Rose with the Nastiest Thorns
I have had such a wonderful time pouring over these pages of late! So I was wondering if I could get your advice on a problem we've been having lately. We just moved to our new home last Fall and have planted like mad. We put in a pretty, though tallish fence out front (to keep the dogs safe), and planted in front of it a butterfly vine, some low growing cyanothus and, here is to the point-a lovely little manzanita tree. The thing is, someone has systematically snapped off all the branches. I felt like weeping every time I saw it, and today someone finally snapped off the last pretty branch. So I dug it up and have it potted now hopefully to recoup and live out its days in the relative safety of the inner sanctum. But I was thinking-and here is where I need your help-The old rose passion has been such a great source of joy, that I was thinking, what about that? A joyful response to a sad problem-with thorns!!!! So give me what cha got! What roses do you know that have the most unforgiving barbs? I love Mosses, really dark roses of any kind, but also Souvenir de la Malmaison types, Gallicas. . . OK, not much I don't love. Fragrance a real plus! We live in Berkeley, CA. Thank you in advance for any of your thoughts!
Comments (44)
jerijen
12 years agoThere is a lovely and floriferous lemon-white climbing rose -- a presumed Tea/Noisette found near Manchester, CA. It's fragrant, has great disease-resistance, blooms a lot, and can climb on your fence. It is viciously prickly.
It is "Manchester Guardian Angel," named for the lovely marble angel in the old cemetery where it was collected by Joyce Demits.
Vintage Guardens would be your source, tho it also grows in the Sacramento City Cemetery and the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden.
Other nastily-prickly beauties include 'Mermaid,' and 'Lady Carolina' (which is almost never out of bloom).
Jeri
Here is a link that might be useful: Manchester Guardian Angel at HMF
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
12 years agoI like Jeri's suggestions since these roses are not the large hybrid-tea type that most people would be inclined to steal. In your place I would be so furious. Sad to think such people exist. I hope your manzanita makes a full recovery.
Ingrid
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12 years agoHarison's Yellow will remove the flesh from their bones; only a once-bloomer, but so beautiful when covered with flowers.
onederw
12 years agoConstance Spry, one of the first, if not THE first David Austin rose, is a once-blooming climber with a marvelous fragrance and copious, wicked, armor-piercing thorns.
I vaguely remember a story about some burglars who tried to escape up and over a wall covered with Constance. Nothing doing. They were all impaled -- and apprehended. Where she's happy, she can easily and quickly become a 12 foot Kraken.Kay
PS: I certainly hope your manzanita recovers, and that whoever is responsible for those acts of tree vandalism does battle with whatever new climber you choose -- and bears the consequences.
Here is a link that might be useful: Constance Spry climber
jinnypearce
Original Author12 years agoI wish you all could see the grin on my face as I read about these roses you've mentioned that I get to go research now! You know, I just came under the old rose spell this year, and I honestly can't get enough, so this has turned into a thrilling opportunity to dwell on them even more. I am about to finish a job and go on vacation, so will spend delightful hours mulling over your suggestions, but a cursory look so far and I am thinking maybe I need one of everything. . . and a security camera. ; ) You've eclipsed my sadness for the Manzanita with your generosity, humor and bounty of ideas. You've really made my day-Thank You from the bottom of my heart! Jinny
cziga
12 years agoI'm not sure it falls into the "thorniest rose of all" category, but the most vicious one I grow is Celine Forrestier. Such innocent looking blooms, but the thorns on mine are awful!! I have to winter protect her up here, and getting mulch anywhere near the canes (on or off) is painful :)
cath41
12 years agoEglantine is formidable, pink flowers and once blooming only, but then you have the scented leaves.
Cath
zeffyrose
12 years agoAlbertine is a great, fragrant rambler--It is a once-bloomer but well worth the wait each year.
