What can I graft on a rose bush?

[UnicornEmily]

My neighbor has a thorny, sterile rose bush that goes over onto my side of the fence.  I don't want thorns in my yard, and I'm disappointed with a rose bush that won't give me hips (I want fruit!), so I asked if I could graft something else onto the stems at the point they go over my fence.  She said sure, whatever I wanted to do on my side of the fence.  (She's a nice person.  )

I was thinking I would graft on a thornless rose bush that grows tasty hips, and I now have seeds for that.  (Thank you for the advice about what to get!)  However, given that they're seeds, I won't have extra branches to graft anywhere for awhile, and I'd rather just plant the seeds and grow them as bushes in my front yard.

Which has me speculating.  Could I graft on something else from the Rosaceae family?  If I did, would it take?  There are plenty of scions from interesting fruit trees I'd be happy to try, if there was a chance it would work.  Apples?  Pears?  Quinces?  Blackberries?  What's closely related enough to possibly work?

Has anybody ever grafted a fruiting scion of a different species onto a rose bush, and had it take?

[Adrian]

Hi,
I think that you lost nothing to try something with rasberry.
I think that the bramble is a better rootstock for fruits trees.
Good luck!
https://www.gerbeaud.com/jardin/fiches/eglantier,1477.html

[Garrett Schantz]

Oemleria cerasiformis might look interesting with its blue fruits.

There are some dwarf malus species, but those are hard to find it seems like.

Some websites sell all sorts of Rosa species with large rose hips - usually not thornless though.


Amelanchier species could be fun to attempt. As could Mespilus and Crataegus species. Sorbus species would be fun.

I'm not sure how dwarfing would work for the grafts fruits. I've noticed grafts in pots usually have smaller fruits than usual. Ones in the ground can have bigger fruits and become troublesome.

Rubus and some other things mentioned also seem like fun experiments.

[AndrewB]

Nothing to contribute, but very interesting thread. I also like the raspberry idea.

[Tim DH]

I doubt Raspberrys would work. They don't form a permanent structure above ground. They fruit on second year wood which then dies right back. New canes arise from the rootstock annually.

Tim DH

[Garrett Schantz]

I figured the same thing mentioned with raspberries.

There are some "raspberries" that could last awhile with almost no dormancy in warm areas.

Some wild raspberries like wild black raspberries in PA, I noticed sometimes had canes last three years or more. Those were mostly obvious intergenentic hybrids though.

Grafts using brand new growth might work. If a cane doesn't flower, and it's grafted - it could try surviving long enough to flower and whatnot.


I'd try Rubus odoratus, Rubus parviflorus and some other Rubus species. There's a thornless woody shrub Rubus species with white triple flowers if I remember correctly. Resembles a rose to some extent.

The two mentioned species above have double flowered variants / varieties I think as well.

Strawberries and Raspberries have been grafted to each other before too.

[Adrian]

Strawberry grafted on rasberry give a good result?

The most frequent for us is rubus fructicosus.
At the very bad placements or nothing can grow except rubus fructicosus i know people who did blackberies jam very tasty.
I think that rubus fructicosus can also be a very good rootpower.

[Steph S]

I've never heard of interspecies grafts onto a rose - but then again, I am not into grafting so probably missed a lot.   Would love to hear about anything you do try and whether it works.