Does Rosa virginiana produce hips worth using? Oh, and the York Rose, Rosa x alba semi-plena produces hips that could be used. Its white is tinged with peach-pink, so it looks more milky white than pure white, but it's lovely in bloom! Some people don't care for the colors of Rosa rugosa's later flowers against the color of the ripening hips. If you're sensitive to such things you'll have to consider whether you like the idea of scarlet/tomato red hips adorned with lavender-pink roses. If the idea of that color pair bothers you, go with Rosa rugosa alba. Then you'll have scarlet against pure white.

There are two culprits here -- 1) yes, sawfly larvae (aka rose slugs) are chewing the leaves, and will continue to munch them down until they leave the bare mid-vein, and 2) the round holes at the edges, looking like they were made with a hole-puncher, were done by leaf-cutter bees -- they don't eat the leaves, and tend to have just one period of activity when they cut foliage to line their nests. :-) ~Christopher

AC: Yes. I have a different critter attacking my roses at the moment, but I've been keeping an eye out for girdlers, too. This area is home to them (Agrilus cuprescens). All the research I've done supports your prevention methods. I've read that the heat of summer is a good time to detect the infestation. The tips of the canes tend to wilt noticibly in the heat. All the university and agricultural sites I've visited suggest pruning off the swollen area as you have been, bagging the canes (burning would work, too) and then continuing each year. I know. Argh! According to Utah State University, this procedure will knock out most of the culprits in your garden over time unless there is a host site nearby. My cane borer bombardment arrived with the antique home and garden upheaval across the street where the ecosystem was wild and wooly and hosting a legion of critters for many years. But to get back to your question regarding rose cane preferences, there was a study conducted in Utah in 1964 and published in an Entomological Society journal which noted that rose stem girdlers on raspberries selected either first year or second year canes depending on the berry variety. That implies that your curiosity about texture, density, thorns etc. could potentially produce practical "rose variety preference" ID results. Utah State University Extension looks like a good place to contact. It seems to be a hot spot for rose cane girdler conversations. Good luck with the girdler prevention! In a garden, it's always something, isn't it? I not only have cane borers, I have Verticillium wilt occupying prime rose real estate in a corner of my garden and murdering my lilacs. Nothing very satisfying is wilt resistant. Junipers? Shudder. Carol

It's a beauty whatever it is. All I can say is that it is definitely NOT Polka. I used to have Polka : a rigid, uber-thorny plant with large light green leaves. It's only saving grace were it's flowers,which are of a decidedly pale apricot/orange colour: like that of orange sherbet,very unique and beautiful. They also had the (to me) great virtue of never being even slightly vermilion as buds. But they never, ever had any pink tones in them at all,and had no variations and shadings in their colour either,as Dimity's splendid rose clearly does.