The thorns are ( in the words of Penelope Hobhouse) "VICIOUS"
Here it is covering one end of our home---
{{gwi:205633}}Florence
buffington22
12 years agoFisherman's Friend is wicked in my garden. But the blooms and fragrance are worth it!
jovy1097
12 years agoMy vote goes to the David Austin rose, Gertrude Jekyll. It's a rebloomer, has the best fragrance of all roses (to my nose), and is the thorniest monster this side of Brer Rabbit's briar patch. If you have a slightly evil streak, you will plant this one because people will really want to steal blooms off of it, but will then be impaled.
roseseek
12 years agoMake sure your homeowner's insurance is quite good. You're creating an "attractive nuisance". Huntington originally had the wrought iron fences around his mansion in San Marino covered with climbing roses. People waiting for the street cars stole his flowers continually, angering him to the point of replacing them with thorny, green plants. Don't blame him at all! Kim
fogrose
12 years agorosa mulliganii is an amazingly vigorous thorny rose with NO disease, just beautiful shining leaves even in part shade in foggy pacifica. though once blooming it's an astonishing flush and the thorns are evil. great musky fragrance too.
fogrose
seil zone 6b MI
12 years agoI don't have a lot of OGRs but my Rose de Rescht has some pretty nasty pickers! I know your not looking for HTs but the two thorniest ones of those I've ever seen are Snowfire and Falling in Love. I hate to have to do anything with them! Oh, BTW, don't get Reine des Violettes...she's thornless, lol!
dennisb1
12 years agoThese are my nastiest, all need to be sprayed around here for black spot but it may not be a problem in your area. I can't vouch for the fragrance as I don't have a good sniffer. Mine get pretty big but I don't like to prune. Except for the BS all are healthy and vigorous. All are good bloomers.
Madame de Sombreuil - Climber. Big (15'), white .
Traviata - Upright about 8', medium red. Classified as an HT but looks more like a shrub. I have 3, one is in partial shade and is still healthy. Since you like dark colors this may be your best bet.
Crocus rose -Upright about 8'. pink to yellow to white depending on the temps. It must have some rugosa in it's liniage.aliska12000
12 years agoI second Harison's Yellow, has THE nastiest thorns I ever saw. But mine is slow growing.
An ogr I rooted has pretty nasty thorns, is dark red small blooms, once bloomer. The good thing about that one is that in no time it forms a huge shrub with canes like a fountain. The bad thing is I don't know what it is and that kind of rose chokes out most weeds but, over time, can get viney stuff going through it like that Virginia Creeper, if you don't pull it out. So far so good with mine.
Awakening, a Paul Barden rose, great repeat bloomer. It will climb tall tree or will form a carpet of canes that have sharp, nasty thorns, the usual kind only bad. It would require work to keep it as a large shrub, maybe just let it loose in your zone and see what happens. Since mine is a climber, has nothing to climb on, it has spread all over a little garden spot. You wouldn't get the dieback in winter that I do. I have a knack for putting stuff in the wrong places.
I can't think of anything darker. You know what? You could put in a bunch of raspberry bushes along there, too. I don't know about the thorns on the red everbearing ones but the black can get difficult to pick because of thorns.
Really, if you could find some variety that forms a plant like in my photos, that would keep most anything out, spaced maybe 20 feet apart.
The first shot was taken in June 2009, and the second June 2011. Maybe some more expert rosarians could recommend something with that growth habit but sited nicer than I can mine. Even when not blooming, it's a nice green.
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aliska12000
12 years agoAwakening is not a Paul Barden Rose, had read that it wasn't the other day and have had it in my head that it is. I thought I had two of his roses, Hettie (2 plants), and can't remember what the other one is, if there is/was one.
luxrosa
12 years agoYou have my sympathy for your pilfered loss.
The rose species R. rugosa and many of its' hybrids repeat bloom well, and most are
-very prickly!
-and have very disease resistant foliage.
-and are very fragrant.one of my favorite roses of the Rugosa class is
"Blanc Double de Courbet" from 1893
It is extremely fragrant, and the petals have a delicate tissue paper appearance.
On rootstock it will grow quickly. hortico.com sells it and pickeringnurseries.com may have it as well.
"Magnifica" (there are two roses of this name, only one is a rugosa) is my favorite pink Rugosa and to my nose it is even more intensely fragrant than the rugosa wild rose species. In the S.F. Bay area "Magnifica" will grow to be a mounded plant that is 6 feet tall with an 8' diameter.
