Wild Rose Bushes with Rosehips

The rose hips have a distinctive sour taste. Some say they taste like small sour apples since they are from the apple family. Others have a cranberry flavor. The flavor changes due to the soil conditions and climate and health of the plant, as well as the ripeness of the fruit. I have tasted unripe sour apples and I guess I have to say it is not my favorite snack!

I have not known domestic roses to have the Rose Hips needed for harvesting. Wild roses are the best pick for rose hips. According to BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, the best roses for good tasting hips are:

1. Rosa-Canina (The dogrose) is a climbing rose. Its other names are common briar and dog brier. This 3 to 15-foot large shrub has arching canes and curved thorns on the stems. It grows in Europe, Africa and Asia and is common in North America. It is a classic and common rose that is used in landscaping and is difficult to contain due to its propagation by sprouting. Flowers are shades of pink and white with a yellow center. They grow single flowers at the end of the branches. The hips are bright red in color. It has 5-7 leaflet clusters, and blooms from June to July. Rosehips are rip from September to October.

2. Rosa-Filipes has clusters of creme-white flowers with yellow center. The flowers grow in clusters. Native to China. It grows 10 to 30 feet tall. Its many thorns anchor it and climb other trees. The rosehip is red.

3. Rosa-Fru Dagmar Hastrup is a hardy bush with fragrant silvery pink blossoms and red hips. It originally came from the rosa rugosa. Flowers are May until frost. The hips are a rich crimson tomato shaped. A very showy landscaping plant. Grows to 5 to 8 feet. Good growth in zones 3-9. Very hardy and disease resistant. Pick the hips in late summer and fall

4. Rosa-Madame Gregore Staecelin is a fragrant and showy climbing rose with thorns. It has double pink blossoms that continue to flower all season. It is also called the Spanish beauty Grows in zone 6 or warmer. Grows 10 to 20 feet. Has pink or yellow fruit.

5. Rosa-Moyesii is native to China. Grows 13 x 10 feet. Very vigorous, red or pink summer blossoms, yellow centers. It has orange-red bottle shaped hips in the fall.

6. Rosa-Rugosa is the best tasting rose hips for preserving. It is known as the beach tomato, sea tomato, salt-spray rose, beach rose, potato rose, and Turkestan rose. The fruit is sometimes called beach plums.  It grows in sandy beach soils. It is native to Asia, China, Japan, Korea and Siberia. It is noted for its distinctive ‘wrinkled’ leaves. The shrub grows from suckers and forms dense thickets. Flowers are dark pink to white. Red “cherry tomato’ rosehips are rip in late summer and early autumn. The flower season extends through the fruit season. Leaves usually turn a nice yellow color before they fall. They make a nice potpourri.

7. Rosa-setipoda has a single pale pink flower, leaving large, long red rose hips in the fall. Rosa-Spinosissima is also called the Scotch rose. It is also the rosa pimpinellifolia.  It has white flowers, yellow centers. It has black rose hips.

8. Rosa-Spinosissima is also called the Scotch rose. It is also the rosa pimpinellifolia.  It has white flowers, yellow centers. It has black rose hips.

Wild Roses and Their Fruit Are Common and Easy to Find

Tips on Harvesting Wild Rosehips

My best tip for finding wild Rosehips is to look for areas that are close to water. Most wild roses are very hardy and will grow in less than perfect soil conditions. Since they grow in the wild you probably do not need to worry about pesticides or pollutants. That is good!

So, unless they grow by a polluted body of water, or close to a road where they use pesticides, you can be sure you are getting good rose hips for your favorite recipes.

My best (and my secret) place for picking Wild Rosehips is on the lake side. The best part of that adventure was that I was able to use my dad’s boat with some good friends to find them. They were the ones who knew where the best hips were and introduced me to something that I really enjoyed.

That was quite a few years ago and now since I live in the woods, I use the wild rose bushes around me. I live on 50 acres, and I do not use pesticides.

When Can I Harvest Rosehips?

My biggest obstacle now is when I can find time in my busy schedule to pick them! They are not time consuming to pick, but rather like going for a nice hike. I figure when it is time to pick huckleberries, blackberries and raspberries it is a good time to think about picking my rosehips. So, at the end or near the end of the berry season, I wait for the first frost, and there we go. I start the harvesting process of the most valuable vitamin C source I have on my list of fruit picking!

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_PLANTMATERIALS/publications/wapmcpg11562.pdf. https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/roses-for-hips/ Thursday, April 4, 2019, issue. Check them out at Gardeners’ World.com. (We do not get paid for this link.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_filipes. http://www.greatplantpicks.org/plantlists/view/1364. https://garden.org/plants/view/2340/Rose-Rosa-Madame-Gregoire-Staechelin/. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Rosa_%27Madame_Grégoire_Staechelin%27. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_moyesii. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_moyesii. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_rugosa. https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/r-setipoda. https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Rosa_setipoda. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Rosa_spinosissima