Delicate white or pink petals in spring, then a shrub hung with little red fruits by autumn: the dog rose (Rosa canina) is an easy, hardy wild rose grown as much for its vitamin-rich hips as for its flowers. Give it sun or part shade, well clear of paths because of the thorns, and it asks for almost nothing.
| Name | Rosa canina |
|---|---|
| Family | Wild rose tree |
| Type | rose tree |
| Height | 3 to 10 feet (1 to 3 m) |
| Breadth | 3 to 10 feet (1 to 3 m) |
| Exposure | full sun, part sun |
| Soil | rich |
| Foliage | semi-evergreen, deciduous |
| Flowering | spring, summer |
Dog rose in the wild grows in forest clearings and along swaths of open terrain: this is why sun and part shade are its favorite exposure.
Dog rose is an easy, hardy shrub, that most often is quite happy in all types of soil.
The best season to plant dog rose is fall, and second to that, spring.
Its small size makes it the ideal shrub for shrub beds, standalones or for wild hedges, on the condition that no pathways go through or near it because of thorns.
To propagate a dog rose, collect cuttings 8 inches (20 cm) long from the tips of the sprigs that have grown during the year. Bury the lower part in a blend of ⅔ light garden soil and ⅓ sand, and set it on the side of the house facing away from the equator. Maintain moisture in the soil during the entire winter.
In spring, transplant your rooted cuttings in healthy, well-drained soil that is well exposed to the sun. Mulch to ease regrowth.
Strip the leaves and thorns from the buried half of each dog rose cutting, since buried foliage rots and can take the whole stem with it.
When inserting hardwood cuttings, bury about two-thirds of each stem in the rooting bed or soil, leaving only two or three buds exposed above the surface to sprout.
Choose firm shoots about as thick as a pencil, and make the bottom cut just below a bud, where rooting hormones concentrate.
Dog rose asks for very little, but the few jobs it does need each fall on a particular moment of the year. Here is the whole cycle, from planting to picking the hips, in one place.
| Job | Season | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Planting | Mid-autumn, or spring as second choice | Mix of garden earth and soil mix, fertiliser lining the bottom of the hole, water abundantly, then mulch |
| Rooting cuttings | Kept moist through midwinter, transplanted in spring | 8 inch (20 cm) tips in ⅔ light garden soil and ⅓ sand, on the side of the house facing away from the equator |
| Feeding | Spring | Rose tree fertiliser, for denser and more abundant blooming |
| Deadheading | Right through flowering, until late autumn | Remove wilted flowers to bring on new ones — unless you are after hips |
| Pruning | After the blooming, once a year | Cut out dead wood, shorten hedges to height, and take two or three of the oldest stems down to the base |
| Picking rose hips | After the first frost, mid-autumn to early winter | Frost softens the fruit; dry it without delay near a heat source |
Miss none of these and the same shrub gives you flowers from spring to autumn and fruit to see you through winter.
As mentioned earlier, dog rose is a very easy shrub.
Stop removing the faded flowers once you want rose hips, since every bloom you snip off is one less fruit in autumn.
Wear long gauntlet gloves when working around a dog rose.
Cut off the suckers that spring from the base or from the roots, otherwise the shrub slowly spreads into a thicket.
A dog rose copes well with dry spells once settled, but give a young plant a deep soaking at the base whenever the soil dries out several inches down.
If you prune your dog rose on a regular basis (once a year), you’ll be giving it what it needs to have a better growth, a nice stature and better blooming from spring to fall.
Wear long leather gauntlets: the hooked thorns of dog rose grip and tear bare skin.
Renew the shrub by cutting two or three of the oldest, darkest stems right down to the base, leaving the vigorous young shoots to take over.
If you want rose hips, stop removing spent flowers towards the end of the blooming so the fruits can set.
Plant a dog rose bush in a corner of your garden: it will charm you with its beautiful flowers in spring and you’ll eat its fruits all winter long as true delicacies!
Very ornamental during the blooming with its delicate elegant flowers with white or pink petals, the dog rose is covered in little red fruits in fall. These fruits, called rose hips, have incredibly high levels of vitamin C: you would need 35 oz (1 kg) of lemons to produce the same amount of vitamin C contained in 3.5 oz (100 g) of rose hips!
To savor them all winter long, collect them after the first frost – this will soften the fruits – and dry them without delay by placing them near a heat source. Add them to your tea in the morning, you’ll be energized for the whole day!
Planting a dog rose is within reach of every gardener. For the best type of rose hips, select the “Rosa villosa“ variety, also called hairy dog rose: its fruits contain the highest amounts of vitamin C. The hairy aspect of it is a distinctive identification marker.
Dog rose is a gold mine for pharmacopeia: the buds stimulate the body’s immune system, and pincushion gall that occasionally grows on the plant can be used in a similar manner as the dog rose hips themselves, for herbal tea or invigorating decoctions.
Culinary wonders, rose hips are part of many recipes: jellies, jams and even “ketchup”. Indeed, rose hip, when cooked, releases a thickening agent that gives even a simple mug of boiled water a thick, creamy sensation when drinking.
Before using them in a culinary preparation, run the fruits through a sieve to remove seeds and whiskers (these are prized “itching powder” for childhood pranks): they’re both diuretic and irritating.
M.-C. H.
If you have trouble growing roses because of the soil in your garden, use dog rose as a grafting root stock. It can grow almost anywhere and is fully compatible with all types of roses!
