Roses🌿 Native to the NetherlandsVery hardy — tolerates frost down to -20°C

Hairy Dog-rose

Name: Hairy Dog-rose (Rosa caesia)
Brand: HSMN Planten
SKU: 6a9078613361a82bb5c90ae1

Rosa caesia

Not available

Choose a size

Not available

Hairy Dog-rose (Rosa caesia) is an originally native, deciduous wild rose with a compact and upright growth habit. The leaflets are conspicuously felt-like and hairy, lacking glands on the underside, which gives the shrub a bluish-gray appearance from a distance. Young branches can be reddish or have a bluish waxy bloom. From June to August, deep pink flowers appear, fading to a lighter shade as they age. Subsequently, large hips develop with persistent, upright sepals. The species naturally grows in warm, base-rich, and mostly calcareous locations in dune scrub, roadsides, hedges, and forest edges. Reliable identification is difficult because hybrids with other wild roses can resemble the Hairy Dog-rose.

Year calendar

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
🌸Blooms
🍓Bears fruit
🍂Has autumn colour

Pruning period

✂️Best pruning period: Feb–Mar

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
✂️ Pruning period

Best pruning period

Prune as little as possible. At the end of winter, remove only dead, damaged, or very old branches. Gradually rejuvenate an older shrub by removing at most a few old branches at the base. Leave enough branches and hips for birds and insects.

Botanical profile

Site & soil

Sun, Half shade

Soil type: Clay, Sand, Loam

Moisture need: Dry, Moderately moist, Moist

pH: Neutral (6.5–7.5), Chalky (>7.5), Slightly acidic (5.5–6.5)

Nutrient richness: Moderately nutrient-rich, Nutrient-rich

Humus content: Humus-poor, Moderately humus-rich

Water drainage: Strongly draining, Well draining

Appearance & season

Mature height: 100-150cm

Bloom: Jun–Aug

Autumn colour: Yellow, yellow-brown and sometimes reddish; red hips

Properties

Salt sensitive: No

Edible: The ripe pulp of the hips can be processed into syrup, jam, or tea after removing the seeds and irritating hairs. Use only correctly identified, cleanly grown hips and do not collect from wild sites.

Scent: Slightly sweet and rose-like. The scent is usually subtle and less intense than that of many cultivated roses.

Ecological value

The simple, open flowers provide abundant accessible pollen for bumblebees, mining bees, hoverflies, beetles, and other pollinating insects. Wild roses produce little to no nectar, making their value for pollinators primarily pollen-based. Leaves and shoots are utilized by caterpillars, sawflies, aphids, gall wasps, and beetles. The large hips provide food for thrushes, blackbirds, and small mammals in autumn and winter. The thorny, densely branched shrub offers shelter and nesting opportunities for birds and other small animals.

Food web & Biodiversity

🐛 Caterpillars & mothsUseful

🐝 Bees & bumblebeesExtremely useful

🪰 HoverfliesUseful

🦋 ButterfliesUseful

🪲 Beetles & insectsExtremely useful

🐦 BirdsExtremely useful

🐿️ MammalsUseful

🐞 Other animalsExtremely useful

Hairy Dog-rose is useful for caterpillars and moths, as its leaves and young shoots are consumed by various species. The open flowers provide a wealth of accessible pollen for bees and bumblebees, making them highly valuable to this group. Hoverflies and other small flower visitors also benefit from the pollen. The hips, insects, and dense, thorny branches make the shrub very valuable for birds. Since the flowers produce little to no nectar, their direct food value for butterflies is limited. Beetles, sawflies, gall wasps, aphids, and other insects utilize flowers, leaves, shoots, and hips, making this group highly valued. Small mammals sometimes eat the hips and find cover under the shrub. Spiders, snails, and other small creatures also benefit greatly from the dense branching, leaf litter, and sheltered ground.

Distribution in the Netherlands