. This rule is:
- The first year they sleep.
- The next year they creep.
- The third year they leap!
Perennials spend their first year developing the root system that will sustain their long life. In fact, if I have a rugosa that tries to flower in its first year, I usually cut off the bud. Producing a flower requires a lot of energy that pull from root production.
The second year of a perennial’s life finds them with stronger root systems but their growth is still pretty measured.
The third year, it’s like they explode! Rugosas are especially like this. One day you have a nice green bush, and the next you have a gorgeous rose covered mass that’s drawing pollinators like crazy!
What to Do with the Rose Hip Harvest
Food Stuff with Rugosa Roses
Practical Self Reliance can help you explore lots of ways to eat roses, not to mention other things you can do with them – anyone for Rose Cordial?
I still haven’t tried making jelly, but that’s the traditional thing to do with rose hips. Here’s a recipe from Fat of the Land – click here to read that. If you’re handy in the kitchen, here’s a recipe for Rose Garden Tea Jam. For great general jams and jellies information, including fantastic recipes, be sure to check out Homespun Seasonal Living’s book below.
The Herbal Academy has a great post on the how rose hips are Super Food!! Just click here to read that. To learn more about the medicinal properties of many plants, please visit The Herbal Academy. There are a lot of different levels to choose from with their online courses.
Non Food Stuff with Rugosa Roses
The bulk of my harvest gets fed to my goats, especially throughout the winter. However, I also save some for the humans and make tea or grind them and add them to our herbal vitamin. To make a delectable tea, click here.
Pistachio Project has both a bath bomb and a Rose Cardamom Bath Salt recipe on her site – what great gifts those would make. Even the kids could do those!
Get Green Be Well has an article detailing a Rose and Eucalyptus Potpourri recipe that would be simple to put together.
Need help foraging for hips?
If you aren’t growing your own rugosa roses and need some help learning how to forage for them, be sure to check out our post with several experts’ tips on foraging successfully and ethically – click here.
I had a great, great aunt Bertha (whom everyone called Bert) who could be found harvesting rose hips along the Bay area’s bountiful hillsides back in the day. I think of her a lot when I’m out there working my roses, though I didn’t know her personally. But I’ve loved hearing stories about her and her no nonsense ways. It’s good to know I come from hardy gardening stock.
All the same, where are my gloves? I need to beat the snow and get the rest of my rose hips!
Just an FYI, if you really start to see the benefit of healing plants in the garden, be sure to visit this article from Nitty Gritty Mama on other medicinal trees and shrubs for your landscaping. Roses are on this list but so are nine other suggestions – a must read!
Free Sample
Don’t forget to email me for your free sample from our book, The Do It Yourself Homestead. We hope the book will be useful to you, but don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what author and herb gardener Christine Dalziel had to say about the book:
Love this! When you say they will grow “in any amount of light,” would that include the north side of a building? We have an apartment complex on one side, with just a very low fence. I have gradually been planting all our thorny plants over there and wondered if rugosa could work there. I always think of roses as needing lots of sunshine, but that would be a much better place for it than our sunnier spots. Rose hip jam made with raw honey is quite yummy, btw! Thanks for this post.
Yes, the will most likely grow just fine. They probably won’t produce quite as many blooms or hips but they grow and flower pretty much anywhere. And if protection is what you’re looking for, yikes are they sharp and easy to get tangled up in!
I, too, grow rugosas and LOVE them! Thanks for the tips about how to dry the rose hips! I’ve been wanting to use them, but did not know how! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
I love rugosa roses, and Therese Bugnet is my favorite of them all. I live in zone 3 (it’s currently about 15 degrees below zero outside) and they are one of the few flowering plants that I like and will grow here. I’m afraid I never remember to harvest the hips though.
Right?! They’re so gratifying for very, very little work. Don’t worry about the hips – you’re just feeding the birds all winter and that’s a good thing!
One thing to be aware of is that rugosa rose is considered an invasive species in some areas, so it’s better to forage for it where it is already growing, than to plant more of it. I enjoyed your post – I love the big plump hips too, they are delicious, so I understand the temptation to plant it.
