What rose would be best for hip production?

Question

I am looking for a rose that produces a good crop of large hips. It has to be winter hardy and relatively carefree , but I will be able to prune, mulch, and, water it. It also will have to be disease resistant as I don't use chemicals. I found a hopeful looking rose, 'Jubilee'. This has good production and growth habit but disease resistance wasn't mentioned. What rose would be good for this?

Answer 1

Fedco Trees lists a couple of varieties in their catalog that might meet your requirements. See page 42 of the 2012 catalog:

• R. ‘Fru Dagmar Hastrup’:

  Relatively low-growing form with rich green, deeply veined disease-resistant foliage that turns bronze in fall. Very large red hips. Recommended for the edible landscape. Z4

• R. rugosa ‘Scabrosa’:

  One of the absolute best roses for the edible landscape [...] huge orange-red hips that can be the size of cherry tomatoes [...] beautiful flowers and large hips. [...] Extremely hardy. No disease issues ever. Z3.

Answer 2

Along the New Hampshire seacoast (yes, we have one), rosa rugosa ("beach rose") is ubiquitous, as hedging, and the hips are, as Fedco says, "the size of cherry tomatoes". It's very thorny.