It’s not just black and white in the park this month. Rose hips, of various sizes and shapes, add dashes of color that show up well against a backdrop of snow. Rose hips are the fruit of rose plants, and are typically red or orange, but can be dark purple or black, depending on variety. Hips begin to form after pollination of flowers in spring or early summer, and ripen in late summer through autumn.

We stop pruning the roses in mid-September to let them form hips. If we continued to prune as the weather cools down, the plants will produce tender new canes and shoots which likely would be killed by frost. By letting them make hips, the plants get ready for winter dormancy. Hips are a winter gift to the birds, squirrels and other small animals, because they tend to hang on the plants until spring. Some roses, notably the rugosa varieties, make hips the size of cherry tomatoes.

Speaking of small red things in the garden, Cindi Decker, writing recently in the Columbus Dispatch, had an interesting article about the early songs of cardinals in central Ohio. Here is a link to audio files of cardinals and other perching birds.