Roses for Wet Sites

It is commonly written that roses are not for poorly drained sites. They hate getting their feet wet and growing them under wet conditions is a sure recipe for blackspot and disaster. Well, not so fast.

That may be true of garden roses with dry-loving Mediterranean species in their parentage, but actually a large group of North American wild roses are wetland plants, or at least occur in riparian (stream-bank) habitats. Rosa palustris, as its name implies is a trues swamp species, occurring in marshes, bogs, swamplands in eastern north America. The swamp rose of western north America is Rosa pisocarpa.

In the high rainfall areas of southern China roses must be tolerant of seasonal flooding and one of these is Rosa multiflora. Where this has been introduced into North American it has become a pest in wet riparian areas. Another Asian species that is adapted to wet subtropical conditions is Rosa clinophylla of Burma and Nepal.

The good news is that cultivated roses derived from these wild roses should be tolerant of at least seasonal wetness. Boggy gardens need not be rose-free.

Swamp roses of North America

• Rosa palustris
• Rosa pisocarpa

Wet-tolerant and riparian roses of North America

• Rosa virginiana
• Rosa nitida
• Rosa acicularis
• Rosa carolina
• Rosa woodsii

Wet-tolerant Asian roses

• Rosa multiflora
• Rosa clinophylla (monsoon climate of Burma)