Description
White rugosa is the low, wide one. Rosa rugosa ‘Alba’ reaches only 3 to 4 feet tall but spreads 5 to 7 feet, which makes it a better choice than the upright rugosas for holding a bank, filling the front of a border, or running along the low side of a driveway. Full sun, hardy from Zone 3 through Zone 10, and established within a season.
The flowers are single, five broad white petals around a center of gold stamens, opening in late spring and repeating until frost. The fragrance carries well. Because they are single rather than doubled, they set fruit properly, and the hips that follow are large, glossy, and orange-red, holding on bare canes long after the leaves drop. They are edible, high in vitamin C, and popular with songbirds, so some of the winter display goes to the birds.
The foliage is the deeply corrugated rugosa green that shrugs off blackspot with no spraying at all, turning clear yellow in fall. It is one of the few roses you can grow well without a fungicide program.
The canes carry dense fine prickles, so keep it away from paths and anywhere people brush past. It handles salt spray, sand, wind, and drought once rooted in, which is why it turns up on coastal properties where little else flowers.