That’s a good point and why it’s so important to be willing to prune it! A lot of wonderful plants can get bossy in the garden – mint comes to mind. Gardens are work, there’s no denying…
Hi there. So glad to read a post on rose hips! We gathered some this fall, in the snow even, with friends and have been popping a few in our tea pot when making healing teas. Here’s a link where you can see a few photos from our gathering:
https://tinypeasant.com/2013/11/the-week-in-pictures-2/
Visiting from Simple Lives Thursday today… glad to find you!
LOVE that picture, Kris! What a neat site – I was happy to like your page and add you to my interests list.
Stop by anytime!
Beautiful! I love wild roses, it looks like our new house has some of them, well we will see for sure once the snow melts.
Are your pink ones as tall as your white ones? I was looking at Raintree and only one of the white ones says it’ll get 6 feet. The pinks are listed at 4 or 5 ft tall. I’m looking for a pink rugosa that will get 6 ft tall and produce abundant hips. It’s proving more difficult than I expected.
The Rubra grows the same as the Alba, which gets to six feet – hope that helps! https://www.raintreenursery.com/Rosa-rugosa-Rubra.html I love Raintree’s selection and service – I order a lot from them.
Ah! I didn’t scroll down far enough so I didn’t even see that one. Doh! Thanks 🙂
I never knew what a rose hip was until I read this. Thanks so much for joining us at Oil me up Wednesdays. I do hope you will join us again tomorrow.
I’m new to rugosa roses. Our gardener planted alternating yellow and white ones along our front walk along with creeping thyme and lavener. It’s quite lovely. But I am stumped on what “heavy”pruning means. I do want to keep these plants smaller and bushier (I don’t want them to look like trees). Can you expland on this for me please. Oh, I live on Vancouver Island, BC
Happy to, Marlene! My dad lives in Canada (in Vancouver) and it is perfect rugosa weather – so lovely! I would spend a season or two watching your bushes to see what they’re naturally inclined to do. I planted about 20 starts (two different varieties) when we planted our hedge and there are a few that just do their own thing. One, in particular, is very low growing so I haven’t pruned it at all – its just politely humming along. I have one other of the exact same variety that is a big, fat bully bush. Rugosas can be pruned to shape, so, if you have a bush that just needs some sculpting, go ahead and do that in the spring before it flowers. I’m talking just wayward branches here and there. To keep them smaller, prune to the ground every fall, after you harvest the hips. You really can’t kill them, don’t worry. If, at some point, you lose a bush you can take a sharp shovel and cut off any of the shoots from one of your larger bushes and transplant it – fall or spring is fine for this (whenever the ground is workable). To prevent your bushes from spreading, cut off the side shoots every year. If you look down at the soil, at the base of a bush, you should see somewhere around the bush, coming out of the ground, new leaves on a small stem. That’s a runner and the reason why rugosas make great hedge roses. BUT, if you don’t want them to do that or you want them to do it less, just dig them up. One quick slice with the shovel and then pop the baby out of the ground. Always, always – you’ve probably already figured this out – wear gloves while pruning rugosas. More questions? Was I still too vague?
I also hate growing roses, but I have a couple bushes that seem to just grow themselves now! I’ve never tried them myself, the desert turtles love them so I tend to feed it to them. I’ll have to give them a try sometime! Thanks for the info.
My goats love my rugosas, Heidi, but I have zilch experience with desert turtles! 🙂
the scent of the rugosa (rubra) heals from top to bottom and inside out. that said, i just moved into a little hoise in downeast Maine and was thrilled yo see little rosa rugosa rose bushes popping up this spring in the two acre field behind my house. it’s past mid June (granted, after a very hard winter), however, and no roses. do immature rosa rugosas bloom late? do severe winters delay blooming? thank you for letting me know.
How lovely to have a field behind your home, especially one that has rugosas! Yes, severe winters can cause damage, especially to young plants, and sometimes actually kill them. If you have live bushes but no roses, fear not – they’ll be back blooming by next season if you don’t see them this year. Is it possible that field was grazed by an animal – they do love rugosas! The good thing, though, is that you know they’ll grow for you where you are, maybe you could plant some on your own property. I buy mine from Raintree Nursery (where they aren’t too pricey) but I bet you could find someone local to you that has some you could take cuttings from – they grow very well from divisions.
