Description
Virginia rose is the native rose that behaves like a shrub. Rosa virginiana reaches 5 to 6 feet tall and 6 to 7 feet wide in full sun, hardy from Zone 3 through Zone 8, and fills out into a dense thicket that works as a hedge, a bank planting, or a wildlife hedgerow.
It carries four seasons of interest, which is unusual in a rose. Fragrant single pink flowers in early summer with a lighter repeat after. Bright red hips in late summer that hold into winter and feed songbirds. Fall foliage that turns a genuine mix of yellow, orange, and red, better than nearly any other rose. And red-brown canes that show well against snow.
The open single flowers give bees real access to pollen, which the doubled garden roses do not, and the foliage feeds several hairstreak and fritillary caterpillars.
Disease resistance is excellent and it needs no spray program. It adapts to a wide range of soils, from moist to dry and average to lean, and handles drought once established. The canes are prickly and it spreads to fill space, so give it room rather than a tight formal bed. Shipped on its own roots.
