Eglantine. I didn't plant it - it was evidently the rootstock of a very unhappy rugosa rose (which had been producing maybe 2 blooms a year) I had that died. Suddenly one Spring my "rugosa" was covered in buds, and put out 3 new long canes. I was delighted. When it bloomed, it was obviously not the rugosa, so in Inquired on here with pictures and it was identified. It is growing in partial shade, so it has not formed a huge thicket, but I love the buds, and the blooms, and the huge hips that are now decorating it.

Jackie

My favorite is Foetida i found her at a garden center in a bag! Someone must of been dumping their stock. I keep looking at those random bags just in case i hit another home run. She is 8 feet tall about 5 feet wide does not sucker(wish she would) no disease of any kind and blooms once. This out of all my roses gets the most attention from non garden people. what a show she puts on.
Julia

Rosa Rugosa Alba.....one of my first ever roses and still a favorite! It has at least a bloom or two all season for me, and is HEALTHY!!!! I just noticed the other day some of the root suckers that I need to pull (and of course try to root them to share). Just a great rose!

Another favorite for the beauty of its thorns is Dragon Wings....you can't beat bright red winged thorns!

I haved a number that I still have potted, and can't wait to find locations for them!

Tammy

I can't choose just one...Fedtschenkoana, for sure. Ralph Moore told me many years ago, "Don't stir the pot". Bring something new to the table instead of repeating what everyone else is doing. Fedtschenkoana fit that bill. Beautiful silvery-turquoise foliage; ghostly white flowers which are scattered over the plant spring through fall; lavender tinted new growth with a delicious scent of Nobel Fir with hardwood smoke to the new growth tips, sepals and peduncles. Odd Linseed Oil scent to the flowers, though. Both carry beautifully on the air when conditions are right.

But, then there is Hugonis. Every bit as beautiful as Fedtschenkoana, but without the plant scents. Ferny foliage and an airy quality to the plant, but like Fedtschenkoana, tough as nails! I can't leave out Stellata mifirica, "The Gooseberry Rose". Gray-green tints to the foliage, which burnish with heat and then cold. Large, purple flowers with a musky sweet scent. Then, those hips! Spiny, large, purple tinted before finally ripening. Filled with itchy fibers and a few small seeds, which until last year, eluded providing me any reward for sewing them. Best shelled outside, not only for those evil fibers, but the strong Valerian Root scent to their interiors, like musty old sneakers! Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Mifirica hips

Oh, too many to choose. I love the rose species above all others and it would be impossible to choose favourites but, if I was truly limited to a few, then Moyesii would always be in the mix. True, it is huge and gaunt but for a few weeks in June, the whole top end of my allotment is almost luminous with deep crimson blooms....and the heps!
Then, there are the spins - most beloved is a delicate sand dune rose which is naturalised on the east coast - The Dunwich Rose, but Falkland and marbled Pink are also lovely. I love the field roses - R.arvensis. Long, long flexible canes with elegantly nodding blush flowers. Although musk roses are not truly happy in windy east anglia, R.helenae has been a wonderful replacement. Finally, Nutkana - the single and semi-plena forms, are beautiful in leaf and bloom. Oh, I could go on....and on. I haven't even touched on the sweetbriars, the early yellows and the arctic rose,R.acicularis - and yep, must agree, Fedschenkoana (sp?) is a delight in every way. As if I haven't enough white wildlings, ornamental rubus is looming large in my future plans....and a collection of Deutzias.

so where are you enablers getting your species like R. fedtschenkoana? I see Marissa at Greenmantle has it & many others listed but haven't contacted her to see if they are in stock. Only other one I know of that keeps a fairly large inventory of species is Forestfarm.

What about R. setipoda? I read one author comment that it has fragrant foliage--love that--does it smell to you? Used to have R. glutinosa (from FF) & it did smell wonderful. Sadly, I've lost it & haven't found it available for quite a while.