A neighbor told me that I should constantly pick the rose hips off to keep the blooms coming. That doesn’t seem correct if I need the hips late in the year to pick for tea, etc.
For ornamental roses, that’s a good rule to follow. Once the plant has formed hips, all it’s energy goes into producing that hip because the seed is inside. So, for strictly ornamental roses, deadhead your blooms even before they hit hip stage. For rugosas, though, and any other rose you’re growing who’s real purpose is to produce hips, the blooms are just a side benefit to the plant producing big hips. Leave those hips on until they’re plump, full colored and slightly soft. My rugosas continue to bloom up until the weather turns seriously cold even while they’re covered in hips. Did that answer your question? 🙂
Hi, I have a bush in my front garden I have had it for a few years . It flowers and forms hips but they turn yellow and fall off. Any ideas as to what going wrong? I live in Australia in the Blue Mountains about 1km above sea level. Thanks 🙂
That can be so frustrating, Anne! There are several reasons that your bush might be throwing its hips before they’re ripe and they all have to do with stress on the plant. The most common is over fertilizing, but both heat and water stress can be a cause, as well. Keeping you roses moist but not soaking wet, especially during the heat of summer can be helpful and don’t overhead water, if you can help it. If you must use a sprinkler, be sure to do it in the evening, after the sun has set or the very early morning so that the foliage will be dry before the intense sun of the day. Keep the ground around your roses heavily mulched to retain moisture evenly over the soil. The other cause might be heat – is there a source of radiant heat nearby, like a wall or cement walk? If the area is simply too hot, you may need to relocate a few rugosas to a cooler location so they can produce hips for you. I imagine the blooms are still performing? If so, you can leave some bushes where they are and just move a couple for hip production.
I hope that’s helpful? Good luck and let me know how they do next year if you move them or figure it out. 🙂
Hi Tessa, thank you for linking your posts with the ROSE HIPS link up! I love your pictures here too, so beautiful and bright! 🙂 I have pinned all three articles! Love, JES
Ah, thanks, Jes! I love the redesign of your site – I could get lost on their for hours. Sometimes I visit your blog when I’m supposed to be doing hard things like figuring out expenses or keyword searching. Its an oasis.
Can I grow rugosa in full sun in Southern Az? I truly want to have rose hips, but it can get up to 110 degrees & I can’t grow them in front of my trailer as there is no room for them, tia
If I had to guess, Carol, I think they’ll be ok. Most rugosas can grow in zone 8, some even in zone 9, so they can take some heat. Your heat will be really dry and intense in the summer time so you might get some crispy leaves and maybe some sunburned hips. However, I bet you they’ll grow just fine. While they’re young, you may want to provide them with some shade in the hottest part of the day in July and August (is that when your summer is the hottest?). Make sure you keep them watered and give them a little compost.
Will you be planting them in the ground, I assume?
I always say, give it a try when it comes to planting something! Raintree Nursery carries great rugosas for under ten dollars. Your local nursery may carry them, too. If you plant some, let me know how they do!
We have tons of Rosa rugosa in Alaska; I picked petals for oil and am looking forward to picking hips after the first frost.
How do you process your petals, Davette? I’d love to know! We use ours in ice cream sometimes, but that’s the most I’ve ever done with them. I want to learn more, though!
I wilt the petals and infuse them in a light oil, like safflower, sunflower, or grapeseed. I put that in a Mason jar in my crock pot with water on Low. I like to infuse it a few times with more petals since the scent is so delicate.
I haven’t tried yet, but you can also candy the petals. You use a small, new, paint brush (you can find them with the cake and candy decorating supplies) and coat them with egg whites, then extra fine sugar. Let them dry overnight and you can use them to decorate cakes.
Have fun!
Sounds easy enough – thank you for the awesome tip! I’m going to include that in this week’s newsletter – with credit back to you, of course. 🙂
I’m with you about roses – most of them are such high maintenance plants! Here in the UK they inevitably get covered in black spot. And then there’s the pruning! But I do want to add some roses to my garden, for the same reasons you have mentioned here. I want rosehips and fragrant petals! Looks like Rosa rugosa is the way to go, thanks 🙂
There are several varieties to choose from, too! I hope they work out for you – let me know if you plant some.
