Downy rose

Photo: Hans Hillewaert — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 4 through 8

Harvest calendar

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

Named for its densely hairy, felted foliage on both leaf surfaces — the softest-leaved rose here. Best suited to the wilder parts of a planting rather than a formal bed; grown as much for its bright red autumn hips as anything else. ⚠ 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 4–8

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Sept–Oct

Mature size

Laxly branched, to about 3 m (10 ft)

Light

Full sun to part shade

Soil pH

5.5–7.5 (mildly acid to mildly alkaline)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Much of Europe including the British Isles, and Asia Minor and the Caucasus.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

2–3 yrs

Growth speed

Moderate

Spacing

180 cm (71 in) apart — about 3.2 m² (35 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

5–7 leaflets, elliptic to ovate or lanceolate, densely hairy on both sides, glandular-toothed

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

Globular, bristly, bright red hips in autumn

Propagation

Hardwood cuttings in autumn root readily, and rooted suckers can simply be severed and moved. Seed is slower: hips need cleaning and a long cold stratification, often over two winters, and seedlings vary.

Pollination

Hermaphrodite, bee-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.