Features

Outdoors: The plants in my street – the dog rose

Dog rose works incredibly hard all year round and there is a distinct lifecycle you can share with children, plus opportunities for making cordial and jelly. By Julie Mountain

plant of the month: dog rose

Dog rose, a climbing plant which is also known as wild rose or eglantine, is a joyful addition to hedgerows and gardens. Its Latin name is Rosa canina, thought to reflect the fact the thorns loosely resemble the ‘canine’ teeth of dogs – and children will definitely get ‘bitten’ by dog rose stems if they aren’t careful handling the plant.

fact file

If you don’t have a dog rose in the setting, find one nearby and bring a bough in each month so that children can talk about the changes they observe through the year.

Tiny buds emerge on the dog rose’s branches in early spring, growing chunky and with long ‘sepals’ protecting the petals developing inside.

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