Can rugosa rose plants be started from clippings? I have one plant I purchased about 4 years ago. I have never found stringers coming up around the plant, however i do have namy stems coming up from the original plant. I was at a winery 4 years ago and the fragrance when I opened the car door was so beautiful I just had to get a plant.
Thanking you, Marlene
From Pennsylvania
I’m so glad you asked, Marlene, because I didn’t know the answer. We both learned something! Apparently you can take softwood cuttings of rugosas and expect them to root. I guess that’s no surprise since they are such vigorous growers. Here’s an excellent tutorial on that process. At the end of the article, you’ll see a list of plants that root well from cuttings and rugosas are on it! The author propagates plants for a nursery and has lots of experience.
Let me know how it turns out, if you try it!
I discovered that we have rosa acicularus, aka Arctic Rose, and the rose hips are larger. Can use them for everything the same.
Bigger hips?! How wonderful! I’ll have to look out for those Arctic roses – thank you for sharing.
Is rosa rugosa found in shampoo suitable for babies?
I don’t know, Angie – you can check the back of the bottle. I wouldn’t be surprised since rugosas have such a nice fragrance.
Thks for your reply. The well known aisan top team shampoo containing rugosa works well for adults hair growth, wondering if it will help for babies scanty hair?
Coconut oil and olive oil have both been known to increase hair growth in some people. I’m not an herbalist so you might want to consult with a professional.
where didyou get the lovely lavender colored in your picture
Thanks for stopping by, Faith! All those came from Raintree nursery a few years ago. I went to order more this year and they didn’t have them – I was so sad! Do a google search to see if you can find that color. All rugosas are wonderful, though.
Not all pretty girls are high maintenance. That’s pretty-ist. There a few, who are some of the most practical and hardy ladies I know.
I stand corrected. 🙂
Thank you
You’re quite welcome, Laura – thank you for stopping by!
Hi, do you know if deer bother the rugosas? I’m looking for something for a natural deer fence around my elderberries and veggies, apple trees, etc. deer fences are much too expensive to build and my husband wouldn’t do it anyway, LOL. Thanks in advance
Sadly, deer love any rose and will eat rugosas despite the thorns!
Here are some ideas for keeping deer out of your garden areas from Common Sense Home.
From Garden Guides, here are some ideas on plants that repel deer.
We have the most luck repelling deer with our livestock guard dog, but I realize that’s not an option for everyone.
Hope that helps!
I am on year 2 of our Rosa Rugosa. It had flushes of hot pink flowers all summer. We are in Ohio zone 6. I checked on the bush last week expecting to see rose hips galore since it is early November. Instead all I found were withered dried up hips and some that had not formed. I am so sad. The reason we bought this bush of thorns was for the hip production. Our soil is sandy. The bush is mulched with wood chips. What did we do wrong?
Bush of thorns – bwahahaha! Yes, that’s a perfect description. Ok, there are several possible reasons that your bushes did that – water, soil, sun, wildlife. Here are some questions to think about:
Did you have a drought this summer? And/or did you have periods of lots of wet and/or then lots of dry? Weather and/or water extremes can cause a plant to throw its fruit or cause it to be disfigured, or have reduced crops altogether.
Have you added any organic amendments like mulch to your soil? Sandy soil drains quickly, so amendments can help the water stay long enough near the roots to be of benefit.
You said you had flowers but do your bushes get 6-8 hours of sun per day in the growing season? Rugosas will sometimes bloom in the shade but they won’t often fruit in the shade.
Do you have an abundance of wildlife – birds, deer, mice, etc – that may have eaten your crop while you weren’t looking?
How many bushes do you have?
Let’s chat and I be we can find out what happened!
Great article about Rugosa Roses, except one incredibly important detail…
Which Rugosa Rose cultivar has The Biggest, Sweetest rose hips.
Where can I find that critical information, because I wouldn’t want to plant a cultivar, wait a couple of years only to find That one taste like chalk …
Please advise..
