# Swamp Rose (Rosa palustris)

> Swamp rose, Rosa palustris: a shrub of 1 to 10 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/swamp-rose/

![Round red swamp rose hips on bare reddish twigs against a blurred background of tan winter grasses](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/swamp-rose-1000.jpg?v=a294a7a0 "Swamp rose hips in winter at Huntley Meadows Park, Fairfax County, Virginia, on December 27, 2015. Songbirds, quail and wild turkey eat the pea-sized red hips.")
*Photo: Ketone16, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARose_hips_Rosa_palustris.JPG))*

Shrub, 1 to 10 feet, zones 4 to 9; full sun, part shade or shade; average or wet ground.

We do not grow swamp 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 | Swamp Rose |
| --- | --- |
| Form | Shrub |
| Height, feet | 1 to 10 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 6 |
| Zones | 4 to 9 |
| Sun | Full sun, part shade or shade |
| Soil moisture | Average or wet ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Showy flowers, fall color, wildlife value, hedge or screen |
| Flowers | May to August |
| Fruit | Hips, September to February |
| Pollination | Not known whether one bears alone |
| Planting season | Spring. Its one source speaks of seedlings: those taller than about 10 inches go out in summer, the rest in late spring after a winter in a cold frame. |
| Black walnut | Tolerant, on the Morton Arboretum's list as “wild rose” |
| Ground | Stream banks, swamps and wet flats |
| Native in | 28 states and the District of Columbia |

Swamp rose is native in 28 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), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [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), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [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), [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), [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. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA) and [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=swamp-rose): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=swamp-rose): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=swamp-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=swamp-rose): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=swamp-rose): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=swamp-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=swamp-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=swamp-rose): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its height](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=swamp-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=swamp-rose): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Sweet Pepperbush (Summersweet)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sweet-pepperbush/index.html.md) (*Clethra alnifolia*): shrub, 4 to 8 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares stream banks, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Possumhaw Viburnum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/possumhaw-viburnum/index.html.md) (*Viburnum nudum*): shrub, 5 to 12 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares stream banks, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Virginia Sweetspire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/virginia-sweetspire/index.html.md) (*Itea virginica*): shrub, 3 to 6 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares stream banks, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Swamp Doghobble](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/swamp-doghobble/index.html.md) (*Eubotrys racemosa*): shrub, 4 to 10 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares stream banks, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Squashberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/squashberry/index.html.md) (*Viburnum edule*): shrub, 2 to 7 feet, zones 2 to 8. Shares stream banks, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [American Snowbell](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-snowbell/index.html.md) (*Styrax americanus*): shrub, 6 to 15 feet, zones 6 to 10. Shares stream banks, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Every companion of swamp rose in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=swamp-rose)

## Read from

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