# 100 year old rose bush **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 28, 2013, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-rose-bush/654159 "2013-03-28T05:54:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-rose-bush/654159/21 "2013-03-29T16:58:22Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > … I believe it is about 20 ft tall right now with possibly a 40 ft spread. Your thread titles says “rose bush.” The post above indicates you’re talking about a big-ass tree. Rose bush =/= a tree. Which is it, already? This is getting kinda frustrating … ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-rose-bush/654159/22 "2013-03-30T00:25:27Z")
It has a tree size trunk, but the branches are long and spindly, they grow upward and then arc back downward under their weight, probably not 20 ft as I indicated but closer to 15 I think. The trunk itself is not more than 5 ft high when the branches start comming off. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-rose-bush/654159/23 "2013-03-30T00:42:22Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Your thread titles says “rose bush.” The post above indicates you’re talking about a big-ass tree. Rose bush =/= a tree. There are some varieties of old roses (especially ramblers and rugosas) which can reach the size of a small tree. One reason older rose varieties aren’t planted so often today is that they can get much too big for the average garden. They have to be thought of as large shrubs (like lilacs or serviceberries) and positioned accordingly in the landscape, not tucked into a tiny “rose bed” like modern hybrid tea roses. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-rose-bush/654159/24 "2013-03-30T00:46:58Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > A friend of mine owns a home in Berkley Ca. with a giant 100 year old rose bush in the back yard. He may have to remove the bush to replace a fence. Is pruning the rose back heavily not an option? Old roses are grown on their own roots, and are generally very tough and hardy plants. That bush would probably survive a very severe pruning, which might be all it takes to give the workers enough room to get behind it to replace the fence. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-rose-bush/654159/25 "2013-03-30T00:58:02Z")
> [@artemis](#): > > Is pruning the rose back heavily not an option? Old roses are grown on their own roots, and are generally very tough and hardy plants. That bush would probably survive a very severe pruning, which might be all it takes to give the workers enough room to get behind it to replace the fence. I am sure it would survive a severe pruning as it appears to have undergone many throughout it’s life. The root ball appears to be centered on the fence line and I would be afraid cutting the root ball would greatly detract from the beauty and character of the lower trunk, everything else on the tree is wild and spindly and would require removal in a transplant scenario anyway. I really had a hard time getting a good look at the branches as it is growing in somewhat of a tangled jungle of trees and bamboo. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-rose-bush/654159/26 "2013-03-30T02:45:04Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > A friend of mine owns a home in Berkley Ca. with a giant 100 year old rose bush in the back yard. He may have to remove the bush to replace a fence. You know, the obvious solution here is to route the new fence around the rose. Much less trouble than trying to dig up and replant the monster rose. ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-rose-bush/654159/27 "2013-03-30T02:51:17Z")
Good idea! We’ve got a little section of our back fence that jogs around the trunk of a very large pine tree. No one really cares whose property line it infringes on because it’s such a small space anyway. Just make a V shape around it. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-rose-bush/654159/29 "2013-03-30T13:16:18Z")
He honestly never really gave the bush much thought beyond it being just another bush in a tangled jungle. He has owned the property for over 40 years and rents out the rooms while he lives several hundred miles away. I fell in love with the bush and told him I thought it might have some value if it survived potting. It looks like the yard behind his is also a bit of a jungle as the fence is pretty much just remnants of wood so going around it probably is doable. I think I am trying to rationalize a good reason for me to harvest this tree. I fell in love with it. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-rose-bush/654159/30 "2013-04-14T22:28:12Z")
Sorry about the zombyism, but ignorance must be fought. **Mangetout** wrote: > [@](#): > > Rosewood doesn’t come from rose bushes - it’s a tropical hardwood. > [@](#): > > Honestly, I don’t think there is any such thing as rose wood, where ‘rose’ means a species of Rosa. > [@](#): > > I don’t think the wood of a garden rose, even a very old one, is going to be usable at all. I can’t find any images of actual wood from Rosa spp, but I would imagine it would at best be something like apple wood - at worst, it might not be solidly woody at all. For some peculiar reason, my post based on personal experience prompted a barrage of speculation about this mysterious rose wood that probably doesn’t even exist, and if it does, is unusable. Funny, as I have seasoned billets of the stuff in my shop and I have worked the wood on many occasions. It is as solid as any common hardwood, among the densest and strongest native European wood species, and beautiful, too, just as I described. I’m well aware that commercial rosewood species (Dalbergia spp.) are different from rose wood, coming from Rosa spp. You don’t think wood from Rosa spp. exists? [Try here](http://www.woodanatomy.ch/species.php?code=ROCA). Or, better yet, go and cut some rose. There are literally hundreds of wood species that aren’t commercially available, being too small or rare for lumber production. [Rose shoots were one of the most common arrowshaft materials among Native Americans](http://www.uiowa.edu/~osa/learn/ancient/archery.htm). Excellent bows have been made out of rose wood, too. Custom stickmakers sometimes use rose shoots for walking stick shafts. All these uses require high strength and stability from the material, and rose delivers. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-rose-bush/654159/31 "2013-04-14T23:43:28Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > Sorry about the zombyism, but ignorance must be fought. > > For some peculiar reason, my post based on personal experience prompted a barrage of speculation about this mysterious rose wood that probably doesn’t even exist, and if it does, is unusable. Funny, as I have seasoned billets of the stuff in my shop and I have worked the wood on many occasions. It is as solid as any common hardwood, among the densest and strongest native European wood species, and beautiful, too, just as I described. Where did you get the timber from? What does it look like? > [@](#): > > I’m well aware that commercial rosewood species (Dalbergia spp.) are different from rose wood, coming from Rosa spp. You don’t think wood from Rosa spp. exists? [Try here](http://www.woodanatomy.ch/species.php?code=ROCA). This citation confirms that _Rosa_ is a woody plant - which is a fact not in dispute. There’s a difference between ‘woody’ and ‘timber-producing’. The citation says nothing about its qualities as workable timber. > [@](#): > > Or, better yet, go and cut some rose. I have actually done this, and have always found it fibrous, pithy and not especially strong or dense. > [@](#): > > There are literally hundreds of wood species that aren’t commercially available, being too small or rare for lumber production. [URL=“[http://www.uiowa.edu/~osa/learn/ancient/archery.htm](http://www.uiowa.edu/~osa/learn/ancient/archery.htm)”]Rose shoots were one of the most common arrowshaft materials among Native Americans Interesting that it appears alongside Cornus as an arrow material - because that’s another one I would consider not especially strong or densely woody (especially thinner material that would be usable as arrow) - although for an application like arrow shafts, I can see how such materials would be OK. > [@](#): > > Excellent bows have been made out of rose wood, too. Custom stickmakers sometimes use rose shoots for walking stick shafts. All these uses require high strength and stability from the material, and rose delivers. Since you’ve declared that this is about fighting my ignorance, perhaps you would be kind enough to back it up with some citations or other documentary evidence - of wood from Rosa spp being used as workable timber - in particular, being quarter-sawn or turned. I’m more than happy to be set straight on this, if you can please show me what you’re talking about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-rose-bush/654159.md?page=1)