Rosa rugosa 'Rubra'

The rugosa roses from Japan & Korea became very popular in the 20th century. They are so easy to grow, disease resistant & pretty. They make great impenetrable hedges & the large hips have so much more substance compared to other roses. They are collected for their high content of vitamin C & I spent a fair amount of my childhood in the Fall collecting & cleaning rugosa rosehips for rosehip jam. Delicious. Tastes pretty good just eaten straight from the bush, but avoid the hairy seeds. They were used by mischievous Danish youngsters as "itch powder" & stuffed down the shirt of unsuspecting killclass mates. The roses are shrubs 5-6' tall with clean green foliage & 3" pink single flowers. Blooms Spring-Summer & nicely fragrant. The roots will spread on own-root plants so give it some space to grow. It prefers sandy soil (like the beaches it comes from) but will grow elsewhere, too.