In the fall, many roses give forth another colorful reason to
incorporate them into the landscape. Quite a few varieties
have wonderful fall foliage ranging from yellows and reds
to deep purple. Also, many produce plenty of seed pods called
"hips" that can be yellow, orange, purple, black and red.
Here are some pictures I took in October 1995 of some of the
color in my yard:
(Click on a picture to bring up a larger image)
The picture above on the left is of the hips produced by one of the
gallicas
I obtained from seed. Not only are the hips vivid red and
quite showy in the garden, but they are quite edible too.
When they are this color, they get a bit soft, and the
orange pulp inside is not nearly as bitter as
the hips on most of my other roses. It reminds me of crab apples
in flavor. Someday I'll try them in cooking, but dealing
with all the seeds and fibers in the center of the hips
has proved quite a hassel so far.
The picture above on the right is the same bush about a month
later, having seen quite a few nights down with temperatures
down into the teens. The hips have changed from red to
more of a brown color and are definitely past eating stage.
The foliage has changed to deep reddish brown and orange.
The picture above on the left is of
R. glauca in early fall. It is loaded with bright
orange/red hips while the foliage hasn't changed color yet. The picture on the
right is the same branch in November. The hips are still
there, but they are hard to see against the vivid fall
foliage. Later, in winter, the leaves fell off but the
hips stayed on and many were still there the following May,
and still quite orange. R. glauca may not have much in the way
of flowers in the spring, but there are certainly plenty of colorful
reasons to plant it for the other seasons.
R. hugonis, AKA Father Hugo Rose, has lovely light green ferny
foliage in the summer which turns deep red in the fall. I just
wish this rose came through the winter better here.
Grootendorst and
Therese Bugnet are two
rugosa hybrids. Rugosas
and most (if not all) of their hybrids produce wonderful
fall color. Both pictured here had leaves deep
mahogany brown brushed with scarlet and orange and occational
touches of yellow. Rugosas will also produce big, fat, orange,
soft, fleshy hips that I would have loved to have taken
a picture of if they hadn't already been picked and eaten.
Fruhlingsgold translates into English as Spring Gold, which
is a good name for it because it covers itself with soft yellow
flowers in the spring. But it also produces alot of gold in
the fall as well. The foliage turns mostly yellow and orange
with some touches of red and burgundy.
Eglantine keeps its hips all through
the winter, along with its very long sepals.
Above are the brilliant red hips produced by
R. arkansana - a rose native
to Colorado that grows around my pond without any help from
me. As with other roses native to this continent, the foliage
turns red and orange in the fall.
The foliage on the
alba from Olivetti graveyard
turns from gray green to deep purple in the fall.
Send all comments to
Cheryl Netter
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