Western Wild Rose

On a cloudy January day, look for bright red rose hips, a glimmer of delight against the winter gray. Rosa woodsii, the Western wild rose, is a hardy native shrub that tolerates many soil types and even dry conditions. Once established, a mature plant produces fragrant summer blooms, followed by its fruit: a seed pod we refer to as a hip.

While far too vigorous for most home gardens, these thorny cane plants - with their leaves, blooms, and hips - can be found brambling across a large swath of western and central North America, right at home in the wild.

Those little powerhouse hips are rich in vitamin C and also contain vitamin A, calcium, and phosphorus. Traditionally, rose hips have been dried and prepared as teas, jams, jellies, and syrups. (A small but important note: the irritating hairs inside the seeds are usually removed before eating or brewing, worth knowing if you’re tempted to work with them.)

And we aren’t the only creatures who utilize them.

Rose hips are an important winter food source for birds and mammals alike: robins, finches, waxwings, grouse, coyotes, bears, squirrels, mice, and chipmunks, to name a few. They eat them. Then they disperse the seeds across the land. Nature’s systems at work, no marketing required.

Roses also propagate through root suckers, forming dense, brambly thickets where bunnies and other critters hide and nibble. Larger browsing mammals will eat nearly every part of the plant if need be. Beneath it all, the tangled web of canes and roots helps hold soil in place, resisting erosion and anchoring the land.

Come summer, roses grace the season with fragrant blooms that attract pollinators: honey bees, bumblebees, lacewings, and other beneficial insects. The flowers have long been used in potpourri, floral waters, lotions, and perfumes. Edible petals can be tossed into salads or candied for special treats.

Across many cultures, roses have also been used in folk and traditional herbal practices. Petals, buds, and hips were commonly steeped into teas and syrups for general wellness and comfort, especially during the colder months. The high vitamin C content of the hips made them a valued winter food long before supplements came in bottles.

An intriguing craft with rose petals is bead-making. In various traditions, fragrant plant materials, including rose petals, were ground, shaped, and dried into beads for adornment or devotional use. Handmade beads made from rose petals are  imperfectly shaped, earthy, and faintly fragrant.

So if you’re out this January and come across a rose shrub heavy with hips, pause for a moment. Consider all that this plant contributes to wildlife, soil, pollinators, tradition, and human ingenuity. What a blessing to have its rosy outlook brighten a winter day.