Anyone here growing roses for hips?

I’m about to embark on the journey of growing roses for hip production. I’m Just curious as to what variety your growing and why? Everywhere i read says Rosa Rugosa. I however see that One Green World has three varieties. Can anyone point me in the right direction for a delicious and decent sized hip?

3 Likes

I do not have any experience with it, but I have heard that Rosa canina (dog rose) is another good producer of hips with high antioxidants and multiple uses (tea, wine, etc.).

You can check out this thread.

Good Rosehip Roses.

It is in the General Gardening thread.

2 Likes

Many thanks mamuang!

1 Like

When you get a variety that makes good hips, plant some seeds. The seedlings will have variable flowers, but the hips tend to be a lot like the seed parent. Beg a few hips from where ever you see them too, same thhing, they resemble the female parent in the fruit.

I know very little about roses, so excuse my ignorance. Are the roses that grow on the ocean shore in Maine Rugosa roses? I swear some of the rose hips I saw there were the size of Whitney crabapples.

1 Like

Most of such roses are a rosa rugosa variety. Several have nice fragrance but are also very thorny.

2 Likes

Thank you. Thorniness wouldn’t be a problem here. I’d grow them for the critters mainly. I could see large rose hips being a nice food source for late winter after most other high caloric foods being exhausted.

These are some of rugosa roses.

Heirloom Roses: Rugosa Roses.

1 Like

Thank you again…but holy cats, those prices are a bit steep.

Any idea how something like these would compare (not for bloom intensity, but for hip production)
Rose, Rugosa (20 cui Shrub) (uidaho.edu)

I don’t grow any rugosa because of their thorns. @IL847 does. Hope she will chime in to help you.

1 Like

I have Blanc Double de Coubert and a double petals darker pink rose rugose. Very thorny but highly fragrant. I love their scents, especially the de Coubert so sweet! They bloom twice in the season. After bloom they do have a lot of rose hips, not very large(although I don’t know how big a rose hip normally should be ). I don’t know when they ripe enough to harvest them. I just cut the hips off after the bloom to save energy. As I recall, if I don’t cut them off, they will turn yellow and drop off eventually.

1 Like

I think for the large hips, you’d be better off with the straight species. I’ve seen them with hips over 1" diameter in NH, Maine, and NY, and those are all bird-sown escapes. Even the straight species has great scent and a loooong bloom time, but the blooms won’t be as fancy and the growth habit will be more variable.

2 Likes