Wildlife: Rose petals
and fruit are used in preserves, rose hips may be used in soups and rose
water is used in the cosmetic industry. Rose hips are eaten by migrating
birds and used as winter food by songbirds like the mockingbird and robin,
and gamebirds like the pheasant. Rabbits feed on the shoots and bark, and
the meadow vole often eat the bark in late winter and early spring. Wild
roses form thickets used as nesting sites for small mammals and birds.
Horticulture: Roses are used in landscaping as specimens, masses, screens, ground cover and hedges. The wild rose species are the easiest to cultivate, growing in most moist soils (except wet, acid soil) and require little pruning once established. The prairie rose (R. setigera) is native from Ontario to Nebraska, Texas and Florida. It is a rampant grower, not recommended for the small yard, but is useful in difficult areas, bearing almost scentless, single, pink (fading to white) blooms. The salt-spray rose (R. rugosa) is native to northern China, Korea and Japan and has escaped cultivation in northeastern US, growing there along sandy shores. This is one of the most trouble-free roses and bears rose-purple to white flowers. The pale pink Japanese rose (R. multiflora) was introduced in 1868 and has escaped cultivation. Tolerant of dry, heavy soils, it is used for conservation purposes as cover for birds and small mammals, but reproduces from seed and becomes a problematic invader.
