Sun Valley Group: Rosehip Run Down

Rosehips are a specialty branch that Sun Valley brings to market every fall. How do we manage to get this impressive harvest?

Believe it or not but it starts in the middle of winter. One of the coldest jobs on the farm is to cut back the rosehips every January. A team heads out to our Willow creek farm and prunes the rose bushes all the way to the ground. They grow back really strong through spring and start to bloom in summer. Imagine a field of roses all giving off an amazing scent, this is the upside for the same crew with freezing hands and toes in January. The blooms need to be pollinated to create the hip, so we have local bee keepers bring in hives. As I was out there last August, it was kind of scary since there aren’t just a few bees…there are thousands, and they are drunk on nectar and making enough honey to make any Pooh Bear drool.

Once the flowers are pollinated, the bloom falls off and the seed pod (a.k.a. the hip) will form. Scientifically this is the swollen ovary of the rose plant, ready for reproduction. We maintain a steady supply of water to the field, and as the dry, chilly days of autumn come to Willow Creek the leaves naturally brown and fall off. This exposes our big, red rosehips. The roses are bred to provide the best hips, so this is why your roses at home don’t create hips like we offer.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Sun Valley Group's Flower Talk