Japanese rose

Japanese rose: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Dense, prickly shrub of 1–2 m that spreads by suckers into a broad clump.

Leaf

Alternate, pinnate with 5–9 thick, deeply wrinkled, glossy leaflets; yellow autumn colour.

Stems

Densely covered in fine prickles and bristles.

Flower

Large (6–9 cm), fragrant, pink, purplish-red or white flowers from June to September.

Fruit

Large, flattened, tomato-red hips (2–3 cm), rich in vitamin C.

Difference from dog rose

Dog rose has smooth, unwrinkled leaflets, hooked prickles and elongated hips.

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

Identify by feature: Pinnate leaves · Thorns or prickles

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Dog rose Rosa canina: smooth, unwrinkled leaflets, hooked prickles and elongated hips. Difference from dog rose

Why grow it?

• Flowers from June to September, with fragrant blooms for bumblebees and bees.
• Large hips for syrup and jam, rich in vitamin C.
• An impenetrable flowering hedge that tolerates sea wind, salt and drought.

Japanese rose: where does it grow best?

• Full sun; in shade it flowers poorly.
• Any free-draining soil, even poor sand; tolerates drought, sea wind and salt.
• Allow 2 m width, and more: it spreads further by suckers every year.
• Not on the coast, near the dunes or next to a nature reserve: there it is invasive. Choose the native burnet rose or dog rose there instead.

Light

Full sun

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Dry

Size

1.5 m tall, 2 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• English lavender: Blue among the pink of the Japanese rose, on the same dry soil in sun.
• Dog rose: Together a mixed, prickly hedge: dog rose flowers in June, Japanese rose all summer.
• Tamarisk: Also tolerates wind and drought; pink plumes in summer.

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

Japanese rose: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March, bare-root or from a pot, and only well away from the coast and from nature reserves.
2. For a hedge: 2–3 plants per metre.
3. Put in a sturdy root barrier if you want to keep the suckers in.
4. After planting, cut the stems back to a third of their length: it will then branch well from the base.

Care

Watering

Only in dry spells during the first year.

Feeding

Not needed; it grows perfectly well on poor soil.

Suckers

Every year, spade off the suckers that spread too far.

Hips

Pick the hips in August–October for syrup or jam: that way it also self-seeds less.

Tip: Live on the coast or next to a nature reserve? Then choose the native burnet rose, dog rose or sweet-briar: they flower just as beautifully, give hips for the birds and crowd nothing out.

Japanese rose: when to prune it?

Pruning months: February–March.

When: End of winter.

How:

• Cut the oldest stems off at ground level and shorten the rest.
• A hedge can be cut back as a whole; it readily regrows from the base.
• Spade off suckers that spread too far, roots and all.

Caution: Wear thick gloves and long sleeves. Never dump prunings or suckers in the countryside: they easily take root again.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Suckers

A rooted sucker takes easily: enough to fill a gap in a hedge. Don’t propagate it for spots near the coast or in the wild.

Japanese rose: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• The leaves turn yellow first; the hips often hang on into winter.

Diseases and pests

• Spreading: Suckers pop up metres away. Spade them off every year or put in a root barrier.
• Invasive in the dunes: The hips float and are spread by birds and seawater. In the dunes it forms dense thickets where nothing else grows any more.
• Hard to get rid of: Cutting alone doesn’t help: it regrows. Dig out the shrub with as much root as possible and keep removing new shoots in the years that follow.

Through the year

• February: Pruning: oldest stems out, cut back the hedge.
• March: Last month for pruning and planting; spade off suckers.
• June: Flowering starts: large, fragrant flowers.
• August: Flowers and hips at the same time; pick the first hips.
• September: Pick hips for syrup and jam.
• October: Yellow autumn colour; pick the last hips.
• November: Planting and spading off suckers.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Impenetrable flowering hedge that tolerates sea wind, sand and salt.

Food and drink

The large hips for rosehip syrup and jam (without the hairy seeds).

For wildlife

Flowers for bumblebees and bees, hips for birds.

Caution: An invasive species on the coast: don’t plant it near the dunes.

Edible and useful

Flowers (June–September)

Pick the strongly scented petals from June to September, on a dry morning, just as the flower has fully opened. They make a beautiful rose syrup or rose sugar, or go into a bath bag or an oil for the skin. Snip off the white base of each petal: it tastes bitter.

Fruit (August–October)

The large, fleshy hips are ripe in August–October, when they are bright red and slightly soft. They have more flesh than dog rose hips, which makes them easier to turn into purée, jam or syrup. The seeds and their hairs must always be removed.

Storing

Dry petals spread out on paper in the shade, then keep them in a closed jar. Halved, deseeded hips can be dried or frozen.

Caution: Carefully remove the seeds and their itchy hairs from the hips. Only use flowers and hips from roses that have not been sprayed: roses from florists or garden centres have often been treated. On the coast, the Japanese rose is an invasive species: do not spread seeds or rhizomes into the wild.

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

Recipes

• Rose petal syrup (Syrup · ± 750 ml · 20 min + overnight steeping)
• Rose balm for dry hands (Skin and body care · ± 4 small jars of 30 ml · 30 min + 3–4 weeks infusing)
• Rose hip jam (Jam · ± 3 jars · 1.5 hours)
• Rosehip soup (Dish · serves 4 · 1 hour)
• Rose petal sugar (Other · makes ± 1 jar of 400 ml · 20 min + 2 weeks maturing)

Good for wildlife

Bumblebees

Nectar and pollen for bumblebees, also from deep flowers and early in spring.

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Did you know?

• Planted as a tough hedge and in the dunes, where it now crowds out native plants: on the coast it is an invasive species.
• Rugosa means ‘wrinkled’, after its deeply wrinkled leaves.
• Children used to use the hairy seeds inside the hips as itching powder.
• The Japanese rose grows wild on beaches and dunes along the coasts of Japan, Korea and north-east China. That is why it feels so at home on our coast.
• In China its fragrant petals are used for tea, pastries and rose jam.