a tale of tails, tenacity, and tedium, as told by me, usually barefoot and bellowing

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Multiflora Rose

which Dad called Florabunda Roses, because of it's prolific blooms. This was one of the ideas of the forties ranking right up there with Kudzu. Dad said they were recommended for fencing.  Little did the people know what a hassle they would become.

We cut all we can find although the birds do eat the hips. You can make tea from them and they are rich in vitamin C.  If you have ever walked into a Multiflora Rose you will respect it, avoid it, chop it, and destroy it if you can...or I do.

They are beautiful from a distance but touted to be the a living livestock fence I certainly can understand how it would keep me out or in.  COVERED with prickly thorns, thick growing limbs...a lovely plant.

We are blessed with them here.
See the tiny devil thorns?
Looks just like a rose
but grows far better than any rose I know.

Most of ours are bush hogged but much must be removed by hand along the springs and creeks.  Marcy bought me some rose gloves just for that.  Leather in the palms and the gloves reach almost to my shoulder and I still can't seem to avoid being torn by these beautiful plants.

Gotta love em.  I don't think they will be gone in my lifetime but I can keep trying.

18 comments:

MadSnapper said...

i read the articel about it, and it is just like the kudzu only pretty. it says 45 million acres have been taken up with this plant... no wonder you are fighting it. and of course someone brought it here to run rampant... amazing plant... bob needs those gloves for cutting back bougainvillea... they beat him up every time

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Another invading species.
When you're done pulling all of the multifora roses, I have a couple acres of kudzu here for you.

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

I've seen the worst kudzu down around Fulton Ar- it seems to have taken over the woods. These roses- I call those briar weeds..I didn't know they had a name.

TexWisGirl said...

guess we don't have them here - at least not yet.

Josie Two Shoes said...

One word - OUCH!! I'd be trying to eradicate those buggers too! I had never realized until meeting you how much work is required to maintain land in good condition. I can see that it is never-ending, but the rewards are great, you have such a beautiful place!

Lynne said...

Strange how something small, pretty and tender can move to the other side. My "invasive beef" is Euonymus
Plant . . . Not prickly but viney, up the trees and down, spreads on the ground too and not a "pretty" like it once was in a small container. INVASIVE!

OmaLindasOldeBaggsandStuftShirts said...

My grandfather planted some of those thorn bushes at his place in Tenn. Oh I hated running in the field behind his house because the mowed the big ones down and they were everywhere. No place to escape them. I wonder sometimes if whoever bought his place ever got them under control. THey are wicked mean.

the canned quilter said...

we have more than our share of those beauties too! Only thing worse maybe is Honey Locust thorns : (

Sketching with Dogs said...

It's funny how some climbing plants are so invasive. I love blackberries but wouldn't have them in the garden.
Lynne x

Irene said...

We have a non invasive type of wild rose bush that grows well in this climate. Jam is made of the rose hips and it is good for you because it is full of vitamin C and it tastes good too. A fruit syrup is made from them too and sometimes iron is added to it for when you are anemic. Things you didn't know. xox

Maggie May said...

Even more domestic kind of roses seem to snag me when I do any kind of pruning and I seem to bleed for a long time when this happens.
I have roses in bloom still which is incredible, don't you think........ in Dec?
Maggie x

Nuts in May

Ginny Hartzler said...

Yes, I DO see those thorns! Do you know what it is named, is it wild roses? We had a huge beautiful bsh of them and Phil chopped them down! And you cannot buy them because the state won't let anyone sell them because they are invasive...

jp@A Green Ridge said...

Yep, we have wild roses...perhaps they are those...that have made a fence around on 3 acres...it's like have barbed wire running around the property when combined with the Japanese barberry!...:)JP

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

We have it here, and you're right about it being tenacious. We've tried to get rid of it, but have lost the battle against it in almost every place we thought we'd won.

LindaG said...

We have weeds here with little thorns like that. I usually find them when I am weeding. They tend to come off and stick like a sliver.

Very annoying.

Stay warm!

labbie1 said...

We had some florabunda roses. They didn't bloom all that long but had a lovely scent and of course as you said, the hips are very high in Vit C and good for you. Little beasties if you run into them though!

DesertHen said...

We have wild roses that grow like crazy around here. In the planter at work, one took hold and I hack away at it every year! In the fall/winter the hips make a mess all over! They hurt too!

Susan Kane said...

I didn't know they had a name. To us, they were a nuisance most of the time. Yes, pretty to see from a distance, but a real pain.

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