Diane, it is scary! I live in the high desert of Southern California, and we have plenty of honeybees (a neighbor keeps hives), but no bumblebees. I last saw one about 20 years ago, when I lived in rural New Mexico. My mum in Virginia has carpenter bees, which look similar and enjoy munching on the wooden base of her mailbox, but no bumbles.
Time has been getting away from me lately. But, I still wanted to say how much I enjoy knowing about your special wild rose! So fun to wonder how that one female rose popped up by your porch! I think I need your rose/bee videos and pictures to revive my spirit!!! They are so beautiful and awesome!!! Truly warm me with their life. :-)
This is so cool, Diane! And the roses are absolutely gorgeous. Congratulations on your queen rose! I was thinking "bumble" is a perfect description of what bumblebees do. Until I saw your slo-mo video, where the bumbling becomes a coordinated raking of pollen toward the legs. Now I have a question. How do they get the pollen into the pollen sacs?
You can see the bee scrapes her legs across each other and other parts of her body and packs it into those pollen baskets, which are not so much round as polygonal. Easier to see if you expand the video to full screen.
I love roses. When I lived in Arizona, I had a huge garden of antique roses. All gardening is getting harder, and the plants suffer from climate change. If I had discovered antique roses and lost roses sooner, I'd have spent a lot of time searching for them when I was younger. Your rose is beautiful. It is the first I've heard of a male and female rose. Thank you for the pictures.
New information! I love it and your photos are prefect. Now I wonder about the climbing rose on my family farm in Swedesburg, Iowa -if it is male or female. Need to check in with family member and find out. Thanks for all the information.
I loved this piece. The Climbing Rose reminds me of my own native Nootka Rose here on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. I admit I was ignorant of the functions of the male and female plants--didn't know it was only the female that made rosehips! I must have a lot of females around my home as most produce rose hips each year. Thank you for sharing your insights.
For almost all rose species, all the plants can make rose hips, as all have flowers with both male and female structures. This one species, Climbing Rose, Rosa setigera, is different from the others in having male and female flowers on different plants. Your Nootka rose is almost certainly a normal one, not peculiar like the odd one I described here.
Thank you for this - marvelous learning experience for me. I planted 4 Climbing Roses on my property a few years ago (small starts from Prairie Nursery) - also blooming gloriously and full of bees. Your bee videos and details about the M/F differences were fascinating. You’ve helped me appreciate these plants even more - JOY!
What a curious thing it is that Rosa setigera is functionally dioecious (plants of the same species that are male or female)! This article inspired me to research plant evolution a bit. Gymnosperms (non-flowering plants) are more often dioecious (65% of species) than Angiosperms (flowering plants) of which only 6% are dioecious. Since Angiosperms are newer species, there are fewer that are dioecious. Dioecy usually evolves from hermaphroditism (both sexes on the same flower, called 'perfect flowers'). It is a way to prevent in-breeding and the resulting diseases.
Our native species of roses are very resistant to foliar diseases such as fungal diseases like black-spot and mildew as well as rose-rosette disease, a virus. This is most likely because our native species evolved in a humid climate over time, so resistance to these native pathogens developed. When roses were crossed from different eco-regions of the world, species with little resistance to black spot like Rosa foetida, (a yellow rose that grows in arid regions) weakened hybird tea roses considerably and required fungicides to keep them healthy. Rose breeders are now using more native species roses to develop disease resistance and most landscape roses (The Knockout Series) have more resistance to foliar diseases as a result. It is no longer necessary to spray fungicides.
For eco-function our once-blooming, native species are the best, but realize they are spreading roses that produce a thicket, so you need to have room or else cut back the side shoots. If you want to have repeat blooming roses that don't have disease problems, I recommend shrub roses rather than hybrid tea roses. Doug Tallamy might call them 'statutes'. Single or semi-double flowers are more pollinator friendly in that bees can more easily get to pollen and nectar without all those petals blocking their path.
Thank you, Diane! Fascinating article and your climbing roses are gorgeous. I miss bumblebees. Haven’t seen one in many years.
Oh! You have not seen a bumblebee in years! That is scary.
Diane, it is scary! I live in the high desert of Southern California, and we have plenty of honeybees (a neighbor keeps hives), but no bumblebees. I last saw one about 20 years ago, when I lived in rural New Mexico. My mum in Virginia has carpenter bees, which look similar and enjoy munching on the wooden base of her mailbox, but no bumbles.
