Roses, roses, roses. In Maine, June and July are all about roses!
Sometime in June one suddenly is aware of a lovely smell that wafts through the air, in the daytime. It can blow in through your car window on a sunny day, or while out sailing, hit you for a quick second as you move across the path of an offshore breeze.
The first rose to bloom here is a wild climbing rose, R. multiflora.
ROSA MULTIFLORA
R. multiflora is not native to Maine.
Or even to the USA!
It is actually from Japan and Korea,
but has naturalized here.
Small single flowers are borne in trusses.
The long limbs of the rose clamber through shrubs, and
rush up very high into trees.
In the picture above
the rose has climbed up through an evergreen,
and reached over to its neighbor,
and kept on going!
The second wild rose to bloom here
is the Rosa rugosa.
ROSA RUGOSA
There are both white and pink roses,
both highly fragrant!
One sees these everywhere!
I have seen them growing in the sand on a beach,
6″ from the high tide mark,
as well as in a crack in a rock above the ocean.
They are just as at home in a meadow,
where they will make a
dense, thorny thicket.
ROSA RUGOSA
They are named for their leaves.
which are wrinkled.
But, are better known for their large hips
that form in the fall.
The hips can be made into jam or tea.
The third rose that has naturalized here is
Rosa Carolina.
It is seen in meadows,
blooming after the Rugosas.
It’s soft pale pink
flowers, with heart shaped petals.
Seen in sunny meadows,
where it forms a suckering bush shape.
It is not as large as R. rugosa, nor as fragrant.
The satiny petals
have defied my picture taking ability!
I simply have not been able to get a good picture,
as the petals reflect the light!