And (okay, I should start a separate thread & will if necessary) Please describe the R. foetida scent, as you smell it. I'm bewildered by the wildly varying descriptions. I personally don't find the scent of linseed oil objectionable, though it seems a strange description for a floral scent. And just as a personal example, I like the scent of real myrrh (Commnifera sp.) but don't find that it resembles anice or liquorice, which I don't care for. The myrrh/anice scent seems to be used a lot to describe many Austins (does this relate to a common ancestor that he used in his breeding?) I also like the complex smell of patchouli, FWIW, though folks seem to either love it or LOATHELOATHELOATHE ! it.
(okay, too many ?s, but what the heck, I'll try here first then post separately if you think I should)

I think it was Paul Barden who said that the "myrrh" scent pops up from time to time when OGRs (especially gallicas) are crossed with moderns. What we perceive as "one scent" is usually a few to many different chemicals, mixing and combining. I think that what we call "myrrh" results from a combination of "herbal" gallica with something "sweet" (which may be enhanced by descent from R. foetida, which alone is sometimes characterized as "sickeningly sweet"). But that's just my uneducated guess.

:-)

~Christopher

i can not recall Foetida which tells me that she doesn't have much of one. At least not a strong one but if you know her you dont want to get to close her thorns are 1 inch long. Come spring i will take a sniff of her and let you know if i get a whiff. The smell i like the most is Theresa Bugnet classic old rose scent.
Julia

This post was edited by julia034 on Wed, Jan 9, 13 at 16:10

The new growth tips, peduncles and sepals of Foetida smell like Juicy Fruit Gum to me. It's flowers and those of Fedtschenkoana smell like oil based paint. Laxa has that element to its flower scents, too, which is where Buck's roses which express that facet of stink inherited it.

I know your frustration about finding some of these things. Many years ago when I sought Fedtschenkoana, it was not available here. The Huntington Rose Volunteer Group had a long time member who was battling brain cancer. We set aside a Saturday meeting to clean up her garden so we could visit and do something to ease her distress over not being able to take care of things. I discovered this plant down along her fence line at the bottom of her slope and asked her about it. She'd bought it from Canada years before and graciously shared suckers with me. Every time I enjoy Fedtschenkoana, I remember Joan Kennedy, bless her. Mine is suffering where it's planted because of the severe dry conditions of this blamed hill. What soil holds water, the moles and gophers make sure looses it by keeping it completely churned up. I am trying wrapping cuttings of it as there aren't any decent suckers at the moment. I'll be happy to let you know if they take so you can get a start of it. WARNING...Fedtschenkoana doesn't play well with others. It will very efficiently and joyously make use of every resource it helps itself to, so put it where that won't be an issue. Otherwise, it is a gorgeous thing. Kim

R. Primula really does have a wonderful "incense" smell to its foliage. Its flowers are pretty & fragrant, too. Have one from Pickerings, limping along. I dug it up & planted it deeper in a sunnier location, as GW members suggested, so have fingers crossed for it to perk up.

R. eglanteria has a wonderful leaf scent to me--just like the 'green apples' description commonly given. Have the old species plant & "Greenmantle"--new pup this fall.

Kim; Thanks! yeah, I'd love a cutting. I really get a kick out of plants I've been given or have swapped for, too. Have a yard full & never see them without thinking of friends & family that gave them to me. Have some of my great grandmother's maidenhair fern, another grandmaw's Lousiana iris, *sigh*

The only locally available species I have is R. bracteata. It is a pretty rose--big white flowers with a huge boss of gold stamens--but on the coast, where I used to live, it is a monstrous pest, making hummocks 10' tall of hideous thorns. It forms fertile seed & suckers (guess you know all that). Was surprised to see a hedge of it locally in a cooler zone. But haven't seen the pasture-eating mountains of it here. I used to fool around with pollinating it before The Great Rose Wipe-out. It was interesting to follow what Ralph Moore was doing with the cursed "MacCartney Rose". (Read somewhere that Lord MacCartney (McCartney?) introduced some other plant that's considered a pest, now, lol.)

Never had much luck rooting species roses. Used to travel a lot & took cuttings when I could, but poor results. But have never stopped trying :)

You're welcome bluegirl! Generally, I've found roses which vigorously sucker, don't root well. They're better spread around via suckers, but I'm trying Fed. as cuttings just to see what it will do. The hybrids I've created from it have rooted, perhaps it will too? We shall see! Kim

Bluegirl, I have R. fedtschenkoana on order from Vintage Gardens for Spring delivery, but I don't know if they're sold out.

From what I've been able to find, most of my species roses come from High Country, RVR, & Vintage. This year I discovered Forest Farm and there's are just beautiful (plus they are reasonably priced)

Tammy

Bu-bu-bu-but, Tammy! it's on custom root right now. And I'd have to order 3 more to balance out the box...oh, wait a minute :D