I haven't ever eaten a rosehip before so I have no idea which hips are the tastiest, but I do know of several that make plump hips. As others have mentioned, alba Semiplena produces smooth hips in good numbers. Also, r. eglanteria makes loads of hips, as does r. pomifera. Be forewarned about r. eglanteria....it makes a MASSIVE, thorny shrub. Even here in zone 4 it is 10 feet tall and wide....by far the largest rosebush I know of here. No kidding, my husband had to get out his chainsaw to help me prune the older canes on it! It has loads of thorns, too. The leaves do smell like apples, though, especially after it rains. Of course there are the rugosas with their large, tomato-like hips. R. canina also makes good rosehips. I can vouch that birds absolutely love the hips of r. pomifera because they devour them soon after they turn red. I'm not a bird, but it seems THEY think those are some pretty tasty hips. If you look at my picture of r. pomifera you will see how plump and large the hips are. They are wonderful. Celeste r. eglanteria..... flowers: The hips of r. POMIFERA....... r. CANINA.....

Thanks for the feedback. I don't believe your map, but I do believe you, so let's go with your description. With the winter chill you can grow the once-blooming old roses: Gallicas, Damasks, Centifolia, Albas; and most Moss roses fall in this class. You treat these like shrubs and plant them with plants that have different bloom seasons for an extended display. Lilacs, peonies, bulbs in the spring, for example, and clematis will probably overlap with the roses and continue on for the summer, along with any number of summer-flowering plants. If you want an old rose look and fragrance with repeat bloom, check out the Portlands and, for a more modern look (with definite China influence) look into the Bourbons, of which your 'Zephirine Drouhin' is one. The Portlands are double, fragrant, and reblooming, and have a considerable look of the once-blooming old roses to them. There are the Hybrid Perpetuals as well, but I don't know them and my few efforts to grow them have been unsuccessful. If you can protect your roses from the wind, so much the better. We get gale force winds through our valley, though, and it doesn't seem to do any particular harm to mine. I think it helps not to fertilize and water them into rapid lush growth. Your soil sounds excellent. I'm a great believer in mulch and organic methods. They work very well with my roses. The old roses are supposed to be thriftier--less demanding of nutrients and water--than Hybrid Teas, and I think this is true. I also don't spray my roses or do any treatment for disease. You'll get a good idea of what will grow for you by looking around at what's growing locally, in conditions similar to yours. And consult with California nurseries specializing in old roses. If winter temperatures rarely go below the teens you could consider Tea roses as well, as well as Chinas and Noisettes. Most are listed a hardy into zone 7; some into zone 6 (USDA). They need summer heat and sun and are somewhat tender. They're old roses (I'm talking about Teas, NOT Hybrid Teas), marvelous garden plants where they're suited, and many are fragrant, usually a Tea fragrance which not everyone's nose can pick up. Other possibilities that aren't old roses, but older classes and marvelous plants are the Hybrid Musks, fragrant, reblooming and glorious shrubs or small ramblers; and the Wichurana climbers, beautiful plants and flowers but generally once-blooming. If you can draw on some local knowledge it would be a great help to you. Mine is a rough outline from a person who doesn't know your area, and so I can only be of so much help. By the way, I forgot the early-blooming species yellows, like Rosa hugonis. They add variety and character to the garden. The species and species hybrids would be worth your while to look into. This isn't exactly a design book, but to my mind the best book on old and species and older roses is still The Graham Stuart Thomas Book of Roses (the title is something like that). With old roses I think what you need isn't really a book on designing with old roses, but just books on garden design, keeping in mind that roses are just another of the shrubs, like the lilac and the forsythia and the barberries. They are most glorious plants, but it helps to think of them that way. I think rose gardens are boring: roses become wonderful when they're integrated into the whole garden. I hope this helps. Good luck! Melissa

Maureen, I (re) read the link and still a little confused. If I follow Olga's advice, I would wait til mid-winter to prune? By then the canes will probably be buried in snow. And they will be smooshed to the ground as that is what happened last winter, but I attributed it to them being in their first year and not strong enough. They are not arching gracefully at all, more like they have become too tall and are leaning over in one direction. I could just say the heck with it and get it done now but I still wonder if I would be compromising next year's bloom if I cut them back by about a third or a half. The same thing has happened with my once-blooming DA, Constance Spry. She was pruned very well in July after bloom, tied to the arbor. Now we need to redo it, only I will not prune any of the new growth, just tie it onto the trellis. Last year at this time we had an over-grown Constance Spry and we just pruned back the growth that was growing straight up from the trellis, but then we had far less bloom this year. Just feeling I am constantly needing to cut back unruly roses. And what is the purpose of the glue? I have heard others use this as a preventative for cane borer, but so far I have not had a problem with that. Does sealing the cuts help with overwintering as well?

About not watering established roses, I'm glad others have come in with their comments. I agree that it depends on one's annual rainfall, and also soil has something to do with it: our clay soil holds water, but very sandy soils, or shallow soils, might be less forgiving. Librarian_gardener, I lived for years in Olympia, Washington and grew roses there. I learned about the PNW climate, summer droughts (new to me: I'm from Florida, land of summer thunderstorms), and watering restrictions, and that was when I began to experiment with not watering roses or other garden plants, and learned how drought tolerant they are. Roses, and a great many shrubs, trees, and perennials can perfectly well handle a two month drought; they'll stop flowering, they won't grow much, but they'll be fine. They can take a lot more drought than that. Back in 2016-17 here in Italy we went a full year with drastically low precipitation and very high summer temperatures. Our entire province actually ran out of water, which had to be brought in by truck from a reservoir on the other side of the Apennines. Result in the garden? Everything lived; the plants didn't even look that woeful, all things considered. When I moved to Italy in 2000 I had my Pacific Northwest experience of summer drought in mind when I started gardening here. I knew I wanted a garden that didn't require irrigation after the first year. I knew from my experiences in Washington that water isn't an infinite resource, and I believed it would be irresponsible to lavish water on a garden when thousands or millions of people depend on that same water supply for drinking, cooking, and bathing. I believed I could have my cake and eat it as well: that I could have a great garden and yet not draw heavily on a precious necessity. I was right. There are limits I have to accept. My repeat blooming roses' reflowering depends on the weather: if it doesn't rain, they don't bloom. Plant growth is slow, as we seldom have sun and water at the same time; on the other hand, the plants are sturdy. I choose plants that are adapted to the Mediterranean climate pattern of chilly wet winters and hot dry summers: fortunately, a large portion of classic garden plants are of Mediterranean or continental origin and thrive in these conditions. Right now we're two months and counting in a highly unseasonal late winter-early spring drought. The roses and other plants don't mind: they're leafing out like mad. With climate change I consider our area at relatively high risk. Summer water here is from groundwater stored from winter precipitation, as the Apennines have no year-round snow pack. I do what I can to make my garden as drought-resilient as possible, as I suspect we have more lengthy droughts in our future. @Kitty, thanks!