Common Name: Manchu rose
Type: Deciduous shrub
Family: Rosaceae
Native Range: China, Korea, Mongolia
Zone: 5 to 9
Height: 6.00 to 9.00 feet
Spread: 7.00 to 10.00 feet
Bloom Time: April to May
Bloom Description: Yellow (semi-double)
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Medium
Suggested Use: Hedge
Flower: Showy, Fragrant
Attracts: Birds, Hummingbirds, Butterflies
Culture
Best grown in organically rich, medium moisture, well-drained loams in full sun. Tolerates poor soils and some dryness. Also tolerates light shade, but best flowering and disease resistance generally occur in full sun. Water deeply and regularly (mornings are best). Avoid overhead watering. Good air circulation promotes vigorous and healthy growth and helps control foliar diseases. Summer mulch helps retain moisture, keeps roots cool and discourages weeds. Remove and destroy diseased leaves from plants, as practicable, and clean up and destroy dead leaves from the ground around the plants both during the growing season and as part of a thorough cleanup during winter (dormant season). Prune as needed in late winter.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Rosa xanthina, commonly called Manchu rose, is a wild shrub rose that is native to open slopes and scrubby areas in central China. It typically grows on upright, arching canes to 6-9’ tall with a slightly larger spread. Reddish stems armed with reddish-brown thorns are clad with medium green leaves, each leaf having 7-13 small broad-ovate leaflets (to 1” long). Semi-double yellow flowers (to 2” diameter) appear for several weeks from late April into May in a dense bloom. Flowers have a musky fragrance. There is no repeat bloom except for a possible sparse smattering of flowers in early autumn. Flowers are followed by attractive spherical to ellipsoid red hips that mature in late summer and persist on the shrub into winter. Foliage usually produces insignificant fall color, but occasionally an interesting blend of yellow, orange and red will occur. Rosa xanthina f. hugonis and Rosa xanthina f. spontanea have single flowers.
Genus name comes from the Latin name for rose.
Specific epithet means yellow for flower color.
Problems
Wild roses often have better resistance to diseases and insects than many of the hybrid roses sold in commerce today. For roses in general, potential disease problems include black spot, powdery mildew and rust. Potential insect pests include aphids, beetles, borers, scale, thrips, rose midges and leafhoppers. Spider mites may appear.
Uses
Group in sunny areas of the landscape. Tall informal hedge. Shrub border. Rose garden.