On an autumn walk two weeks ago I saw this planted shrub.( located in Europe / Germany). Eye-catching were the purple-red new shoots and the small hips. These resembles in shape the hips of r.rugosa, but are much smaller. Glossy foliage. The first impression conveyed a strong wild rose character.
I am curious about your opinion. Any idea?
Many thanks for help!
Roseus
First thought was r. virginiana but I’m not familiar with it enough to be more than a suggestion.
The seed pods do look like Virginia pods. Long stipules with flutes also. The color, red, very characteristic, the needles not so much. No crumpled leaves so not rugose. Look in the ground at the roots to find blunt spades nose.
It looks like R. virginiana to me, too.
Stefan
My guess Its a strong contender to be either R. carolina or R. virginiana based on my garden samples.
However it’s thorn density is high compared to mine. My carolinas are taller than virginiana by 2 to 3 feet, as are the very similar flowers but slightly wider. One virginiana sported to plena a couple of years back.
R carolina
R virginiana
@JacqG, @Plazbo, @RikuHelin, @MidAtlas
My spontaneous guess went in the same direction, but I was quite unsure. Great thanks to all of you !
During a walk today to a place I already mentioned in my first post 2022, I was impressed by the very late bloom of what I believe to be R. virginiana. It is particularly noteworthy that this flush began already in early September 2025 and is still ongoing. There are buds present. I have been coming here very frequently for years. I can say that I have never seen so many flowers at this time of the year.
I suspect that the reason for this may be the severe heat waves with periods of heavy rain in sumer 2025, which prevented rose hips from forming. There are none this year. The plant therefore had more resources available, and the relatively mild autumn weather could have activated the stimulus of flower formation even stronger.
DAYUM, the foliage is so stunning a backdrop for flowers at this stage. Just…WOW.
