Rose Hips
Rose Hips
If you haven't seen the seed pods of roses, called rose hips, on your rose bushes, it could be because you pruned off all the old flowers before they were able to go to seed.
For great pictures of rose hips (and flowers, too), see The Concise Illustrated Book of Roses by Beatrix Hamilton (Gallery Books).
Not quite sure you understand those hardiness zones (or in what zone you live)?
Read More...
Page 1 of 2 ...
Rose Hips
Rose hips are perfect for creating textured fall arrangements. The small blossoms, which are actually the seed pods of roses, resemble brightly colored berries.
Rose Hips: The bright reddish-orange fruit of the rose plant - they remain after the petals fall off.
Rose hips. Hips are the round fruits that develop from spent flowers. If you want your roses to concentrate on flower production, deadhead each bloom after its prime so the plant doesn't spend all its energy producing seed.
Rose hips: The tangy-sweet red "hip" is actually the seeded and dried fruit of the rose bush. For the biggest, fleshiest hips try Rosa rugosa.
The rose hips are typically collected in late summer or fall once they have ripened. Some of the rose hips turn red, yellow or orange to help tell us when they have ripened.
Which Rose Hips Are Edible?
Roses are a distant cousin to the apple tree, so it should come as. More
List of Edible Desert Plants ...
Birds love rose hips. You may like them, too. Rugosa's fruits look and taste like sweet, mealy apples. I munch on them while I garden. Rugosa hips contain high amounts of vitamin C (as much as 20 times the amount in orange juice).
The fruit may be red like an apple or a rose hip, green like a cucumber, purple like an eggplant, or brown like an acorn.
Chop the rose hips coarsely. Put them in a saucepan with the apple peel and cover with the water. Bring slowly to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain, add a very little sugar or honey to taste, then cool and chill. Makes 4 small glasses.
Consider bittersweet, acorns, pine cones, rose hips, nandina or holly berries, apples or cranberries (which unfortunately we don't grow in Arkansas).
After a few weeks, the rose hip will start to swell. It may take up to four months for the hip to ripen. Generally, when the hip turns a reddish-orange color the seed is ready to be extracted.
Plants, such as ornamental grass or the rose hips from spent shrub roses, provide more than just color—they also offer architectural elements that give the autumn garden added interest.
Step 3: Think Color ...
Some flowers are high in nutrition as well. Roses-especially rose hips-are very high in vitamin C, marigolds and nasturtiums also contain vitamin C, and dandelion blossoms contain vitamins A and C.
Eating Flowers ...
Species known for long lasting, attractive rose hips include Moyes rose, red-leaf rose and Virginia rose. Red-leaf rose is also known for its reddish-purple leaves and canes.
I usually stop pruning my roses overall by early September. That way, rose hips develop by late October. The little round bulbs are a nice bit of decoration in the garden through the winter, especially after a light snowfall.
Many roses, for example, will develop colorful rose hips if the faded blooms are not pruned back. Likewise, some flowering plants, such as clematis, produce beautiful seed heads that can add interest to your garden through the winter months.
(Rosa 'Ballerina') bears a delicate pastel combination of deep rosy pink and white petals in the single flowers from late spring through fall. Small rose hips follow, brightening the bare tips through the winter and attracting birds.
In spring and early summer the arch is absolutely covered with fragrant white roses, and today (mid-September) they are covered with orange rose hips that from a distance look like small flowers. They are fantastic plants.
The seed from rose hips needs to be stratified (treating seed to break dormancy) to get good germination. Place the seeds in a twist of paper and place them in the crisper. Do not freeze. Leave for about six weeks before sowing.
Their blooms are lovely and aromatic, and if you're ambitious you can even make jelly from the spent rose hips.
Blooms are double, golden yellow and fade to a lighter shade. They have a light, sweet fragrance and occur in clusters continually from summer until late fall. Colorful rose hips in fall. An AARS in 1956.
 See also: Rose, Plant, Flower, Light, Gardening
|
