and are already almost past their prime. They began blooming in my area just last week and yet most of the ones I saw yesterday are already fading and losing petals! That doesn’t seem quite fair, does it? We wait all year for them and then, boom! Bloomed and gone….

Actually the beach rose, officially known as the Rosa rugosa, is not a native to our shores though it has certainly adapted to living here. It is also on almost every promotional piece related to Cape Cod so one could say we’ve certainly adopted it as well.

I hope you have a chance to walk by these wonderful bushes this week at a beach near you and take in the summery scent of these delicious smelling flowers that begin the days of summer even before the calendar says it’s here.

And no, Rosa rugosa isn’t the beach plum, even though the fat orange hips often get called beach plums. Here is a picture of a blooming beach plum shrub–beach plums were in bloom several weeks ago and as you can see in the picture, they have many tiny white blossoms….