I'm sad to say that I believe it may be possible that a wedding caterer or vendor to a florist may be harvesting your manzanita branches. Such things are sold at a great cost in the local market, and the cost to the thief is nil. A local newspaper had an article about how a homeowner in Rockridge lost so many branches of her dogwood tree when it flowered in spring, in her front yard that she was considering transplanting the tree to her backyard.Manzanita would make a sophisticated bouquet with its' ornamental bark.
Luxrosa
zaphod42
12 years agoI second Blanc Double de Courbet. Just planted one this year and can already tell it will be a beast when it comes to thorns.
jinnypearce
Original Author12 years agoWow, everyone! I just got back to checking the forum after a couple days of travel, and found all these other informative, funny posts. Thanks! I've spent the evening pouring over your suggestions and getting to know some maginficent roses. It is fascinating how utility can increase the delight in a thing...a thing already lovely can become so powerful in that elegance-and much more than the sum of it's parts. These evil beauties have really captured my imagination. Many, many thanks for sharing your stirring pictures, knowledge, and wit. I am going to share your suggestions and research with my husband, who got left home in Cal and it can be our
naughty little project...planning our "attractive nuisances" (ha! Roseseek)
together! How very romantic! I'll post an update as soon as we take action-I am thinking tho that this whole thing may have permanently warped my aesthetic...a whole thorny, poisonous garden? Maybe not, but it is wickedly fun to imagine. Jovy, yes! I love the B'rer rabbit image! Apt in more ways than you know! Happy, grateful thoughts to you all! Jinnyjinnypearce
Original Author12 years agoWow, everyone! I just got back to checking the forum after a couple days of travel, and found all these other informative, funny posts. Thanks! I've spent the evening pouring over your suggestions and getting to know some maginficent roses. It is fascinating how utility can increase the delight in a thing...a thing already lovely can become so powerful in that elegance-and much more than the sum of it's parts. These evil beauties have really captured my imagination. Many, many thanks for sharing your stirring pictures, knowledge, and wit. I am going to share your suggestions and research with my husband, who got left home in Cal and it can be our
naughty little project...planning our "attractive nuisances" (ha! Roseseek)
together! How very romantic! I'll post an update as soon as we take action-I am thinking tho that this whole thing may have permanently warped my aesthetic...a whole thorny, poisonous garden? Maybe not, but it is wickedly fun to imagine. Jovy, yes! I love the B'rer rabbit image! Apt in more ways than you know! Happy, grateful thoughts to you all! Jinnyjerome
12 years agoMonsieur Tillier is a rose I don't like to have to get too near...even to pick flowers. Enormous thorns on my plant.
ilovemyroses
12 years agoMermaid is one tough lady. Back hooks, I tell ya! I have similar problems with dog walkers letting their " pumpkins" pee on my rose bushes...not to mention the free number two deposits!
I hate to impale the innocent pooch with a thorn in the nose upon sniffing to see if this is the right bush, when it is really the owner who doesn't realize that the rose "muffin" is sealing with her approval may be on my dinner table tonight! So that idea of a security camera amuses me!
I agree, it might be a florist type...that really is mean, to have to plant our prettiest pretties in the backyard so only we can enjoy them lest they be stolen...or peed upon!
roseseek
12 years agoUnfortunately, in many areas, socio economic classes aside, if it is reachable from the street, it is "public domain" and as free as the bowl of candy on an office reception counter. I can show you front yards which are partially secured with heavy, tight wire fencing to prevent side walk passers-by from helping themselves to the grapes the home owner attempts to grow in their only patch of sun. Roses behind tall fences because not only the flowers but plants themselves are seen as free for the taking. I've experienced that in a gated community. Plants, flowers, fruit, anything there treated as if it was common ground and part of the benefits of living there.
