I tried rooting a LOT of rose cuttings from old roses outdoors last year, sent in a trade, with limited success. This one rooted, unbeknownst to me until yesterday when I noticed it poking up from the dirt (where it was apparently discarded after I gave up) behind a sage in the herb garden.

It has VERY delicate stems (of course, it is young, but these are really thin) and very round leaves, not glossy.

I don't expect to find out what variety it is for some time yet, but I'd love to know the type (polyantha, tea, or...?).









Thanks, all!

Are you certain it is from a discarded cutting? I'm curious because it looks very similar to multiflora seedlings I find around the garden from time to time. While the foliage of mature multifloras looks different, the juvenile foliage looks like your photo (they keep juvenile foliage for a couple of years). Birds spread the seed around here.

Hm! I have no idea. I guess there's only one way to find out.

I've never seen rose seedlings pop up here before, but there are many new birds around in the past season, and I have more roses than last year... Some of the cuttings I got did come from multiflora varieties, though...

I didn't try digging around it, so I'm not sure if it's attached to a buried cutting or not. I'll check tomorrow and let you know.

Around here the species multifloras are considered an exotic invasive (they were introduced as a hedge plant I think in the 1930s), they've invaded every fence row in Kentucky. They may not be as prominent in Maryland.

It wasn't attached to a cutting, so it must be a wild one. I've seen pretty pictures, but I didn't have room for it there anyway, especially if it has a tendency to spread. Sigh. Thanks, Neal.

Oh they become monstrous beasts! Lots of thorns, one short bloom season, and they're highly susceptible to Rose Rosette Disease. I had one show up near where another rose had grown and I at first thought a piece of root had survived. I made the mistake of leaving it there for a year before realizing it was a multiflora- was that ever a pain to dig out! The roots had gotten massive in only 1 year, so it's a good thing you found out what it is before it became a thug

Yes, a wild rose. They usually get lots of flowers on them, and bees love them. But I completely agree with Gemini_Sage, giant roots and LOTS of thorns. If you try pulling it out when it's full size, at the end of the day you will feel like a big pin cushion, made of velcro.

If you think it might possibly be something desirable, you could dig it out and put it in a pot for future observation.

AlyssaBlue said:If you try pulling it out when it's full size, at the end of the day you will feel like a big pin cushion, made of velcro.

Hahaha! Ouch...

Porkpal, after looking at the pics of multiflora foliage, I'm pretty sure it is a multiflora. I jerked it out semi-on purpose yesterday.

Thanks again, Neal.

This is a case where I make an exception to my mostly-organic garden. I don't even attempt to dig multiflora monsters; it is literally too much of a pain. I use a stump killer such as Tordon. I know this is a potent chemical, but you can dig all day and not get all the roots of multiflora, and you'll have to do it all over again next year. That chemical follows the roots and gets all of it. It can't be used when the offensive rose is growing very close to desirable plants because occasionally roots will cross and the chemical could potentially move to the other plant.