Love roses? Pick natives for beauty, scent, hardiness

Before the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness group was formed, I had become friends with top man Phil Hough when he volunteered with our newly-formed Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society Arboretum crew in the ’90s. Too, I’d known Sandy Compton for years before that, so it was kind of a “given” that I would offer to write a monthly column for their newsletter when it began. For several years I enjoyed sharing my knowledge of native plants with member readers, and one of my favorites was the article on Idaho’s wild roses.

Since the columns were designed to be informative and educational, upon a recent re-read of the wild rose offering, I realized it could be valuable for Bee readers as well. Big, blowsy imported blooms are indeed beautiful, but a frost, heat wave, dry conditions — etc., can do them in no time. Not so our wild residents. If you’re considering roses for the upcoming season, here are some good reasons to “go wild.”

Idaho’s native roses, while perhaps not as perfect and elite as their cultivated kin, provide charm and fragrance unparalleled by their loftier progeny. In our area — around June and far into late fall, you’ll find them everywhere — often in the most unlikely places — perhaps ornamenting an aspen grove, accompanying huckleberries in a high peaks patch, or popping out of the mossy boulders on an old rock slide. And while they delight our eyes, they do much more for the wildlife, providing leafy browse for deer and wintertime hips for birds and small mammals (and lost hunters?).

Though you may find several species of roses in your travels through our landscape, only three are considered native to this area; they are the Baldhip rose (Rosa gymnocarpa); Nootka rose (Rosa hispida); and Pearhip or Wood’s rose (Rosa woodsii). A fourth, the Prickly Rose (Rosa acicularis var.) is listed in the Native Plant Society landscaping list as “pink flowers, very spiny”; I am not familiar with this rose.

Each of the first three has special features that make identifying them pretty easy. Probably the easiest is the Baldhip by virtue of its dense armament of straight and soft but thorny prickles on older branches. Leaves are pinnate (feather-like) with five to nine serrated leaflets. The flowers, which bloom from June through July, are small (often only one inch wide) and sweetly fragrant. The hips are orange to red, and small.

The Nootka rose can be spindly or stout, depending on soil and location, so can be found growing from 3 to 7 feet tall. The alternate, pinnate leaves have 5 to 7 leaflets. There are a pair of flattened, straight to slightly curved thorns at the base of each leaf. The flowers are large — from 2- to 3-inches long, pink and solitary at the ends of branches. They bloom from May through July. The fruits are large, round and purple-red.

The Wood’s or Pearhip rose grows from 3 to 7 feet tall, with freely branched stems that can either contain a pair of thorns at the base of each leaf or not. Younger shoots are generally bristly. Leaves are alternate pinnately compound with 5-9 leaflets which are coarsely toothed. The small (1 to 2-inch) flowers are pink and usually borne on branch-ends in few-flowered clusters appearing from May through July. Fruits are dark red and round to oval.

All of the wild roses are considered as beneficial edible and/or of medicinal benefit. The fruits (rose hips) contain more Vitamin C than an orange and the seeds are rich in Vitamin E. They can be eaten raw or stewed, and last through the winter when other fruits are unavailable. Area Native Americans soaked rose petals in rainwater to bathe sore eyes and a tea made from the rose petals was combined with mint for sleep and relaxation. Too, a tea made from the scrubbed rose roots was used for coughs.

A common denominator of all these roses is the alternate, pinnately compound leaf arrangement, the fact that each of the flowers have five petals, and that all of them are hardy from sea level to about 4,500 feet.

All of the roses were utilized and often revered by area Indian tribes. The larger thorns were used for fish lures, buds were often eaten and hips were used in a decoction for an eyewash for sore eyes. A tobacco was made of the dried, powdered leaves and bark, and leaves were often chewed and applied to insect bites to relieve pain and swelling. Some tribes made arrows from the heavier, stronger rose-wood stems. The Salish believe that the Nootka rose offers protection from bad influences and threatening otherworld spirits.

The yellow Harbison’s (or Harrison’s) Rose from southern Idaho is a lovely multi-petaled beauty common around North Idaho for decades, and though not originally native here is, I believe, now accepted as such.

Wild roses are available at several area nurseries, are easily transplanted, and are a boon in your landscape, especially in hedgerows and groupings. I have allowed my plethora of Baldhip roses to take over the front area of my 3/4 acre since nothing else will grow there and they are simply sweet and beautiful. I am also blessed with Pearhips (pictured) and a gorgeous Harrison’s yellow.

The best news is they are care-free. Don’t fertilize them ever; they’re used to lean, acidic soils; and like the pretty country girl in gingham, they’ll outshine the hussies in satin every time.

Valle Novak writes the Country Chef and Weekend Gardener columns for the Daily Bee. She can be reached at bcdailybee@bonnercountydailybee.com. or by phone at 208-265-4688.