# Climbing Prairie Rose (Rosa setigera)

> A native rose with long arching canes, rose-pink flowers that fade toward white in early summer, red hips for birds and bright fall leaves.

Also called prairie rose, climbing rose, Illinois rose, Michigan rose. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/climbing-prairie-rose/

![Climbing prairie rose (Rosa setigera) two rose-pink flowers with golden stamens above toothed leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/climbing-prairie-rose-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Douglas Goldman, CC BY-SA 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARosaSet7.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 3 to 15 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 4 to 8
- Grows wild in: Dry uplands, stream banks, old fields and edges
- Native range: 20 states, north to Wisconsin, south to Texas and west to Nebraska (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin). Also recorded in 12 other states, outside its native range
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Dry
- Growth rate: Fast
- Traits: Showy flowers, Wildlife value, Fall color, Drought tolerant, Erosion control
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Climbing prairie rose sends up long, arching canes that ramble over fences and shrubs, and it is the only rose whose plants are male or female. Its rose-pink flowers open in early summer, after most other roses, and fade toward white. Red hips follow on the female plants, and birds eat them. It grows wild across the Midwest and the South, on prairies, woodland borders and fence rows. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Pennsylvania and Virginia and imperiled in West Virginia. Spreading by suckers, it has served to control erosion on difficult sites along highways. Grow it on a fence, an arbor or a bank where its canes have room to ramble.

## Size, growth and what to expect

It grows fast, nearly three feet a year in our growth estimator. Without support it grows 3 to 4 feet tall and rambles 6 to 10 feet wide. On a fence or arbor its prickly canes climb to about 15 feet.

Clusters of rose-pink flowers 2 to 3 inches across open from May to August across the range, mostly from mid-June through July, later than most roses. The petals fade toward white, and the flowers smell faintly of rose. Female plants set bright red hips about a third of an inch across, ripe from late summer into fall. The leaves turn red, orange, purple and yellow in fall.

It grows wild across the Midwest and the South, from Michigan and Wisconsin to Texas and Georgia, on prairies, woodland borders, roadsides and fence rows. In New England, along much of the Atlantic coast and in Mississippi and Louisiana, it was brought in from the Midwest or escaped from gardens.

## How to grow Climbing Prairie Rose

Climbing prairie rose flowers best in full sun, and in part shade it blooms less and suffers more disease. It wants a well-drained soil and will not stand in water. Sand, loam or clay suits it, acid to slightly alkaline. Once rooted it takes dry spells. Its canes need a fence, arbor or trellis to climb, or room to sprawl. Set plants 12 feet apart, and keep each one 5 feet from a wall. It is small enough to grow within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the canes. Pick the hips as soon as they turn red, and clean out the seed at once. Sow it outdoors in fall a quarter inch deep, and seedlings come up the next spring. For spring, hold it damp in the refrigerator for 90 to 120 days first.

Water weekly through the first summer. Prune in late winter or early spring, cutting canes back to make it branch, and tie long canes to their support. Rabbits and deer eat the leaves and stems, so guard young plants with wire.

Each plant is male or female, and only females bear hips, so plant three or more seedlings for a male and a female. Honey bees and bumble bees carry the pollen. Birds and small mammals eat the hips from late summer into fall. It resists disease better than most garden roses, though leaf spots, mildew, rust, black spot and rose rosette can strike it. It does not tolerate heavy salt spray or black walnut roots.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 9: Rosa setigera](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242417151)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Rosa setigera](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.141667/Rosa_setigera)
- [NC State Extension, North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Rosa setigera](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/rosa-setigera/)
- [The Morton Arboretum: Prairie rose](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/prairie-rose/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Native Plant Database: Rosa setigera](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ROSE2)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Rosa chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Rosa.pdf)
- [Missouri Department of Conservation field guide: Prairie Rose (Climbing Rose)](https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/prairie-rose-climbing-rose)
- [Native Plant Trust, Go Botany: Rosa setigera](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/rosa/setigera/)
- [University of Tennessee Extension, Tennessee Smart Yards: Rosa setigera](https://tnyards.utk.edu/rosa-setigera)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for birds: caterpillars, fruit, mast, nests and winter cover, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-birds/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Climbing Prairie Rose, add ?species=climbing-prairie-rose with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=climbing-prairie-rose&zone=4&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Climbing Prairie Rose](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=climbing-prairie-rose): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=climbing-prairie-rose
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Climbing Prairie Rose is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=climbing-prairie-rose
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Climbing Prairie Rose needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=climbing-prairie-rose:3
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Climbing Prairie Rose flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.