Roses may be everyone’s favorite flower, but they can come with a price –thorns! In fact, the controversial multiflora rose, sporting bunches of white flowers, from which rose hip tea is made, has become one of the most invasive, vicious, dangerous, and nearly unstoppable plants in the US and Canada today, thwarting farmers’ and gardeners’ best efforts to eradicate the thorny plant.

Appearing to be a beautiful addition to one’s landscape or hedge, this problematic rose sports thorns that curve downward, so that any animal (or human!) who comes in contact with the plant will quickly be impaled with its long spikes, which can not only be painful but can cause infection, particularly if one of the tips breaks off underneath the skin.

Appearances can be deceiving, can’t they?

Today, we ar…