Two In A Dozen For Diana

I am joining Diana of Elephant's Eye in choosing twelve months of my favorite garden plants. In this month of February, I am feeling "pink love", dark chocolate, and ... Roses! Not a dozen dying red roses in a vase (my Valentine knows to give me live flowers), but roses in the garden. What could be more romantic? I always felt my garden would be incomplete without at least one rose, but ah hem haw, I had never grown roses. I don't use chemical fertilizers or pesticides or sprays – roses require such things don't they? No! So, there's no excuse not to include a rose in this garden of my twelve favorites. I decided on two native, wild roses to add to my garden and I would recommend both to anyone who fears "high maintenance roses" and who likes to garden on the wild side.


I planted a Swamp Rose, Rosa Palustris, along the edge of my Potager where the soil tends to stay moist. This rose has grown substantially in just a few years from bare root. It has put forth suckers but they are easily dug up. Never one to pass up a new plant, I have begun a mini rose hedge/border.

Along my "classic" chain link fence garden feature, I planted a Climbing Prairie Rose, Rosa Setigera. This rose puts that fence to shame as it should be. It grows alongside our new covered back porch so I can really enjoy its fragrance and blooms. Every now and then I redirect the canes to follow the fence line.

Aside from romantic blooms and perfumed summer nights, roses also offer interest in Fall and Winter. Yellow-orange leaves in Fall stand out against darkening skies. In Winter, rosy red hips brighten snow and ice.

Roses are also pollinator friendly and fruit loving birds such as Robins will eat the hips. I know my Leafcutter Bees use the leaves for their nests as evidenced by their nearly perfect, circular cut outs. What's not to love?

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Berry Berry Good!

This year I can finally boast a few berries! Berries attract birds and just last evening a male Cardinal stopped by – a rare, but very welcome, occurrence in my young garden – the cover is not yet thick enough for a Cardinal's liking. Robins are still lingering. Robins actually spend the winters here where there are enough berries and fruit to sustain them. I see them regularly in a nearby state park through the entire winter where there are many dogwoods and chokeberries. (It is the Red-winged Blackbird that announces Spring for me.) The Catbird's calls were closer than ever this year, and more frequent.

My plan is for my garden to eventually offer a natural Winter feast. See, I hope to be able to migrate along with our feathered friends in the upcoming years. The Winters, though beautiful, are just too long here. My backyard birds will be able to feast on berries and seeds still standing in the garden instead of my feeders while I follow the sun. The progress in the garden looks promising.

The wild grapes were very abundant this year. I have seen migrating flocks of Cedar Waxwings enjoying these in the past.

Wild Grapes

Rosa Palustris Hips

Rosa Setigera Hips

Virginia Creeper Berries

Virginia Creeper will attract fruit eating birds such as Chickadees, Nuthatches, Mockingbirds, Catbirds, Finches, Flycatchers, Tanagers, Swallows, Vireos, Warblers, Woodpeckers, and Thrushes through the Winter.

Redosier Dogwood Berries

Cardinal Dogwood Berries

Cardinal Dogwood Berries

Elderberry Black Lace

Woodpeckers, Bluebirds, Cedar Waxwings, Orioles, and Grosbeaks are attracted to Elderberries.

Purple Prince Crabapple

Many birds enjoy Crabapple. So birds, enjoy the berry feast while I feast on, ah, hmm, er ... a bird of a different feather.

I am always thankful for the joy, work, clarity, groundedness, peace, harmony, abundance and enlightenment of the garden and life. Happy Thanksgiving.

Going Native: Climbing Prairie Rose

Climbing prairie rose, Rosa setigera, is another native rose I planted in my garden two years ago. I planted it along our fence line to hide the chain link and to offer privacy. It receives a fair amount of sun and has grown amazingly fast. Other than to train it slightly to grow along the fence and handmade trellis, I have done nothing to maintain this rose. This is the first season it bloomed. I expected a few blooms, but not this:

It smells like a rose. It also offers pollen and hips. I look forward to seeing the bright red hips this winter. Pollinators attracted to this rose include Syrphid flies and various bees: honeybees, bumblebees, Anthophorine bees, Miner bees, large Leaf-Cutting bees, and Halictine bees. Birds are attracted to the hips. (I hope to witness this firsthand.)


This rose is classified as a shrub 6-8' H, but is easily trained to climb. Some of my branches are quite long and I simply direct them to grow along the fence.

The leaves turn a nice red color in fall. For someone who knows nothing about roses, I am really thrilled to have two native roses now growing (organically) and blooming in my garden. (To learn more about swamp rose, Rosa pulustris, click here.) If you, too, have a fear of growing roses thinking they are fussy and need gallons of chemical sprays, give the native prairie rose a try!