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Issue No. 165 - May 22, 2005
by Sue Sweeney
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| Rosa is an amazing plant family: peaches, pears,
cherries, and apples are roses; strawberries are roses. In
the “bramble” (prickly shrub) class, around where I live we
have two disastrous foreigners, two great natives, and one
in between. The “Great American” natives are the swamp rose
(Rosa palustris) and the black raspberry (Rubus
occidentalis). The bad, bad guys are the Rosa
mulitflora, and the wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius).
The in-between is the Asian rosa rugosa, classified
by some as an invasive villain, and by others as sustainable
ecology hero. The first four are definitely bird-spread;
there’s some question whether the birds ever get around to
munching on the big, fat rugosa rose hips. |
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| Picture: rosa rugosa Hoyt Street Alley,
Stamford CT May 2005 |
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In spring, when you’re deciding what to buy from the
nursery and what to weed out from what the birds
brought you last year, it is good to know your
brambles, good, bad and in-between.
Rosa mulitflora: The rosa
mulitflora is on most environmentalists’
top-10 worse invasive list. It came into
North America in the late 1800’s from Japan
for use as root stock for ornamental rose
grafting. In WPA days, the U.S. Soil
Conservation Service, unfortunately,
discovered its value for erosion control and
as "living fences". Now, unless you live
close to the North Pole or in the arid
southwest, you’ve met the plant. You’ll
usually find it in the protected part-shade
of the edge-of forest; roadsides, etc. --
anywhere that birds roost, where soil has
been disturbed, and there’s some moisture in
the summer (for example, your garden). |
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| Picture: rosa mulitflora Hoyt Street
Alley, Stamford, CT June 2004 |
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Critters from bobwhites to rabbits love rosa
mulitflora for the thick bramble-habitat
that it creates and for the rose hips that
provide late-winter survival food.
Pollinating insects love it, too. And since
it is from Japan, presumably its countrymen,
the Japanese beetles, love it, too. The one
positive benefit I can see in rosa
mulitflora is that it tends to form
impenetrable walls at the edge of wild areas
which keeps humans out so that the flora and
fauna can flourish. However, like the other
top invaders, and like suburban sprawl, rosa
mulitflora decreases our precious
bio-diversity, taking space that rightfully
belongs to our play-nicely-with-others
native species. |
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Pictures: rosa mulitflora
leaf, young stem with thorn, and winter rose hips, Hoyt
Street Alley and Waterside, Stamford, CT 2004 - 2005 |
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One of the horrible things about rosa
mulitflora is that it can climb trees. Once
in the tree, it is hard, and can be
dangerous, to get it the thorny thing down
again. If left to its own devices, the rosa
mulitflora will pull the tree down and kill
it. Another horrible thing about rosa
mulitflora is that it makes millions of
seeds every year and deposits them in the
soil’s seed bank, with a dormancy of up to
20 (yes, 20!) years. They say one of the
best ways to control rosa mulitflora, and
the other invasive rose-brambles, is
repeated mowing (see Issue 160 on
eradicating invasives).
In the garden, you’ll recognize rose
multi-flora because its leaves look just
like your average rose, only you didn’t
plant it. It is a pretty plant, and it is
tempting to let it stay. However, this is
not a good idea because it will take over
and once it has been around long enough for
you to hate it, it is very hard to root-out.
Meanwhile, unless you cut off every single
flower before rose hips form, you are guilty
of pollinating by invasive plant.
Rosa rugosa: The rugosa
rose also came from Asia and was named for
the wrinkled (rugose) surface of leaves. It
is legally classified as “having invasive
tendencies” in my home state of Connecticut;
and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden lists it as
“clearly invasive” in NYC area. |
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Pictures: rosa rugosa bud,
stem and unripe hip, Hoyt Street Alley and Bedford Street,
Stamford CT 2004- 2005 |
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To be truly invasive (as opposed to just a
weedy, aggressive annoyance), a plant has to
be capable of “jumping” long distances by
wind, water, bird, etc. in to uncultivated
areas. There is some question about the
degree to which the birds and other critters
spread the seeds from the rose hips.
