Field-rose

Field-rose: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Low rose of 0.5–2 m, trailing or climbing; without support it forms a loose mat about 2 m across.

Leaf

Alternate, pinnate with 5–7 oval, single-toothed leaflets of 1–3.5 cm; thin and hairless, paler underneath.

Stems

Long, thin, green to purplish stems that trail over the ground or climb through shrubs, with scattered, curved prickles.

Flower

White flowers (3–5 cm) in June–July, barely scented; in the centre the styles stand together as a little column, about as long as the stamens.

Fruit

Small, round to oval, red hips (1–1.5 cm); the sepals drop off early.

Difference from dog rose

The dog rose is a larger, upright shrub with (pale) pink flowers and free styles.

Flowering: June–July · Harvest and fruit: June–July and September–October · Pruning: February–March

Identify by feature: Red berries

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Dog rose Rosa canina: a larger, upright shrub with (pale) pink flowers and free styles. Difference from dog rose

Why grow it?

• A wild rose for shade, where most roses refuse to flower.
• White flowers in June–July for bees and hoverflies.
• Small red hips for birds in autumn and winter.
• Climbs through a hedge or trails as ground cover: it takes up little room.
• Native and rare: with a field-rose in your garden you help a threatened species.

Field-rose: where does it grow best?

• Partial to full shade: a woodland edge, the foot of a hedge or the ground beneath tall trees. It flowers best in light shade.
• Chalky or loamy, humus-rich soil that stays reasonably moist; no waterlogging and no bone-dry sand.
• Allow about 2 m width; trained through a hedge or shrub it takes up even less ground.

Light

Partial shade or shade

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Normal

Size

1.5 m tall, 2 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Hazel: A shrub to climb through in partial shade; the white roses open when the hazel is in full leaf.
• Hornbeam: A hedge the field-rose can climb through: white flowers among the green in June.
• Common honeysuckle: Another native climber for the woodland edge, fragrant in the evening.
• Common dogwood: A native shrub for the same chalky woodland edge, with red stems in winter.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Tolerates shade and suits planting under large trees such as: ginkgo, box elder, ash, honey locust, field maple, silver maple

Field-rose: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy a field-rose from a nursery that sells native planting stock, and never take plants from the wild: it is rare there.
2. Plant from November to March, when the ground is not frozen; container plants can also go in during spring or autumn.
3. Set it at the foot of a hedge, a hazel or an old shrub, so the stems can climb through it.
4. Work some leaf mould into the soil, and water after planting and during dry spells in the first year.

Care

Watering

Only in dry spells during the first year; after that it copes perfectly well in shade.

Feeding

Not needed; a layer of leaf mould in autumn is enough.

Training

Guide long stems in the right direction through the hedge or shrub; it does the rest itself.

Prickles

Wear gloves when training or pruning the stems.

Tip: Got a dark corner under trees or a bare hedge bottom? Let a field-rose trail or climb there: you will have white roses where no garden rose will grow.

Field-rose: when to prune it?

Pruning months: February–March.

When: End of winter.

How:

• At most, remove overlong or dead stems.
• It flowers on last year’s stems: so don’t cut everything back, or there will be no flowers or hips.
• If an old plant becomes a bare tangle, take a few of the oldest stems out at ground level.

Caution: Don’t prune during the nesting season, and leave the hips for the birds in autumn.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Layering

In spring, lay a long stem on the ground and cover a section with soil; after a year it has roots and you can cut it free.

Cuttings

In autumn, push 20–25 cm lengths of one-year-old wood into the ground in a sheltered spot; some of them will root.

Sowing

In autumn, take the seeds from ripe hips and sow them outdoors in a pot; they often only germinate after one or two winters.

Field-rose: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• The small red hips hang on for a while: food for blackbirds and thrushes.

Diseases and pests

• Poor flowering: In deep shade it grows but flowers less. Give it a spot with some light from the side or morning sun.
• Aphids: Green aphids on the young shoots in spring. Ladybirds and tits clear them up.
• Powdery mildew: White coating on the leaves in late summer. A wild rose copes with it well; clear up affected leaves.

Through the year

• February: Remove dead and overlong stems.
• March: Last month for pruning and bare-root planting.
• April: Guide stems through the hedge; layering.
• May: Watch for aphids on the young shoots.
• June: Flowering begins: white flowers in the shade.
• July: Last flowers; bees and hoverflies.
• October: Hips turn red; leave them for the birds.
• November: Planting; cuttings of one-year-old wood.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Wild rose for shade: let it climb through a hedge or woodland edge, or trail as ground cover.

For wildlife

Flowers for bees and hoverflies, hips for birds.

Edible and useful

Flowers (June–July)

Pick the white flowers in June and July on a dry, sunny morning, just after they have opened. Pull the petals loose and shake out any insects. Take only some of the flowers from each bush, so that hips can form. The petals smell softly of rose: use them fresh for cordial or sugar.

Fruit (September–October)

The small red hips are ripe in September and October, when they are bright red and give slightly under gentle pressure. They have little flesh, so the easiest way is to cook them whole and let the juice drip through a cloth, for tea or jelly, rather than deseeding every hip. Remove the stalk and the calyx remnant and never leave the seeds with their itchy hairs in your food.

Storing

Dry the loose petals on paper or a rack in the shade and keep them in a closed jar, in the dark. Fresh petals keep for a day in the fridge. Hips can be frozen whole or dried on a rack in the shade or in the oven at 40–50 °C. The jelly keeps for a year in sterilised jars.

Caution: The hips contain seeds with fine, itchy hairs: always strain them out and pour tea and juice through a fine cloth or coffee filter. Only pick flowers and hips from bushes that have not been sprayed, away from busy roads and fields; roses from a garden centre may have been treated. If you are sensitive to pollen, first taste just a tiny amount of the petals. Do not confuse the red hips with poisonous red berries such as those of spindle, yew or red honeysuckle. Do not pick in nature reserves, leave plenty of flowers and hips in the wild, and never eat anything you have not identified with certainty.

Eating and using is at your own risk: see the terms of use.

Recipes

• Rose petal cordial (Syrup · ± 600 ml · 30 min + 1 night steeping)
• Rose petal sugar (Other · ± 1 jar of 250 ml · 20 min + 2 days drying)
• Dried rose hip tea (Tea · ± 1 litre (4 cups) · 5 min + 15 min steeping)
• Rose hip and apple jelly (Jelly · ± 4 jars of 250 ml · 1.5 hrs + 1 night draining)

Did you know?

• Field-rose is the ancestor of the Ayrshire roses: old Scottish climbing roses that can scramble high into a tree.
• The little column of fused styles in the heart of the flower is the best feature to look for: in the dog rose and most other wild roses the styles are free.
• It is one of the few wild roses that genuinely tolerate shade.