Rebecca Writes

This is another re-edited and reposted piece from a couple of summers ago. The wildflowers are coming so fast this year that I can hardly keep up with them. These ones are blooming across the street from me right now.

After the blue of the lupines and Jacob’s ladder come the pink wildflowers—the wild roses and the fireweed. The fireweed isn’t blooming yet, but the wild roses are already here.

Photo by Andrew Stark
(Click for larger view.)

They’re pretty and pink, but if you’ve ever walked along a wild-rose-lined trail, you know the very best thing  about them is their perfume. Since they grow all across the northern hemisphere in the boreal forest and as far south as New Mexico in North America, I’m sure many of you understand exactly what I mean, because you’ve smelled them, too.

Another good thing about wild roses is that they’re edible. For grouse, hares, and small rodents, they’re an important food source; and some of the bigger guys, like deer and moose, enjoy nibbling on the tender plants, as well. The rose hips (or berries) are consumed by bears, rabbits, and beavers; they also provide food for the birds during the wintertime when many other food sources are gone.

Have you ever eaten a rose hip? If you haven’t, make sure you try one the next time you can. They taste like  an apple—a very seedy little apple. You can pick the hips after the first frost (A touch of frost brings out their sweetness.) and use them to make rose hip jelly, which is surprisingly tasty, especially with a little added lemon juice for tartness. And it’s clear orange-red colour will make it the prettiest jelly in your pantry, I promise.

The wild rose is also called the prickly rose, but not by me. I refuse to know them by their one nasty trait when they have so many admirable ones!

 Previous wildflower posts: 

• Lavender Charm
• Into the Wild Blue
• The Blue Belles
• Stopping on Yellow