Got Hips?
Should You Show Them Off?
Most
gardeners are thrilled with the gorgeous blooms their roses provide.
But some fortunate gardeners are offered
an additional display that can be as bright and enchanting as the
flowers they produce. Late summer is the time to see some roses put on a
massive display of small sized fruit called hips. So we are faced with
the dilemma, as gardeners, of either removing these
hips so our roses will bloom more or leaving them on the rose to enjoy
their individual colorful displays.
FLAUNT
THEM! During the fall, hips change color into bright orange and red.
These rose hips can be showstoppers for
our fall gardens lasting till Christmas. Hips, which look like miniature
apples can be used in flower arrangements or as centerpieces in table
decorations. If left on the roses in the landscape, hips add interest
and color as well as food for birds and squirrels.
They typically last until the first hard freeze of winter. Only a few
varieties are notable for showy hips so if you have them, its only
natural to show them off.
OR
TRIM THEM! Roses exert a tremendous amount of energy into the
formation and nurturing of hips. In fact, they
do so to the detriment of other factors such as putting on more foliage
and flowers. Deadheading is the practice of removing spent flowers and
hips. This process will create a surge of new growth and blooms as the
plant enters the reproduction stage once
again. So if you want an explosion of flowers in the fall, be sure to
shear or prune off the hips as you see them develop.
Some varieties known for hips: Carefree Beauty, Roemer’s Hip Happy, Basye’s Blueberry, and Dortmund are wonderful
hip producing roses and because of their cold tolerance, can be grown throughout the US.
Do you have rose hips? Post your photos on our Facebook page or Instagram and tag them #weareroses or #gothips
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