This spring I noticed some very odd, spiny balls growing on some roses at the property my husband's company is moving to, on Victory Road. At first I thought that these were hips/ seedpods on an unusual species of rose. However, the folks at the IBG informed me that they are actually wasp galls. Sure enough, we cut one open and found tiny wasp larvae inside.

As I was working at the IBG later in the summer, I had opportunity to observe several of these galls on their roses. The galls on rosa rubrifolia had a lovely reddish-purple tint, since apparently the galls are created from the plant material itself.

Just yesterday a friend asked me to help her identify an "unusual shrub" that she had found while blackberry picking. It turned out to be a rose with wasp galls on it.

Now I'm wondering: have these been in the Boise area all along and I'm just now running into them for some reason, or is this a fairly new pest that is slowly gaining a foothold in our area (like hobo spiders and black vine weevils)?

Also, I'd love to hear more information about this particular phenomenon, since I'm not at all familiar with it. Thanks in advance to any knowledgeable folks who would like to "chime in"!