Vine · Rosaceae
Climbing rose
Rosa setigera · includes its varieties and subspecies
Climbing rose is recorded as native to 28 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 658 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Climbing rose at a glance
- Native in
- 658 counties, across 28 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 6a PLANTS minimum temperature −13°F
- Mature height
- 16 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 6a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −13°F; zone 6a winters bottom out at −10°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Climbing rose is recorded as native to 28 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 658 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 658 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 10 counties
- Arkansas 45 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Georgia 4 counties
- Illinois 77 counties
- Indiana 69 counties
- Iowa 2 counties
- Kansas 25 counties
- Kentucky 78 counties
- Louisiana 6 counties
- Massachusetts 1 county
- Michigan 9 counties
- Mississippi 2 counties
- Missouri 109 counties
- Nebraska 3 counties
- New Jersey 3 counties
- New York 18 counties
- North Carolina 2 counties
- Ohio 88 counties
- Oklahoma 28 counties
- Pennsylvania 9 counties
- South Carolina 1 county
- Tennessee 40 counties
- Texas 11 counties
- Virginia 7 counties
- West Virginia 9 counties
- Wisconsin 1 county
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Subshrub, Vine
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 16 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Climbing
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 20 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 6 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −13°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 6a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 140
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Dark Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Red
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Rosaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- ROSE2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Rosa setigera (PLANTS symbol ROSE2), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources