Multiflora Rose: Pretty but Invasive

A pink multiflora rose, Rosa multiflora

The property I live on was once part of a much larger farm.  There was a farm house on part of my land, although it long ago fell down and was cleared away.  Since I have been here, some remnants of plants that must have once been around the farmhouse have come back.  I have daffodils, which thrived when I divided them and moved some closer to my house.  I also have a Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora).  These roses are very like blackberries in that they are thorny canes that will form an inpenetratible knot of a hedge.  I found out that multiflora rose was introduced from Asia in the 1860s as an erosion ground cover.

Mom has coveted that rose since she saw it.  She asked if I would give her a cutting so she could grow her own.  However, it was never a good time.  I forgot, or she forgot, or they were going somewhere, or it was just too hot to move a plant.

I do not usually go to my parents house for Easter.  Good Friday, Mom asked if I would come.  I felt bad because I didn’t have anything to take to the meal or candy.  So Saturday I got an empty cat litter bucket, which we use for storage in this family even though we do not have a cat, and drilled holes in it for drainage.  I then took a shovel and went and dug up a piece of that rose and put it in the bucket, along with the dirt that went with it.  I felt bad that the container was less than elegant, but I didn’t have any pots around that big.  I had the cat litter containers because my parents have three cats and saved a bunch for me to use as storage containers.

I remembered to water the rose hunk when I got back to the house, but left it outside to drain.  When I left for my parents, I put a plastic bag around the bottom to minimize the mess in the car.  Actually, the plant looked a little silly in that container, but there it was.

When I got to my parents, I brought the poor rose in the bucket in and gave it to my Mom.  You would have thought I brought a bucket of gold.  She was just dancing with joy.  The next day, my Dad put the plant in a decent pot, trimmed the canes a little so they didn’t exceed the root’s ability to feed them, and stuck the trimmed off pieces of cane in rooting medium to try and root them.

Multifloria rose should only be grown in a pot or under strict supervision.  It will take over a field just like blackberries if left alone.  Because the canes are thorny and impenetrable, wildlife are deprived of that space.  So are native plant species.    So, I will have to keep an eye on the rose and make sure it doesn’t spread too much.  Or I could just dig it up and give it to Mom.

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