Can Rosa Gymnocarpa Be Used As a Hedge?

Features

• Wood roses grow on 3- to 6-foot canes in shrubs that spread up to 9 feet. Leaves and flowers are small, an inch or less in size, making a sparse-enough shrub that garden snakes can sunbathe between its canes. Soft prickles cover new canes and grow more rigid as the cane ages. Plants grow from U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones 5 to 10. Wild wood roses thrive on the edges of dry or moist wooded areas. It tolerates shade and serpentine soil, a soil that contains a group of minerals common in California. Wood roses can grow in clay but not wet soil.

Uses

• Recommendations for Rosa gymnocarpa include woodland gardens and gardens up to 6,000 feet in elevation. The Washington Native Plant Society suggests pinning its long canes to the soil to establish it as ground cover to maintain shore and slope stability. Wild wood roses form thickets that grow larger as they age. They form effective barriers against larger wildlife such as deer that might graze on young shoots but would lose interest as shoots become tough and spiny.

Hedges

• Maintained carefully, wood roses, planted 5 to 6 feet apart, could form a prickly hedge up to 6 feet tall. Planted more closely, they could form a shorter natural hedge in a woodland garden. Pruned annually, the hedge could be kept compact enough to line property borders. The plants sucker freely, meaning that they put up new canes and spread during the entire growing season. Shrubs would require constant maintenance if planted adjacent to a public area, such as a sidewalk, where passersby might run into its waving, bristly canes.

Suggestions

• Wood roses grow fast, flower freely and produce hips useful for jellies and cooking as well as bird food. The major drawbacks to their use as hedges is that they grow only to 6 feet tall, contain prickles and their growth pattern is sparse. Interplanted with other upright native shrubs, they could form a commanding hedgerow. Use them as an informal hedge where a barrier is needed or where their woodland visitors are visible to observers from the garden or nearby buildings. Avoid use where they might harbor undesirable creatures or injure neighborhood children or wandering pets.