Corylus (Hazel Le Rougetel)

If I were to choose one rose that blooms only once to help folks get past their phobia about having to have repeat bloom, this might be the one. Corylus truly does have year round ‘seasonal interest’ and would make a great garden plant even with no bloom. It is a cross between R. rugosa and R. nitida and inherits the best traits of each. The single petaled, silky, silvery pink flowers have a circlet of the purest yellow stamens and the clove scent of the rugosa that carries well. The blooms continue arriving for nearly a month, if the weather stays cool, and usually are carried one to a stem. They are followed by hips that are a true red by early fall and that persist, unpreferred by the birds, to punctuate the handsome green of the totally healthy beautiful foliage. The foliage is so lovely, in fact, that I sometimes use it in flower arrangements. But that is not all, in the fall Corylus turns all the colors of maples, first yellow, then orange, then fierce red and this drama persists into late winter when the lovely flaky red brown canes are revealed. The thorns are soft and no threat to the gardener and the rose is quite hardy. The suckers can make a thicket and are good as gifts. Peter Schneider, editor of The Combined Rose List, which no rose collector can do without, has written an informative essay on Corylus, as his favorite rose, in the book, A Celebration of Roses, by Winterrowd. Discovered in 1988.