Front yard landscaping, for the most part, has to be things which don't matter if they are "lifted", because in most areas, it WILL be. If you intend to grow things for consumption, whether it's fruit and veggies or cutable flowers, sturdy fences and walls (or a very unfriendly dog!) are the only ways to make sure what you expect to be there WILL be when you expect it to be. Says more for the values of a huge segment of our society than anything else. As if the physical has become valued like anything online is. If it's there, it's free. Kim
nwrose
12 years agoHarison's Gold is as nasty as pretty. I saw it trimmed into a hedge which was interesting. Personally I like the fountain like huge mound they grow into when allowed to grow freely. NO ONE would tangle with it. The sunshine yellow mass of blooms will be a show stopper, expect knocks on your door asking which rose it is when it blooms.
Rosa Rogosa is a rose with an attitude as well...nice rich pink blooms that go all season and ends with big fat red rose hips. The crinkled leaves are very showy.
Good luck.
Smiles,
D..loisthegardener_nc7b
12 years agoSarah Van Fleet. She's got thorns like sharks teeth. Grow a bunch of them in a hedge and nothing will get past it without leaving most of its skin behind. She is a rugosa hybrid that does not sucker, but grows about 8 feet tall with pink double/semi double fragrant flowers. I planted one next to a window and the fragrance drifts into the room when she is in full bloom.
Following is a picture of Sarah's thorns (You might remember this picture from last summer when I was worried that all that thorny growth might be RRD, but it turned out to be just Sarah responding to heavy pruning).
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Following is not a great picture of Sarah's flowers. You can just see a little of her pink flowers right up against the window with the blue shutter.
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roseseek
12 years agoMix her with Secret Garden! Long, hooked and sharp! Grows like a bushy, dense, climbing mound which could probably be sheared like a hedge. Very fragrant and nearly ever blooming, too! Kim
Here is a link that might be useful: Secret Garden
tare
12 years agoIt's sad that people can be such creeps. I recently had all the tomatoes (even small green ones) stolen off my only tomato plant. I have it in a pot and it now resides in my house under growlight. I decided trying to burglerproof it was just too expensive for what tomatoes I would harvest. Today I found a plant I put where the tomato plant was with a branch broken and leaves torn off. Punishment I fear for my putting the tomato plant out of their reach! I wont be growing any tomatoes anymore until I move (hopefully next year......)
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
12 years agoLois, now you just have to tell us what the gorgeous pink rose in the front of the picture is. What I can see of your garden is lovely!
Ingrid
pgraveolens
12 years agoDavid Austin's Tamora -- exquisite peach blooms, disease-free, strong myrrh scent and has a personal vendetta against us. I also "recommend" Soleil d'Or: not only are the canes heavily armed, the stems are short. Gorgeous yellow-orange blooms and pineapple-scented calyxes. Finally, why not consider the old Moss, Laneii? I was new to roses the first time I met her and, this is true, screamed. The canes look prehistoric: solid thorns. Powerfully fragrant deep pink blooms, but you need chain mail to approach this girl.
kstrong
12 years agoThere's one small rose that is specific enough to point its thorns at rose blossom stealers -- Rose Gilardi -- it cannot even be deadheaded with bare hands. It's quite a surprise if you're out doing the deadheading and forget to take special care with this one. And it stays short, also, making it seem even more innocuous.
jinnypearce
Original Author12 years agoTare-a pox on your tomato thieves and branch breakers! You know, we could start a whole trend in vengence gardening! OOOOhhh, Lois! Thanks for the shots of Sarah. What a dream to have a scented climber up at the window like that! We just put in a Gloire de Dijon in this year by our bedroom window-but just a band. It will take a while! ! Kathy, you got my number on the Rose Gilardi, as I am becoming obsessed with mosses! I like that it is a cute little menace. That makes me laugh. Pgraveolens, Tamora is so lush and romantic! I love her! Soleil d'Or is also irresistible! Going to go over all these choices with my husband tonight. Our idea of a fine evening! Thank you for the wine of your contributions. . . to put it in flowery prose!
oath5
12 years agoFor a Beauty come Beast rose..'Roseraie de L'Hay' rugosa not only has some of the best perfume, but it also is head to toe covered in sharp needles. Just another suggestion.
'Plaisanterie' the Mutabilis/Trier seedling is not thornless either and actually quite vicious and a climber to boot.
