A Handbook of Scotland's Trees by Fi Martynoga

Author:Fi Martynoga
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Saraband
Published: 2011-08-12T04:00:00+00:00

Cultivation

If one wants to grow a particular species of wild rose, one cannot rely on growing it from seed. Rosa species hybridise so readily that there is no knowing what will appear when the seeds germinate.

With two native species, both of which occur in Scotland, there is an easy way of obtaining young plants. The Burnet rose (R. pimpernellifolia) and the soft downy rose (R. mollis) both produce suckers, complete with their own roots, and these can easily be detached from their parents. Most other species produce fresh shoots from the base, which can be rooted, but which are not easily detached without damaging the main bush.

Cuttings can be taken from the first or second year’s wood. In my experience, this has been a chancy business. Sometimes nearly all my cuttings have struck and on other occasions I have not succeeded in raising a single one. However, I am an irregular and inexperienced gardener and no doubt people more expert than I would be more successful.

For anyone wishing to introduce native rose species into natural habitats, two warnings may be appropriate. First of all, make sure that the species you intend to introduce are suitable for the local climate and soil. The descriptions of the species above will show which naturally occur in Scotland, and hence which ones are likely to succeed here. Roses do not tolerate very wet soil and, except for possibly R.sheradii and R. mollis, do not thrive in acid soil. Some species, notably R rubiginosa, need a calcareous soil.

The second warning is that as a general rule it is unwise to try to obtain ‘wild’ roses from nurseries. These establishments provide an excellent service for garden roses, but very few nursery people have an intimate knowledge of British wild roses. Thus, for example, specimens of R. pimpernellifolia or R. rubignosa, which are usually obtainable from nurseries, will almost certainly be garden cultivars with many differences from the true wild plants. The ‘wild roses’ obtained from nurseries for landscaping schemes are often incongruous mixtures of dubious cultivars quite unsuited to the region or soil in which they are planted. Obtain your roses from the wild, but remember the law, which lays down that wild plants of any sort may not be uprooted without the consent of the owner of the land.

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