Carolina Rose Seeds (Rosa carolina) – Pasture Rose/Wild Rose, Native Fragrant Pink Wildflower Shrub, Attracts Pollinators, Produces Vitamin C-Rich Rose Hips for Birds & Tea

Minimum: 15+ Seeds

Carolina Rose Seeds — The Native Wild Rose That Flowers for Pollinators, Fruits for Birds

Carolina Rose produces simple five-petaled pink flowers in late spring with genuine fragrance, drawing bees, butterflies, and moths. By late summer, flowers surrender to bright red rose hips persisting through winter, glistening in gardens and providing crucial food for songbirds and small mammals. Foliage turns deep red in autumn. The plant spreads slowly via rhizomes to form loose thickets perfect for erosion control and wildlife hedgerows. Tolerates sand or clay, drought or wet, sun or part shade. This is the native rose that asks nothing and gives everything: fragrance, color, shelter, food, and beauty.

Who Grows Carolina Rose Seeds?

Gardeners wanting native plants pollinators actually visit. Wildlife enthusiasts building hedgerows for shelter. Anyone with poor soil tired of demanding plants. Herb tea makers harvesting rose hips for vitamin C. Gardeners creating meadows and naturalized areas. Anyone understanding that the most beautiful roses are often wild.

What This Native Wild Rose Actually Is

Rosa carolina, known as Pasture Rose or Carolina Rose. Native deciduous shrub from Maine to Texas. Grows 1-3 feet tall, spreads slowly via rhizomes forming loose thickets. Thorny stems with narrow needle-like prickles. Dark green compound leaves turn deep red in autumn. Simple five-petaled fragrant pink flowers with yellow centers, 2-3 inches wide. Flowers late spring-early summer (May-June). Matures into abundant bright red rose hips, late summer through winter, high in vitamin C. Highly attractive to pollinators. Host plant for Polyphemus moth. Hardy Zones 4-9.

In the Kitchen & Garden

• Rose Hip Tea: Harvest fall hips, dry or freeze, steep for vitamin C tea.
• Rose Hip Jelly: Traditional preparation using natural pectin.
• Edible Petals: Use in syrups, jellies, butters, frozen drinks.
• Wildlife Shelter: Dense thickets provide year-round cover.
• Pollinator Host: Essential host plant for sphinx moths.
• Native Bee Nesting: Hollow dead stems provide nesting habitat.
• Erosion Control: Spreads gradually via rhizomes for slope stabilization.
• Hedgerow Plant: Perfect for informal native hedges.

Growing Carolina Rose Seeds

• Zones: 4-9. Hardy throughout eastern and central North America.
• Sunlight: Full sun to part shade. More sun = better flowering.
• Soil: Highly adaptable. Tolerates sandy, clay, loamy soils.
• Water: Drought tolerant once established. Water regularly first season.
• Moisture: Tolerates wet soils, standing water, dry conditions.
• Spacing: 3-5 feet apart. Allow room for gradual spreading.
• Growth: Moderate spread via suckering. Slow to form thickets.
• Propagation: Seed, softwood cuttings spring, stolon division fall/spring.
• Seed Collection: Collect after hips turn red, late summer.
• Flowering: May-June.
• Hip Maturity: August-January.
• Pruning: Light pruning late winter/early spring. Leave dead stems 12-24 inches.
• Maintenance: Low once established. Disease-resistant.

Before You Close This Page

Native to eastern North America. 1-3 feet tall, spreads via rhizomes. Fragrant pink flowers, late spring-early summer. Vitamin C-rich red hips, summer through winter. Attracts bees, butterflies, moths. Polyphemus moth host plant. Tolerates sand, clay, drought, wet. Zones 4-9. Low maintenance, disease-resistant. Perfect for hedgerows, pollinator gardens, naturalized areas. Edible petals and hips. The rose that asks nothing, gives everything.