If you’re contemplating a landscaping addition that’s almost totally hassle-free, requires few pesticides if any, and still blooms with perhaps the prettiest ‘wild’ flowers in the world, then wild roses are your natural choice.
There are approximately 100 species of natural roses found in the world that botanists refer to as ‘Species Roses’, and wild roses in their truest form have two recognizable traits.
- They are notably hardy in cold weather climates and require little to none of the maintenance that their fussier hybrid rose cousins are infamous for.
- Wild roses also have only five petals, and while a few varieties of this wildflower species are white in color, most offer vibrant shades resembling apple blossoms with pretty pink and white undertones, while some are rich red, and the rare variety is a sunshine yellow.
A well-known and extremely hardy example of wild roses is the ‘Rugosa Rose’ which is either a red or white colored rose that is commonly included in North American landscapes. The ‘Pasture Rose’ and ‘Prairie Rose’ varieties also conjure up some brilliant images of wildflowers waving gently in a field or meadow. But because true wild roses are not often good repeat bloomers, horticulturists have created an excellent cross-breed of ‘Species Roses’ or wild roses with newer hybrids, creating modern shrub roses that combine the benefits of low maintenance with blooming continuing throughout summer and fall.
Remember that wild roses are not just wildflower plants, they are shrubs taking a few years at least to germinate from seed, growing to full bloom in the same way that trees do. And like most trees in cold weather, wild roses simply bare their leaves with their woody stems resembling small trees. Wild roses are planted in some zones as native hedges offering privacy and wind protection, but remember not to get to close to your wild roses with your lawn mower or they could be accidentally chopped! You will need to trim any dark wood, which is essentially dead wood, especially following winter weather in colder zones. But that’s basically all of the maintenance wild roses require.
