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.

I have a Rugosa Rose on my property that has been here at least thirty years without much spreading. I'll have to keep an eye out this year for rose hips. I just need to figure out what I will use them for...

Hi Timothy, look out for them this autumn, here is an old-fashioned recipe from wartime years in UK! The most important thing is to stop the little hairs in the hips from getting into the final preparation! Makes a great immune tonic as rich in vitamin C.

Rose Hip Syrup (Ministry of Food style)
1 kg rose hips
3 litres water
500 g sugar

Sort through the rose hips and discard any over-ripe, mouldy, damaged fruits. Boil 2 litres of the water. Chop or mince the rose hips coarsely and add them to the boiling water. Bring back to the boil then allow to cool and stand for 15 minutes, then strain through a clean muslin cloth. Reserve the strained water. Boil the remaining 1 litre of water and pour onto the rosehip pulp, bring to the boil and allow to cool for 10 minutes, then strain. Put both water extracts together and gently simmer till reduced to one litre. Add the sugar and dissolve and boil for 5 minutes. Bottle the hot syrup in clean bottles (old sauce or vinegar bottles are good), place them upright in a deep pan of boiling water with lids a little loose, simmer for 5 mins to sterilise. remove and tighten the lids and allow to cool. Keeps 12 months, but if opened then store in the refriferator.
[A little less laboursome way is treat like other hedgerow fruit - trim ends and pierce with a fork several times, then pack layers of rosehips and sugar into a jar, seal and place in sunny windowsill turning daily for 6-8 weeks - then strain the syrup through muslin]

Natural Medicine Badge Bit for Rose Hip Syrup (Or Gummies)

If you do, make sure to document it for a Badge Bit!