Plain rosa rugosa has no problem growing 8 feet tall, but the rose sort of ajust to where it grows, so if it grows on a sandy beach it will most often not get so tall but will spread and send out suckers. In competition with other plants it most definatly can grow tall. Very much like rugosa rubra (scabrosa).

Some times plain rosa rogosa is grown from seed, then it can varie slightly in color, and a few turn out white.

All non-hybrid Rugosa roses are Rosa rugosa. Flowers of this wild species can be white or colored. R. rugosa 'Rubra' is a selection with wine-crimson flowers and large hips. 'Scabrosa' is a vigorous-growing found rose considered a hybrid of R. rugosa that produces extra large flowers and large hips. Both of the latter could be expected to grow as tall as unselected seedlings might on the same site.

Hi, Kathy,
I think in our area the rugosas can be grown without spray; mine have never been sprayed and they keep their leaves until fall color season starts.
Their height here is totally a function of culture. The first rugosas I saw locally were in sandy soil on the bend of flat creek (with freeflowing subterranean water) and they were almost nine feet tall and seven feet wide. Mine are growing on a clay hill out in the middle of a hay field; they are not in revolt, but do seem content to stay about four feet tall. They make hips and do all things rosey including repeat bloom without deadheading, but this clay is not their best substrate.
Ann

Thanks for the help! My two bushes will get planted this weekend and I have a spot away from other bushes, so they will not get sprayed and where they will have room to get big. We don't have sandy soil, so not 8 ft tall, but not pure clay - a mix of loam, organics, perlite, and a little clay - so say 6 ft. The bushes are rosa rugosa species and FJ Grootendorst (Classic shrub, hybrid rugosa, with clusters of small red blooms that repeat). They will get pure morning sun and I think they will look nice near each other! I will plant them tomorrow. Kathy

kathy, be on the watch for wilt. When I lived in the Philadelphia area (very similar climates & soils, but slightly cooler) I planted a rugosa hedge which was glorious,

and then a vascular wilt killed them.

I suspect it was something like a Phytophthora infection, but I never had it checked out by a lab. I also didn't want to use fungicides on it. It's possible a soil drench would've saved them, but I wanted them because I thought they were going to require very little care.

Not so, not in that climate and soil (also not a sandy one).

My impression is that they sulk in hot sticky summer weather. They're ubiquitous up here in the Boston area and they grow quite nicely here.