# Carolina Rose (Rosa carolina)

> Carolina rose, Rosa carolina: a shrub of 0.5 to 6 feet for zones 4 to 9, how fast it grows, where it grows wild, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/carolina-rose/

![Two pink Carolina rose flowers with bright yellow stamens among sharply toothed green leaflets](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/carolina-rose-1000.jpg?v=7e66b600 "Carolina rose in flower in Ottawa, Ontario, on June 10, 2011. It blooms in May and June, and its red hips ripen in late summer and feed birds in fall and winter.")
*Photo: D. Gordon E. Robertson, [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APasture_Rose%2C_flowers_and_leaves.jpg))*

Shrub, 0.5 to 6 feet, zones 4 to 9; full sun or part shade; dry, average or wet ground.

We do not grow Carolina rose, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Carolina Rose |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Pasture rose |
| Form | Shrub |
| Height, feet | 0.5 to 6 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 10 |
| Zones | 4 to 9 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry, average or wet ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Showy flowers, wildlife value, edible, hedge or screen, winter interest |
| Flowers | May to June |
| Fruit | Hips, August to February |
| Pollination | Not known whether one bears alone |
| Black walnut | Tolerant, on the Morton Arboretum's list as “wild rose” |
| Ground | Dry uplands, rocky ground, stream banks, old fields and edges |
| Native in | 35 states and the District of Columbia |

Carolina rose is native in 35 states and the District of Columbia: [Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KS), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=carolina-rose): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=carolina-rose): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=carolina-rose&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=carolina-rose): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=carolina-rose): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=carolina-rose): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=carolina-rose): the seed sowing planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=carolina-rose): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its height](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=carolina-rose): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores by the champion-tree formula](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=carolina-rose): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Gray Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/gray-dogwood/index.html.md) (*Cornus racemosa*): shrub, 4 to 10 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares dry uplands, rocky ground, stream banks, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Roughleaf Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/roughleaf-dogwood/index.html.md) (*Cornus drummondii*): shrub, 6 to 15 feet, zones 5 to 8. Shares dry uplands, rocky ground, stream banks, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Saskatoon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/saskatoon/index.html.md) (*Amelanchier alnifolia*): shrub, 3 to 26 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares dry uplands, rocky ground, stream banks, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Common Prickly Ash (Toothache Tree)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-prickly-ash/index.html.md) (*Zanthoxylum americanum*): shrub, 10 to 20 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares dry uplands, rocky ground, stream banks, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Fragrant Sumac](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/fragrant-sumac/index.html.md) (*Rhus aromatica*): shrub, 2 to 6 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares dry uplands, rocky ground, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Streambank Mock Orange](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/streambank-mock-orange/index.html.md) (*Philadelphus hirsutus*): shrub, 3 to 10 feet, zones 4 to 10. Shares dry uplands, rocky ground and stream banks in the wild.
- [Every companion of Carolina rose in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=carolina-rose)

## Read from

Its figures come from NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, the Native Plant Network and the Flora of North America.