Prairie Rose
Other names
Sunshine Rose, Climbing Rose
Growth habit
Shrub
Native distribution
Native to the Finger Lakes Region, E and Central North America
Cultivation
A vigorous 12'-15' tall climbing rose that needs sturdy support. Large, single, pink flowers cover the plant.
Light: Full sun to part shade.
Moisture and Soil: Wet to dry soil.
Propagation
Seed Treatment and Storage: Let hips dry before removing seeds. Seeds germinate best with scarification. Provide a cold moist period for 60 days, followed by a warm moist period and then another cold moist period.
Biocultural value
Rose petals are pleasant-tasting raw or candied. The fruits, called hips, can be processed into jelly, although they are not as fleshy as those of some other Rosa species.
Wildlife value
Flowers attract pollen-collecting bees and syrphid flies. Several species of beetle and moth caterpillars feed on the foliage and flowers. Small mammals and birds eat the red hips (fruit). White-tailed deer browse on the foliage and mildly prickly stems.
Location
Source of plant
Unknown
Description
Shrub with slender, spreading, trailing or rambling stems 2-5m tall, bearing stout, more or less straight, broad-based, scattered prickles. Stipules narrow. Leaves deciduous, leaflets 3-8cm, 3-5, ovate to ovate-oblong, long, acute to acuminate, deep green and hairless above pale green and downy on the veins beneath, margins with coarse, simple teeth. Bracts absent. Receptacle glandular-bristly. Flowers 5-15 in loose clusters, single, sometimes fragrant, 5-7.5cm across; sepals with lateral lobes, downy and glandular-bristly on the back, reflexed after flowering, then falling; petals deep pink fading to pale pink or nearly white; styles united, exserted; stigmas hairless. Fruit 0.8cm, spherical, red to green-brown, glandular-bristly.
USDA Hardiness Zone
4
Status
L2|SNR|G5