MAINE WILD ROSES

Blossom (click to enlarge)

Maine Wild Roses
Copyright 2021 by Lori-Ann Willey

Maine wild roses (Rugosa) are not only beautiful, fragrant, and wild, they are also tasty!  Though we consider them a native to the Maine landscape, they came from Asia (China, Japan, and Korea) where they not only enjoyed their beauty as we do, but they also used the roses for their medicinal value.

Petals (click to enlarge)

Though there are over 100 different wild rose varieties in North America, this little piece will be focusing on the Rugosa Rose that is pink and widespread in Maine.  However, these roses are better known by coastal Maine residents and tourists than those who live in the countryside where the roses are scattered and often go unseen. With that said, wild roses are commonly seen around old homesteads that may or may not still be an obvious dwelling.

Butter (click to enlarge)

Roses spread via a shallow root system that creeps along the landscape.  Their growing conditions aren’t very picky as they will grow in the sun or full shade.  The plants don’t even mind the water spray along the coast.  In fact, they almost seem to prefer poor, well-drained soils.  I say that while I’ll say that the roots float and if they break off or become dislodged from land, they will simply float until their roots can settle in and attach themselves to land.  As you can imagine that sets themselves up as a reliable transport system of their own.

Hips (click to enlarge)

Though roses spread via their roots “by land or by sea”, they also spread via humans who brought the roses to North America for ornamental purposes as well as for culinary, herbal, and medicinal uses.  Other than floating and human transport, birds and smaller animals eat and disperse the seeds to new locations as well. 

Like with most herbs, harvesting the buds and flowers during the morning hours is best.  I harvest to mince and add to homemade butter, wrap, and let sit for a day or so before use so not only will their flavor infuse with the butter, so will their scent.  The flowers can be infused with water or oils, be made into a honey, tea, etc. Their nutrients are mostly calcium, iron, and vitamin C.

Hips (click to enlarge)

Along the coast, after the roses have spent their blossoms, the rose hips can be the size of a quarter (and larger).  In more rural areas the hips are much smaller.  The size I collect is about the size of a pea, which makes harvesting any amount a tedious task, especially since the easiest way to access them is via swimming along the shoreline that is impassible by foot otherwise.  Anyone interested in harvesting the hips will find them more palatable after at least one hard fall frost when the hips are a rusty reddish-purple color. Then, is the best time to harvest and use as a vitamin booster or teas, jellies, jams, spreads, etc.   

Harvesting (click to enlarge)

Medicinally, Asian’s used roses to help reduce the bad cholesterol and increase the good one.  They also used it to reduce pain and inflammation, to heal broken skin anything from scratches, rashes, to stings, and bites, using specifically to increase both heat and cold as an extreme cooling remedy for rashes that are considered “hot” such as a heat rash and hives.  That includes the previously mentioned bites and stings.  I know of people who infuse rose petals with water and then use the “wash” to rinse the face daily.  Rosewater is also in some facial mask recipes.

In Maine, June is the month to collect the blossoms, and the end of September or early October is the time to collect the hips.   Personally, I’d recommend a trip to the coast where those rose hips are quick and easy to harvest.

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