Damask rose

Photo: Mostafameraji — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Survives zone 4 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

An ancient artificial hybrid (R. gallica x R. moschata, itself likely crossed with R. centifolia) never found truly wild, despite the Damascus-suggesting name — probably fixed in cultivation somewhere in ancient Persia. The source of attar of roses and rosewater: petals are the historically important harvest, distilled for perfume and used to flavour drinks, sweets, baked goods and ice cream. ⚠ Deseed the hips before eating: the ring of stiff hairs around the seeds is a gut and skin irritant, and is what old-fashioned itching powder was made from. Strain it out of any purée or syrup.

Hardiness

Zone 4–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit, Flower, Shoot

Ripens

Aug–Oct

Mature size

To about 1.5 m

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

5.5–7.5 (mildly acid to mildly alkaline)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Not found in the wild; associated with Western Asia and ancient Persia, where it was first fixed in cultivation.

Status

Cultivated only — an ancient garden hybrid, not a wild species

Years to fruit

2–3 yrs

Growth speed

Moderate

Spacing

150 cm (59 in) apart — about 2.3 m² (24 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Pinnate with usually five greyish-green leaflets, downy beneath, on very prickly stems.

Root system

Deep and strongly suckering, throwing new shoots from spreading lateral roots — which is how wild roses build thickets, and worth knowing before siting one in a small bed. The suckers are also the easiest way to get another plant.

Fruit description

About 2.5 cm across, thin flesh around numerous seeds

Propagation

Seed (about 2 years to germinate; scarification plus warm stratification speeds this), half-ripe cuttings in July, hardwood cuttings in early autumn, division of suckers, or layering (about 12 months).

Pollination

Hermaphrodite, self-fertile, insect-pollinated.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.