Many Beach Rose (Rosa rugosa) hips are now cherry-tomato-sized and providing deer a tasty alternative to apples. Humans also consume these hips for their vitamin C, antioxidant, and flavonoid content.
Beach Rose plants are popular here, despite the plants’ highly invasive nature. They originated in Asia and were imported into New England for ornamental use as well as to stabilize shifting shorelines, hence their common name. Since the hardy plant had a high tolerance for sea salt, it was tried along New England roads that got plenty of salt and other chemicals in the winter. Thus, it now appears along many of our roadbeds.
However, a bed of these roses isn’t always good. Firmly established Beach Rose plants create dense barriers of thorns and spines that can be painful, if not impenetrable, to walkers and dogs. They also are almost impossible to remove without heavy digging equipment. (Brooklin, Maine)