Sweet-briar

Sweet-briar: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Shrub of 1.5–3 m with upright to arching, prickly stems.

Leaf

Alternate, pinnate with 5–7 small (1–3 cm), roundish, double-toothed leaflets; underside densely covered with sticky, reddish-brown glands that smell of apple.

Stems

Stout, hooked prickles, often mixed with finer prickles and glandular hairs.

Flower

Bright pink flowers (2–3 cm) with five petals, in June–July.

Fruit

Oval, orange-red hips (1.5–2 cm), often with glandular hairs on the stalk, in September–October.

Difference from dog rose

Dog rose has leaves without scented glands and larger, pale pink flowers.

Difference from burnet rose

Burnet rose is a low rose with dense, straight prickles, creamy white flowers and black hips.

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

Identify by feature: Pinnate leaves · Orange berries · Thorns or prickles

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Dog rose Rosa canina: leaves without scented glands and larger, pale pink flowers. Difference from dog rose
• Burnet rose Rosa spinosissima: a low rose with dense, straight prickles, creamy white flowers and black hips. Difference from burnet rose

Why grow it?

• Leaves that smell of apples, especially after a shower.
• Bright pink flowers for bees and bumblebees in June–July.
• Hips for birds, and for tea and jam.
• A dense, prickly nesting site for birds, and a native rose that has become rare in the wild.

Sweet-briar: where does it grow best?

• Full sun; in shade it flowers little and sets few hips.
• Dry to ordinary, well-drained soil, preferably chalky; no wet feet.
• Allow 2 m width: suitable for an informal hedge, a sunny border or a wild corner.

Light

Full sun

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Dry

Size

2.5 m tall, 2 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Dog rose: Another native wild rose for the same hedge, with larger, pale pink flowers.
• Hawthorn: Flowers in May, before the rose: together a native hedge full of blossom, berries and hips.
• Wayfaring-tree: A native shrub for the same dry, chalky soil.
• Blackthorn: White blossom in March and thorny scrub where birds can nest safely.

Good and bad companions

Best kept away from

• Do not plant under the dense crown of these trees: norway spruce, european silver fir, nordmann fir, douglas fir, yew, horse chestnut, norway maple, sycamore

Sweet-briar: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March, bare-root; that way it establishes best.
2. In a mixed hedge: put a sweet-briar here and there among hawthorn, blackthorn and dog rose.
3. Plant it a metre from a path or patio: close enough to smell the apple scent after a shower, far enough from the prickles.
4. After planting, cut the stems back to 20–30 cm: it will then shoot vigorously from the base.

Care

Watering

Only in dry spells during the first year.

Feeding

Not needed; on rich soil it mainly grows long shoots.

Prickles

Wear sturdy gloves for any work on the shrub.

Harvest

Pick the hips when they are fully orange-red and slightly soft, in September–October.

Tip: Plant it upwind of your patio or near a window: after a shower the apple scent drifts straight to you.

Sweet-briar: when to prune it?

Pruning months: February–March.

When: End of winter.

How:

• Thin out old stems at the base; young stems flower and fruit best.
• Don’t cut back every branch, or you will lose flowers and hips.

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

Sowing

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

Cuttings

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

Sweet-briar: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• The hips hang on for a long time: winter food for blackbirds and thrushes.

Diseases and pests

• Powdery mildew: White coating on the leaves, especially in late summer. A wild rose copes with it well; clear up affected leaves.
• Aphids: Green aphids on the young shoots in spring. Ladybirds and tits clear them up.
• Robin’s pincushion: Red, hairy balls on the stems: the work of a tiny gall wasp. Harmless.

Through the year

• February: Thinning: remove old stems at the base.
• March: Last month for pruning and planting.
• May: Watch for aphids on the young shoots.
• June: Flowering: bright pink flowers full of bees.
• July: Flowering ends; the leaves smell of apples after every shower.
• September: The hips turn orange-red.
• October: Pick hips for tea or jam.
• November: Planting; leave the hips for the birds.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Prickly, fragrant rose for an informal hedge or a sunny border; after a shower the garden smells of apples.

For wildlife

Flowers for bees and bumblebees, hips for birds; a dense, prickly nesting site.

Food and drink

Like those of the dog rose, the hips can be used for tea and jam (without the hairy seeds).

Edible and useful

Fruit (September–November)

Pick the hips from mid-September, when they are orange-red and still firm, or after the first frost, when they are softer and sweeter. Snip them off with their stalks: the bush is very prickly, so wear sturdy gloves. Before using them, remove the stalk and the flower remnant, and always remove the seeds with their itchy hairs. Leave plenty of hips for the birds.

Storing

Dry halved, deseeded hips on a rack in the shade or in the oven at 40–50 °C until hard and brittle, and keep them in a closed jar. Whole hips can be frozen; thawed, they are softer and easier to deseed. Jam keeps for six months to a year in sterilised jars, and the liqueur for a year or more in bottles.

Caution: The seeds sit in a layer of fine hairs that irritate the mouth and throat: always remove them and strain tea, soup and liqueur through a fine cloth or coffee filter. Only pick from bushes you are sure have not been sprayed, away from busy roads. Do not confuse the hips with the poisonous red berries of spindle, yew or red honeysuckle: hips still carry a small remnant of the flower at the tip and grow on a prickly bush. Do not pick in nature reserves, and in the wild leave plenty of hips for the birds. Never eat anything you have not identified with certainty.

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

Recipes

• Rose hip tea with apple and cinnamon (Tea · ± 1 litre (4 cups) · 10 min + 15 min steeping)
• Rose hip jam (Jam · ± 3 jars of 250 ml · 2 hrs)
• Rose hip soup with almonds (Dish · 4 servings · 45 min + 2 hrs soaking)
• Rose hip liqueur (Liqueur · ± 600 ml · 30 min + 8 weeks steeping and maturing)

Did you know?

• After a shower or on a warm evening, you can smell a sweet-briar hedge from afar: the leaves smell of green apples.
• In Amsterdam, the chamber of rhetoric ‘De Eglentier’, whose members included Hooft and Bredero, was named after it, as is the Egelantiersgracht canal in the Jordaan.
• In Australia, New Zealand and South America it has run wild and become a troublesome invasive plant.