Rosa rugosas are among my favorite. You can probably just break off a branch and stick it in the ground, but they definitely propogate easily from seed - collect the ripe hips in September, allow them to dry, remove the seeds, and plant them - either via wintersowing, or you can probably direct sow them in situ.

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing Roses

I grew some beach roses last year (2004) from rose hips that I collected at the beach playground in Manchester by the sea. I kept them in the fridge until the middle of the winter, opened up the hips & removed the seeds, and winter sowed them into a milk jug. I had a few blooms last summer!!! Not many, but I didn't even expect them to grow, never mind bloom! Definately try it. I've never grown anything so easy!
~Kim

I will try it! Thank you so much for the info!

I've never grown anything so easy! And thats saying a lot from Kim...who I know grows everything from seed...and I mean anything and everything!

Michael

LOL, Michael, I TRY to grow everything from seed - it's just plain fun for me (I think it's the mother thing), and although it's far from 100%, I have managed to get a lot of new varieties. Roses in general are easy to wintersow, although wintering them over is always challenging - rugosa is pretty bullet-proof, though. This year I've managed to germinate a few shrubs and trees (crape myrtle, which also germinates pretty easily, ninebark, barberry among others).

Also, just so you know, there is also a plant called a beach plum. It's a large shrub or small tree with white to pink spring flowers and edible small fruit that critters love and makes good jam.

Rugosa roses are easy to grow. They will sucker (send out additional side stems) so give them plenty of room. Besides the wild pink and white ones, there are several varieties and hybrids in other shades of pink to red to white to purply-red and come in various degrees of double as well as the singles. There is a great little book that is by Suzanne Verrier (from ME and who sometimes visits these forums) called Rosa Rugosa. It might be available through your public library or I found it at Amazon books for less than $10.

They are easy to start from cuttings as well as seed and if you see a neighbor who has a variety you like, you could ask for a cutting and try. There is some good information on propogating roses in the FAQ on the rose propogation forum here at Gardenweb.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose propogation FAQ

The beach plums make wonderful jam as well as the rosehips!
My daughter did a paper a number of years ago on rosehips. For the Brisish soldiers in WWII, they were the only source of vitamin C. I also love the rugosa roses.

I'm so glad that everyone shares my passion for this incredible rose! Thanks for the info, especially the book reference, NHBabs. Our town library has everything under the sun; I hope they have that book.

I just got a baggie-full of seed pods (hips?)from a friend. I am not very well versed in roses and I wonder if these pods (collected just yesterday 8/8) are too young to germinate. Can I dry the pods and use the seeds or do I need to get more mature pods in September?
Can the seeds be grown in soil that is not sandy?
Any help anyone can give me is appreciated.
Thanks.

You said that you live just down the steet from where these roses are growing...you probably won't have to "do" anything. Next spring, you'll be pulling them from your garden as weeds...I know from experience!

I put Rogusas in front of the basement windows of my raised ranch last year for that same beachy look, and I love how it turned out. They're already very full and have tons of blooms. The added bonus is that nobody with a brain will dare try to break into my house. They are extremely thorny and impossible to get through.

Hi,

This is the first time I am planting Beach Roses.
I live in NY close to a lake and brought a Beach Rose back with me from Maine that I purchased at a garden center.
Any help will be appreciated, as I do not know anything about gardening. I just fell in love with the Beach Roses and decided to try it here.

Solange

You said that you live just down the steet from where these roses are growing...you probably won't have to "do" anything. Next spring, you'll be pulling them from your garden as weeds...I know from experience!
Solange,
Triciae's advice would be well taken, you will be ripping out thorny runners for many year to come if you don't contain this monster. kt

The rose is beautiful and smells wonderful, but it's not native. It's native to the Orient, where it grows in similar places on the coasts of Siberia, Manchuria, Japan, & Korea. While it's beautiful there are those who regard it as invasive, because it can be if you put it in the right environment.

My experience with it suggests it pouts in climates with hot sticky summers unless it's growing in sandy soil.

When it's happy it's indestructible. Aside from its invasive tendencies, it's biggest downside is you can't cut the flowers to bring them indoors for your table. When you do that the flowers shatter quickly.

As with all roses, the hips & flower petals are edible as long as they haven't been treated with pesticides recently.

It's not just the runners. They seed everywhere. My neighbor has a hedge of beach roses. They're beautiful in bloom & later with the hips. The fragrance of the flowers is wonderful. I hate them!

I pull seedling roses from my gardens all season long. They quickly grow behind other plants & are often a couple feel tall by the time I find them...then, they're tougher to get out. I bet I pull a couple hundred seedlings every year. My neighbor's have formed a thicket that's impossible to get into for garden clean-up, etc. because of the thorns. Those same thorns trap fall's leaves in the branches which is where they'll stay 'cause you can't get them out without hand picking each leaf.

My advice would be to enjoy them in other people's gardens & let them deal with the maintenance & weeding they create.

/T

I agree with Triciae. My mother planted some of these, and has regretted it ever since. Hers have gotten infested with bittersweet, and the only way to get rid of the vine is to get rid of the roses. I suppose we could cut the whole mess down to a foot or so and selectively treat with roundup, but it would need to be done repeatedly to be effective.

Hers also comes up in the lawn. It's not a garden worthy plant, IMHO.