Embothrium
12 years agoEasily grown rose being circulated under the study name "Darlow's Enigma" arms itself with fish hooks. Up here I see this one in yards that have few, if any other roses - that's how carefree and distinctive it is.
loisthegardener_nc7b
12 years agoThe deep pink rose is the climber Parade.
So sorry about the tomato thieves. I have a 4-footed one: A chipmunk who is eating all the leaves off my cantaloupe and stole 2 baby fruits.
I grew Darlow's Enigma for a while, and I agree it is a very tough rose that flowers all summer long.
Embothrium
12 years agoEffectively commemorating his losing of the correct name, Darlow named it after himself when I showed him it wasn't the Rosa moschata 'Plena' he had been growing and selling it as. Presumably (but not necessarily) it had its own unique name - when he first got the rose from "a lady in the Willamette Valley" - that needs to be brought to general awareness.
I keep repeating this in order to reiterate that "Darlow's Enigma" should be viewed and used as a study name only.
strawchicago z5
last yearlast modified: last yearSmall thorny roses like own-root Sharifa Asma at 1.5' x 1' never poke me in its 10-years lifespan, but BIG own-root like Savannah poke me plenty at 5' x 4'. The Squire is nasty in thorns but it's a small & compact as own-root and never poke in its 7th-year.
Lilian Austin was larger as own-root and poked me with its needle-like thorns while I dead-headed its blooms, so I killed it.
Below Queen Nefertiti has nasty thorns but it's a small bush .. no large canes sticking out to poke me when I water it.
Patrick-7a-MD
last yearSo you want a security rose that will devour your neighbors? There are lots of options. Here are just a few:
1. Awakening & New Dawn (light pink) - lovely, lovely, romantic roses on canes studded with bone white thorns that could double for shark teeth.2. Dortmund (bright BLOOD red) - he, he, he, he, he, he...
3. Julia Child (bright golden yellow) - the thorns chop flesh like a factory sharp chef's knife.
4. Mermaid (pale yellow) - should be renamed the Kraken. It will not only bite HARD, but will wrap itself around anything within reach and smother it. Provided of course you have a warm climate.
5. Rosa Rugosa Alba (white) - I get scared just looking at it.
6. Sombreuil (ivory white) - named after a noblewoman from the French Revolution who drank a goblet of blood. The rose is well named.
7. Westerland (orange) - so much beauty, so many thorns!
User
last year@strawchicago z5 I laughed at your comment about Lilian Austin because I understood it completely. I got pierced numerous times by Little White Pet because the thorns are as thin and sharp as hypodermic needles and the same color as the canes, so they often caught me off guard. I was already thinking about giving it away when, one day, it pierced me again. I thought, "That's IT!!" I grabbed the pruners, chopped it into little pieces and ripped it out of the ground.
I know it's a shame to destroy a perfectly good plant, and I usually find my cast-offs a new home, but sometimes our emotions get the better of us and...things happen....
SylviaWW 9a Hot dry SoCal
last yearMunstead Wood, Munstead Wood, Munstead Wood…. shudder.
My teas are pretty bad too. Dr. Grill has the upward upward-hooking kind, Gen. Schablikibe has the downard hooks. Magnificent and huge plants, but be prepared to shed blood.
Not an antique, but Moonstone, so ethereally beautiful, is very difficult to deal with. So is Love Song. Wish it weren’t true, but it is.
strawchicago z5
last yearAgree with Munstead Wood which goes through my goat skin gloves.
Scepter'd Isle is HUGE as own-root with both nasty thorns and prickles in between, see below:
Eyes for you is very prickly, see below:
Strike it rich has sharp needle like thorn, I put it right next to my window, along with Munstead wood and thorny Orchid Romance to prevent break-in. See below Strike it rich thorn (drought-tolerant):
jacqueline9CA
last yearI will second Sombreuil (aka Colonial White) - not only does it have huge hooked thorns, it has strong, long, canes which stick to you after you prune them because of the thorns. Have to wear gauntlets to prune it!
JackieAaron Rosarian Zone 5b
last yearAwakening is growing like a weed, and I'm really dreading having to prune it. I was also surprised at how effectively Eden can hook into you. Growing her up above an arch was a bit of a mistake.
roseseek