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Rosa filipes is a vigorous deciduous climbing rose from western China, grown for its large clusters of white flowers and its ability to scramble up into trees. The key to growing it is giving it a strong support or a large tree to climb and room to spread.
Rosa filipes is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae, native to western China, in Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, and Yunnan.
It is a deciduous climbing shrub, growing to 3–5 m, rarely up to 9 m tall. The leaves are pinnate, 8–14 cm long, with 5-7 leaflets. The flowers are white, 2–2.5 cm diameter with five petals, produced in large 15–30 cm diameter corymbs of up to 100 flowers. The fruit is a red 8–15 mm diameter hip. The plant is very vigorous, with stiff upright stems protected by large and frequent thorns. They allow growing stems to anchor on to tree branches and climb to a great height.
It is grown as an ornamental plant in gardens, valued for its unusually large clusters of flowers compared to other roses, sometimes also for its size, and its ability to climb into trees.
The RHS Award of Garden Merit-winning cultivar 'Kiftsgate' was first noticed at Kiftsgate Court Gardens in the Cotswolds, but its origin is unknown. The original plant dates from 1938 and the cultivar was named by Graham Stuart Thomas in 1951. It is particularly vigorous, with clusters of scented flowers up to 45 centimetres (18 in) diameter, and tolerant of shade, a necessary attribute for a tree climber. The original plant of Rosa filipes 'Kiftsgate' is said to be the largest rose in Britain, measuring 80 feet (24 m) × 90 feet (27 m) × 50 feet (15 m) high. The same official website claims that it have smothered three trees by its spreading habit.
Prickly rose · White rose of York · Prairie rose · Field-rose · Banksian Rose · Smooth rose · Macartney rose · California wildrose · Dog rose · Carolina rose · Chinese rose · Amur rose
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rosa filipes by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