Time has been getting away from me lately. But, I still wanted to say how much I enjoy knowing about your special wild rose! So fun to wonder how that one female rose popped up by your porch! I think I need your rose/bee videos and pictures to revive my spirit!!! They are so beautiful and awesome!!! Truly warm me with their life. :-)
Well thank you so much Sandy.
So fascinating! I would like to publish this at Bleeding Heartland next week, if you are willing.
Certainly Laura. Thank you for the honor!
I always wished that I had taken botany…thank you for the continuing “course”!!
I too wish I had taken botany!
This is so cool, Diane! And the roses are absolutely gorgeous. Congratulations on your queen rose! I was thinking "bumble" is a perfect description of what bumblebees do. Until I saw your slo-mo video, where the bumbling becomes a coordinated raking of pollen toward the legs. Now I have a question. How do they get the pollen into the pollen sacs?
I don't see a way to attach a movie to an answer to a comment, so I put my slo-mo video on Notes, here: https://substack.com/@justakid/note/c-281925934.
You can see the bee scrapes her legs across each other and other parts of her body and packs it into those pollen baskets, which are not so much round as polygonal. Easier to see if you expand the video to full screen.
I love roses. When I lived in Arizona, I had a huge garden of antique roses. All gardening is getting harder, and the plants suffer from climate change. If I had discovered antique roses and lost roses sooner, I'd have spent a lot of time searching for them when I was younger. Your rose is beautiful. It is the first I've heard of a male and female rose. Thank you for the pictures.
Enjoyed your information so much. Cute bee.
New information! I love it and your photos are prefect. Now I wonder about the climbing rose on my family farm in Swedesburg, Iowa -if it is male or female. Need to check in with family member and find out. Thanks for all the information.
As always, I’m grateful for the knowledge, presented so charmingly.
Thank you, I didn't know this about climbing roses.
I loved this piece. The Climbing Rose reminds me of my own native Nootka Rose here on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. I admit I was ignorant of the functions of the male and female plants--didn't know it was only the female that made rosehips! I must have a lot of females around my home as most produce rose hips each year. Thank you for sharing your insights.
For almost all rose species, all the plants can make rose hips, as all have flowers with both male and female structures. This one species, Climbing Rose, Rosa setigera, is different from the others in having male and female flowers on different plants. Your Nootka rose is almost certainly a normal one, not peculiar like the odd one I described here.
What a gift to see your description and scientific information.
Thank you for this - marvelous learning experience for me. I planted 4 Climbing Roses on my property a few years ago (small starts from Prairie Nursery) - also blooming gloriously and full of bees. Your bee videos and details about the M/F differences were fascinating. You’ve helped me appreciate these plants even more - JOY!
Wow! So cool to know, and I swear that bumblebee is saying “Yum” 😚
It really does feel like yum. I can't shake the feeling that the bees really revel in those anthers.
What a curious thing it is that Rosa setigera is functionally dioecious (plants of the same species that are male or female)! This article inspired me to research plant evolution a bit. Gymnosperms (non-flowering plants) are more often dioecious (65% of species) than Angiosperms (flowering plants) of which only 6% are dioecious. Since Angiosperms are newer species, there are fewer that are dioecious. Dioecy usually evolves from hermaphroditism (both sexes on the same flower, called 'perfect flowers'). It is a way to prevent in-breeding and the resulting diseases.
Our native species of roses are very resistant to foliar diseases such as fungal diseases like black-spot and mildew as well as rose-rosette disease, a virus. This is most likely because our native species evolved in a humid climate over time, so resistance to these native pathogens developed. When roses were crossed from different eco-regions of the world, species with little resistance to black spot like Rosa foetida, (a yellow rose that grows in arid regions) weakened hybird tea roses considerably and required fungicides to keep them healthy. Rose breeders are now using more native species roses to develop disease resistance and most landscape roses (The Knockout Series) have more resistance to foliar diseases as a result. It is no longer necessary to spray fungicides.
For eco-function our once-blooming, native species are the best, but realize they are spreading roses that produce a thicket, so you need to have room or else cut back the side shoots. If you want to have repeat blooming roses that don't have disease problems, I recommend shrub roses rather than hybrid tea roses. Doug Tallamy might call them 'statutes'. Single or semi-double flowers are more pollinator friendly in that bees can more easily get to pollen and nectar without all those petals blocking their path.
Fascinating insights into the evolution of the "separate bedrooms." Thanks!
As usual, I enjoyed learning that.