The adjective “rugose” comes from the Latin word meaning “wrinkled.” The phrase “rugosa rose” means “tougher than nails”—at least in my personal garden dictionary.
Rosa rugosa is an eastern Asian species rose, notable for its heavily veined, wrinkly leaves and incredibly prickly stems. The flowers, like those of many rose species, are simple, with five petals apiece surrounding a center filled with golden stamens.
In their natural state rugosas are either red or white, with large, showy flowers that appear once a season. Brilliant red-orange hips follow, which can be the size of small tomatoes. If you have ever noticed large-hipped roses growing near the seashore, they are probably rugosas or rugosa relatives.
It stands to reason that hybridizers would get excited about a strong plant with big, great-smelling flowers. Since the late nineteenth century, rose breeders in England, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Canada and the United States have crossed rugosas with other desirable species and varieties. The resulting hybrids are available in single, semi-double and double forms. Most are just as prickly as the species, but have also retained their irresistible, characteristic spicy-sweet fragrance. The color range has expanded to include many shades of pink and red, including some very dark purple-reds. There are even a couple of good yellow rugosa hybrids—the Canadian bred ‘Agnes’ and the twenty-five year-old American ‘Topaz Jewel’.
I bought a hybrid rugosa the other day for the little beach garden in front of our summer cottage in Central New York. The beach garden’s exposed location and exceptionally free-draining soil, coupled with the extremes of the local climate, make it a hard place to grow roses. In the last five years I have lost two wonderful plants, planted in two separate spots. One was a pale yellow Griffith Buck variety and the other was “Father Hugo’s Rose” or Rosa xanthina f. hugonis, a small-leafed Chinese species rose, also with yellow blooms. Both were reputed to be tough, but neither measured up. I figured that since rugosas and their kin have survived sand dunes, salt spray and all manner of natural and manmade insults in many locations, they could survive in my beach garden. After all, the spray may be icy from September fifteenth through Memorial Day, but it is never salty. It was worth a try.
I was hoping to find ‘Blanc Double de Coubert’, a French rugosa hybrid from the eighteen nineties. It has big, semi-double white flowers, a divine scent and the ability to rebloom after its first flush in the spring. What I got from the small independent garden center nearby was a thorny plant labeled “Japanese Species Rose.” Still, the wrinkled leaves bespoke its rugosa heritage and the big, rose-pink blooms exuded the characteristic fragrance. The shrub was exceptionally healthy and the price was fifty percent off, which was seventy-five percent less than I would have paid at home in New Jersey. Clearly the match was meant to be.
In the past I have grown ‘Agnes’ and the double white ‘Sir Thomas Lipton’, bred by fabled American hybridizer, Dr. Walter Van Fleet and introduced in 1900. I love them both, but had to leave them behind in a previous New Jersey garden. My life story is one of too many roses and far too little sunny space.
I fail to see why anyone would grow a privacy hedge of prickly, invasive barberry when it is so easy to create one of rugosa roses, which are just as prickly but exponentially more beautiful. Many of the hybrids rebloom, including the lovely pink Fru Dagmar Hastrup, a single form bred in Denmark, and the aforementioned ‘Blanc Double de Coubert’. Whether you grow rugosas as a privacy hedge, or as specimen plants, or as part of a mixed border, they are generally untroubled by pests or diseases. I expect my no-name pink rugosa hybrid will be as strong as its more elegantly monikered relatives. I hope it will bloom repeatedly, but I will be content with long term survival and showy hips.
In addition to coveting ‘Blanc Double de Coubert’, I would also love to have ‘Mrs. Doreen Pike’, a fragrant hybrid rugosa bred by revered English hybridizer David Austin. It is compact, at about three feet tall, and boasts frilly pink double flowers. Even in my perpetually space-challenged state, I know I can fit in something so small and so eminently worthy.
You can sometimes find rugosas at local garden centers, as I did. For a good selection try Antique Rose Emporium, 9300 Lueckemeyer Road, Brenham, TX 77833, (800) 441-0002; www.antiqueroseemporium.com. Free catalog. Another excellent source is Heirloom Roses, 24062 NE Riverside Drive, St. Paul, OR 97137, (800) 820-0465; www.heirloomroses.com. Free catalog.