WILD ROSES AND BRAMBLES
The Monday Garden, Eco-gardening at its best
May 22, 2005, Issue 165
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.
Picture: rosa rugosa Hoyt Street Alley, Stamford CT May 2005
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.