Rugosa RoseFriday, 27th August 2004 |
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On the rugosa rose by the car park in town there are plump hips, shaped like miniature pumpkins. I've previously assumed that this rose was the sweet briar because of its scent but sweet briar, usually spelt brier, is Rosa rubiginosa, a native rose, also known as eglantine. Rosa rugosa is an introduced species from Japan. Dr D G Hessayon, in The Rose Expert recommends the rugosa rose Roserie de l'Haÿ as a tough variety that will thrive in 'poor soil, salt-laden air and exposed sites'. He describes its prolific blooms as 'large, velvety and sweetly scented'.
Rugosa means 'wrinkled' and this refers to the texture of the leaves. I've noticed that its hips, when they've shrivelled, attract greenfinches which eat the seeds, even here in the centre of town. Last Rose of SummerThere's a last decadent exhuberance about gardens and countryside. The
season is evident even in that most artificial of environments, the Ridings
Shopping Centre: children are still much in evidence amongst
the shoppers but all the 'back to school' displays hint that they'll soon
be back behind their desks. Related LinkRosa Rugosa from Dendrology at Virginia Tech The Garden Expert books by Dr. D.G.Hessayon Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk |
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The
first tree I've seen flushed with autumn colour is a the horse
chestnut at the edge of the park in Wakefield.
But
the car park Rugosa seems to be Scabrosa, which Hessayon
recommends as a hedge or specimen bush if you don't have room for Roserie
de l'Haÿ. Like l'Haÿ it is 'remarkably healthy, hardy and bears
large fragant flowers' and, Hessayon adds, Scabrosa 'scores by producing
tomato red hips in the autumn'.