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Is this a rose bush (very thorny)

11 years ago

I have another post here about a mystery rose bush at my mom's rental home, owned by a friend that inherited it. The garden is in pretty bad shape. Anyway, I took a picture of this a month or so ago as I wasn't sure if it were a rose plant or not. It is FULL of tiny thorns. The leaves resemble rose leaves. But I am wondering if it is a rose or a scary weed.

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Comments (10)

anntn6b
11 years ago
Yes, it's a rose bush. You can see the stipules at the bases of some of the leaves and that's the key.
roseseek
11 years ago
It resembles some of the OGR class, but could also be something along the lines of the OGR type English. Yes, definitely a rose. Kim
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You say it could be 30 or more years old? Then I'd say you have no need to worry about saving it. It's proved it's a survivor! I have no idea what rose it is but it looks like a modern climber of some sort. You can prune off dead wood any time of year. To tell if a cane is alive or not snip a couple inches off the tip of the cane and look at the inside. If it's a greenish white color and looks moist it's alive. If it's brown or tan snip off a little further down and check. Keep doing this down the cane until you see that clear, healthy center. Clean up those broken canes at the base. You want clean cuts that you can seal with glue or nail polish so pests and diseases can't get in. Make your cuts at about a 45 degree angle just above a leaf node if possible. Otherwise I would not prune it any further now. Roses store their energy to come out of winter in the canes. Early spring is the best time to do any kind of hard pruning on a rose. When it comes out of dormancy it will be raring to grow and will fill back out quickly. When it blooms next spring get clear close up pictures of the buds, half open blooms and fully open blooms as well as the leaves, canes, thorns and whole bush. Then we might be able to ID it for you.
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Wow! Thanks for all the responses. I'll get some pictures up on the weekend. In the meantime to answer some questions, this is a rose bush in the home we purchased in May. The previous owners were not interested in gardening beyond mowing the lawn. The owner before them is the person who likely planted the rose bush - she lived in the house for nearly 70 years. So with the combination of the two previous owners' disinterest/advanced age, it's been neglected for at least 10 years. It's quite large - probably 6 feet wide, 4 feet tall and 3 feet deep. The flowers had full, blousey petals, and as I recall,they were a bit under 3 inches across - I'd generically call it a "tea rose." The hips were probably a half inch or so across. It is in a good location where it gets full sun all day. Thanks again for helping me restore it to it's full potential!
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catsrose
11 years ago
Looks like a rugosa or maybe spinosissima.
ladyrose65
11 years ago
Mojave, it's a Moss Rose considered an OGR. It Blooms once a year. Peg it down it should give you lots of blooms and take pictures.
hartwood
11 years ago
Please tell us that there are buds on this! It's definitely a rose, and it may be a moss as ladyrose65 suggests, or another old garden rose. You may have found something important.

Be sure to keep in touch. We OGR folks love finding roses ... even if someone else is doing the finding and we are living the discovery vicariously.
User
11 years ago
mmmm, i thought moss or maybe a gallica.
jerijen
11 years ago
What a LOVELY plant! How fortunate you are!

Jeri
Glenburn
11 years ago
Definately a rose of old origins. If any looks at the photo again look at the top left corner, there are about 4 spent flower heads in the shot and one in the lower left might even be a hip.
Regards David.
JessicaBe
11 years ago
Leda has thorns like that...
odinthor
11 years ago
I've seen Damask Perpetuals ("Portlands") with that look, especially when they grow in soil particularly to their liking. My 'Pickering Four-Seasons' and original 'Rose du Roi' look very much like the rose in these pictures when they're first coming out in the spring; and the 'Portland Rose' itself isn't too far off in its characteristics...

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