However, where established, there is no
question that the rugosa forms a thick clump
via root suckers that pushes out many of the
surrounding plants (except grass; rugosa
seems to come with tall, weedy grasses just
where you can’t get to them without
shoulder-length leather “rose gloves”). The
plant is very salt-tolerant and good at
erosion control which why you see it planted
along the beach so often, where it can be a
menace to native beach plants
However, the rugosa rose is also listed
with “Plants For A Future” as a keeper due
to its hardiness and nutritional value. Rose
hips, generally, are said to be high in
vitamins A, C and E (seeds), flavonoids; and
essential fatty acids (supposedly rare in a
fruit). The difference between rosa rugosa
and many other roses is that, while the
rugosa rose attracts most of the same rose
pests and diseases, from aphids and Japanese
beetles to powdery mildew and black-spot, it
survives them nicely without chemical
intervention. Further, it doesn’t need
fancy, expensive, water-polluting
fertilizers; it does fine in poor soil.
You cam tell the rugosa rose by its
wrinkled leaves, fat (one inch) rose hips,
yellow flower stamens, and grey stems so
densely covered with short spines that they
look hairy.
Wineberry: Wineberry is a baddie; there’s
not question at all about its invasive
tendencies. If you doubt me, go look along
your roadside. It is there, crowding out the
local guys. The birds munch up the fruit
ASAP and spread it like crazy. |
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| Picture: wineberry; note the white
underside of the leaves. Bedford Street Stamford CT May 2004 |
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Wineberry is very
attractive. It looks like our native
caneberries except the leaves are a bit more
wrinkled, and larger with extra lobes, and
the stems are covered with short red spines
that look like hairs. Even the flower buds
are covered in mean little wine-red
prickles. The berries are probably good for
human consumption but most locations in
which it grows (roadsides, dumps, etc) are
possibly polluted. |
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Picture: wineberry leaf,
stem and unripe fruit, Hoyt Street Alley, various parking
lots Stamford CT 2004-2005 |
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Like the rosa mulitflora, if it is on your
land, get rid of it. Full stop.
Native caneberries: We
have several native “caneberries”, the
collective name for raspberries,
blackberries and kin. The most common one in
my area is the delicious and adorable black
raspberry (Rubus occidentalis). It does pop
up in gardens and hedges, and under bird
roosting spots, particularly in the
edge-of-forest zone; I also see it along the
Mill River. Unfortunately, I also see it
(and everything else in sight) being crowded
out by wineberry. |
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| Picture: Native blackberry , parking lot
near Hoyt Street Alley, Stamford CT Summer 2004 |
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If you want something for the birds, the
native caneberries are a much better choice
than wineberry. The plants I’ve observed in
the wild do “play nicely with others” for
the most part, while providing habitat and
feeding the birds and other critters. (Even
domestic dogs and coyotes like black
berries). Native roses:
North America is blessed with a dozen or so
native roses. Mine is the swamp rose (Rosa
palustris). It is just plain glorious and a
great reward for slogging through the
sweaty, buggy summer swamp. Its winter rose
hips are just as beautiful. |
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Pictures: native swamp
rose, note the leaf spot, Bartlett Arboretum, Stamford CT
2004 |
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However, don’t think just because the roses
are local natives that they’ll do well in
your yard without a chemical assist. Roses
need full sun which means 10:00 AM to 4:00
PM all summer, and good air circulation, and
adequate moisture, and correct nutrition and
soil PH. And they still get Japanese
beetles, leaf spot, etc. So, unless you can
tolerate the pests without running for the
spray bottle, for the sake of our kids and
the planet, don’t be selfish- please choose
something else to grow. |
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| Picture: blackberry leaf, near Hoyt
Street Alley, Stamford CT May 2005 |
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