Wild rose collecting

pickinknows

I was wondering if anyone would have any personal experience with collecting a wild rose. I have seen some pics. but was wondering about collecting one. If you know where i could find any info that would be great also.

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gregb

I have personal experience collecting wild roses. I collected some late summer of 1999 at 7,000 foot elevation when I was living in Montana. These made it, so I collected more the following summer. I still have them and they bloom faithfully each spring and if I'm lucky they will make hips for winter interest.

There's really nothing special about the way you collect them, just make sure to get as much root as possible. They reproduce by rhizome, so one root will eventually give you many stems later on. The species I have, Rosa woodsii, seems not to want to have a single trunk and stems will die off after a couple of years. Don't worry, though, because new rhizomes will pop up to replace the dead ones. This makes it difficult to create a bonsai, but it does make a nice accent plant. I'll see if I can't dig up a couple of photos to post with this replyy

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	rosa 1.jpg (30.3 KB, 129 views)
	rose 2.jpg (38.7 KB, 123 views)
	rosehips 2.gif (39.7 KB, 102 views)

rockm

In Arkansas, you're probably going to be dealing with a much tougher customer than the Rosa Woodsii that Gregb is. You're probably going to be collecting the invasive Multiflora rose--

http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/romu1.htm

This species is everywhere in the Southeast and is what most people call "wild rose." Although, there are some abandon houses and estates where antique, forgotten rose cultivars have been scratching out a living for a hundred years or so. If you have access to a site like that, happy hunting

The biggest issue with multiflora rose is finding a decent appropriate trunk. Most plants have multistemmed spindly trunks and mostly aren't worth the trouble to dig them, much less worth the pain and suffering in keeping them as bonsai. Once in a while, however, you run across a sinlge-trunked bruiser--usually in an old field or abandon house. These ARE worth the effort, but they're not common. Takes alot of looking to find one.

I have a large collected multlflora, about 9 inches in diameter or so. It was dug out of a cow pasture near Fredericksburg, Va. where it was climbing an old telegraph pole. It was originally a 35-40 foot tall plant. It's now about a foot tall.

I didn't dig it myself, but apparently, collection was pretty aggressive, all in one go in the spring. It's rootball was only about a foot across and it was barerooted in the process. After collection it was put into a largish growing container with 60/40 organic heavy soil and set out in partial sun all summer to recover. Root zone warmth can speed root recovery, just not intense warmth. With the richer soil mix, you have to be very careful with the watering. Soggy roots can be very bad.

The plant is quite agressive in growth and a real pain to prune, since it has hooked thorns--alot of small hooked thorns--that tend to break off in your skin. I have to cut it back every two weeks or so in the summer. Like most roses, it tends to throw new growth in canes from numerous place on the trunk, but you can also whip growth into ramified branching with a little time--although aggressive pruning can force the plant to abandon branches...

It flowers, although hard pruning removes flower buds, so it you want roses and rose hips, youhave to endure a scraggly looking bonsai for a while.

For what it's worth, I got my rose free of charge from the person that dug it up. He said he' simply gotten sick and tired of having to corral the thing every spring and summer AND tired of the thorns. Oh, they're also aphid magnets .

Good luck.

ginkgosrule

I also have wild rose by my house. I was hoping to collect some that were shaped by a creek. its amazing how large these get in the wild. I was wondering it there anything that would eat the bark off of a rose. because it seems something is eating it around here

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rockm

ALot of things will eat roses. Borers are a real problem with big trunked specimens and can kill off sections of trunk if they're not kept in check. Aphids and any number of other soft bodied pests are also an issue.

Roses are related to apples and they attract similar pests. Apples will draw just about any sap sucking insect in a three mile radius

pickinknows

This is one of the larger roses we have on the place. The base is ten to twelve inches. The main trunk is over six. I'm going to have to look at it some more. I think that i will collect a smaller one this spring. It is around four inches with a single trunk and good taper. Sorry i don't have a good pic. My camera eats batteries like cheetos. It died on me during the hike. Thanks for the info they don't sound that hard to collect.

The pic. doesn't look near as good at 500 pixels as it does at 2500

Attached Images

wild rose.jpg (68.7 KB, 93 views)

rockm

Definitely multiflora rose--the flaky cinnamon colored bark is great--and a good candidate for bonsai. Severe pruning in the spring (trunk chop) --I'd keep one or two of those smaller trunks attached for awhile--collect all at once.

morea

Dear GregB

Thank You for Your pictures.
The roses look very nice !

2 Years ago i tryed to collect a wild roze.
We call it "dog-roze" , they smell very good
in the twilight.
Wrote You did it in late summer , me too ,
but the roze died .

I would like to ask You :
Is your wild roze also flowering at the
high end of the branch ?
And how did You get it to flower so short ?
Or is it the specie that does not need length to flower ?
Kind regards
Morea