Best Roses for Rose Hip Production

I would love to grow my own rose hips.  What are your tips and advice for success?  I live in West Texas.

Well, the rugosa rose is famous for its large and flavorful hips. It has pretty and fragrant flowers too. Not sure how well it will do in Texas, but probably ok!

Lina Joana wrote:Well, the rugosa rose is famous for its large and flavorful hips. It has pretty and fragrant flowers too. Not sure how well it will do in Texas, but probably ok!

Those are the ones I have and they really do make really nice rose hips.  They spread like crazy, so that is good or bad depending on your situation.

Rosa rugosa is certainly the largest hipped rose I know of, it's commonly used here for jams, it's also illegal to plant it here without permission as it's highly invasive and costs millions to remove. I found that mowing round it keeps it in check but of course that doesn't stop the birds spreading it.
I don't know how it would do in heat but it grows on the sand dunes here so drought probably won't be a problem.

My thoughts on rosehips... I prefer dog rose (Rosa canina) which makes an excellent hedge plant, good forage plant - harvest red hips before they wrinkle but after frost - or pick when red and put in freezer for 24 hours. amazingly the hips are richer in vitamin C than oranges. Also Rosa rugosa (actually Japanese) produces big hips though not so flavoursome. Most species roses will also produce usable hips i.e. avoid ones that are grafted onto a stock plant. However I would add that all parts are edible, so you can use the leaf as tea and rose petals in salads. There is a lot more detailed info on ways to use at https://www.eatweeds.co.uk/rosehip-faq

I use a native on my property. Cherokee rose.  Very prolific yet only blooms once a year.
Very humid here so I pick them all when just turning red to ripen in curing room.( before they rot)  I"ve only used hips for wine making, though may try a small batch of jelly this year.

Anne Stobart wrote:My thoughts on rosehips... I prefer dog rose (Rosa canina) which makes an excellent hedge plant, good forage plant - harvest red hips before they wrinkle but after frost - or pick when red and put in freezer for 24 hours. amazingly the hips are richer in vitamin C than oranges. Also Rosa rugosa (actually Japanese) produces big hips though not so flavoursome. Most species roses will also produce usable hips i.e. avoid ones that are grafted onto a stock plant. However I would add that all parts are edible, so you can use the leaf as tea and rose petals in salads. There is a lot more detailed info on ways to use at https://www.eatweeds.co.uk/rosehip-faq

Thank you so much for your advice. This gives me a place to start.