I’m afraid I’m unable to tell you which is THE ABSOLUTE BEST variety for you to plant. “Biggest” and “sweetest” are relative terms – what’s big and sweet to me might not meet your approval. Furthermore, cultivation is important for results. If you want large, sweet hips, the best thing you can do is see to the rugosas needs in the soil. Be aware that your climate can affect results, as well.
I can say, however, that pretty much any rugosa cultivar will produce pleasing results. They all throw their energy into hip production in a way that is unparalleled in the rose world. To be sure you end up with something that will please you, I suggest you locate a grower that has several options available and purchase one of each. Observe these for a few years and take cuttings of the one you like the best for further propagation. Instructions for propagating roses via cutting can be found online or in your favorite rose cultivation book. Rugosas can also be propagated by their root runners each season.
For a nice selection of rugosas, I can suggest Raintree Nursery online, though there are probably many others. Hope that helps!
Hi! do you think RR would grow in a black walnut grove?
Excellent question! I haven’t yet tried it myself but my research on jugalone tolerant plants seems to indicate that they will actually grow under walnut trees. They still need anywhere from 4-6 hours of sunlight per day to flower and fruit, but they don’t seem to mind growing near walnut trees. The best you can do is try and let me know how it goes! If you have a rugosa already, be sure take root cutting or stem cutting to propagate several to experiment with under your trees so you don’t have to spend the big bucks to purchase new plants. Rugosas have gotten so popular in recent years that their price has gone up by quite a bit.
I have been at my homestead for over 20 years. I found a hedge of what I’m certain are Rugosa Roses. They have a stem that is covered in tiny thorns. They smell wonderful. I have harvested the petals and dried them for scent. But I have never collected the hips: I always thought that the hips were the seeds, and if I harvest them, no more flowers… am I wrong? Or can I collect the hips to use and still have the plant and flowers?
Also, if I want the hips, should I not pick the flower petals off for drying?
I agree with you about “roses”: I bought 3 starts, and they all got black stems and are very hard to grow…white spiders are eating the leaves I think…and they cost me $50. each! (organic damask roses)
Thank you for this post and thanks for any help you can give me.
All great questions! The hips do contain seeds and rugosas can be propagated by seed, but they naturally spread themselves via underground runners. You can collect as many hips as you like and not threaten the reproduction of the bush. They will spread vigorously in most settings just by their roots.
Most rugosas flower quite a bit (unless they’re in complete shade), so I would guess that you can still harvest as many petals as you like and not put a dent in hip production. You are correct in seeing the connection between the petals and hip production, though – the plant uses the petals to lure in pollinators that fertilize the flowers. If you only have the one bush, I would suggest designating some flowers for petals and pick those; then designate other flowers for hip production and leave the petals. Depending on the fertility of the bush and the population of pollinators, you may still have hips develop on the flower stems where you harvested petals!
Rugosas are just vigorous! Yes, other roses are wimpy in comparison, though still so lovely in some climates. Companion planting goes a long way to help decorative roses but there are so many factors involved in keeping them healthy!
If that didn’t answer your questions, just let me know and I’ll add some more.
I didn’t get much farther than the first paragraph where you casually say all ‘pretty women’ are high maintenance and bossy. Who is your audience if not women? I see you joked it off in another comment but didn’t think to edit the wording in your post. I guess if someone is declared pretty they aren’t allowed to be interested in gardening/homesteading.
Sarah, take a deep breath and try to relax. This is an article about roses, not a cultural commentary. I sense there’s probably more going on with you below the surface of your words and so I’ll simply wish you nothing but happiness, regardless of whether or not you plant rugosas.
Having said that, I hope you do choose to try them! Unlike their decorative cousins which are lovely but high maintenance (and yes, you and I both know women like that, hence the analogy), rugosas are rugged, gorgeous, useful, and self-propagate. These features make them an excellent homestead perennial to consider for a wide range of growing zones and conditions.
There’s more than one way to define beauty whether it’s a person or a plant and, where rugosas are concerned, there’s no need to compromise on a rose’s beauty in order to achieve usefulness. Rugosas manage it all! (Just like other women you and I both know who are also rugged, gorgeous, useful, and able to spread their talents around.)
God bless and namaste!