California Wild Rose
Rosa californica
Thicket-forming native rose with fragrant single pink blooms all summer and red hips for birds and tea. Tough and suckering for hedgerows and stream banks. The hips are edible and very high in vitamin C, but the layer of fine hairs around the seeds irritates the mouth and gut, so strain any tea or puree before using it.
- Family
- Rosaceae
- Type
- shrub
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 10–10 ft
- Spacing
- 4–8 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- May, June, July, August
- Bloom colors
- pink
- Wildlife value
- pollinators, songbirds, mammals, larval host
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~135 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- specimen, hedge or screen, erosion control
- Native states
- CA, OR
Related native plants
More Rosa species
- Swamp Rose (Rosa palustris)
- Pasture Rose (Rosa carolina)
- Climbing Prairie Rose (Rosa setigera)
- Woods' Rose (Rosa woodsii)
- Baldhip Rose (Rosa gymnocarpa)
- Nootka Rose (Rosa nutkana)