Multiflora Rose

This is a bush you hate to love if you are a beekeeper and a homeowner.  We have a swale that runs through our property and several times a year we go through the monotony of cutting it back.  At various parts of it multiflora rose grows voluntarily.  When this shrub grows on other properties I love it as it is a great source of food for bees.  When it grows on mine it is a nuisance as it is very robust, grows from a stem to a full sized bush in no time, and has deep very painful thorns which make it even more challenging to cut down.

Multiflora Rose is a an eastern Asian shrubby or climbing rose that bears clusters of small single pink or white flowers.  In the case of the video the flowers are white and I don’t recall seeing any pink or off color ones around.  It is considered an invasive species and as I’ve covered in the podcast it was something that was planted by practice along farmer fields to mark and protect border lines.  Something akin to natural barbed wire as you would not attempt to climb through one of these stands of bushes.

Still, all this aside, look at the source of food.  Ahhh, as a beekeeper, and living in a world where so much habitat has been destroyed, one cannot help but appreciate a food source that finds its way to survive in any place where a homeowner/landowner is not looking.