Rose Thorns

[starone]

I am going to plant a rambling rose in the front garden and train it along the front wall. It has thorns on it and what I want to know is, if someone decides to pick a rose or touch the rosebush and gets tangled in the thorns or even just one thorn sticks in them can I be sued? I haven't bought the rose bush yet and it depends on any answers I get to this question whether I shall change my mind and plant something else. I do not want to incur any extra expenses!! but I would like the roses. Thanks for any help.

[Old_Geezer]

No expert but I suspect they could try, but since it was their choice to come onto your property and interact with the plant I'd hope that they would have no case. I think it should be a different matter if your plant grows out to the public pavement though. Any injury should surely then be your responsibility for allowing it to get there and scratch folk as they walk past.

To be honest though, unless you left it in an awful state and was therefore clearly responsible, who is going to take that sort of thing to court anyway ? It's not worth the hassle.

[woofgang]

Is your front wall on a busy street or quiet residential area? Are people likely to brush against it? Nobody should be picking your flowers without your permission but if its a particularly prickly variety then it makes good sense to keep on your property and not allow it to grow out onto the public thoroughfare.

[boxtops]

People do, though, woof - I have a hydrangea growing up against my front fence, and people (mostly the youth) persist in picking off the heads and trailing them down the street. I cut off any growth which grows onto the pavement side of the fence.

[woofgang]

I know Boxy, people used to nick my Mum's rosemary. My point was that if folk try and pick your roses without your permission, its not your responsibility if they are injured by the thorns.

[Peter Pedant]

Plant the roses - they're mot poisonous are they ?

[Tilly2]

Can you get thornless rambling roses?

[woofgang]

Yup
http://www.davidaustinroses.com/english/Advanced.asp?PageId=2026

[boxtops]

Trouble is, woof, if you have barbed wire instead of rose spikes, the burglar CAN sue you if he injures himself. Ridiculous, but I believe still true.

[woofgang]

that's because of the intention boxy. Thorny plants may be planted to deter visitors but its a hard one to prove. Barbed wire has only one reason for being there. I have a pyracantha growing behind my fence and a thorny old rose in front of the fence. If you (one) managed to get through the rose, you'd get a lovely surprise when you landed in the pyracantha; but the defence aspect is a bonus. The rose is ornamental and scented and the pyracantha feeds the birds; also there is a driveway in front of them and you would be trespassing by the time you got to the rose.
I also think that the issue with barbed wire is not burglars (have you got a link to a successful action by a burglar against a householder btw? such an action would be a private one, not a public one and therefore the burglar would be at risk of having to pay all the costs arising from the action) but other more innocent trespassers, eg a child after a ball.

[starone]

Thanks everyone. I am buying them from David Austin. I asked for their advice and I am buying 2 Zepherine Drouhin (thornless) for an archway at the back. It is the front I am concerned about. They have suggested Magic Carpet, which is a ground cover and has a strong scent, but it has thorns. I want it to grow along the top of a short wall, about 2 feet high, and to droop down the sides. There is a piece of grass belonging to the council, between my garden and the path, so I suppose that might be a small deterrent. I think I will probably chance it. Thanks for your help everyone.

[woofgang]

I have just had a google and I can't find ANY cases in the UK where a burglar has sued a householder for injury and been successful.
maybe someone else can help?

[woofgang]

If its magic carpet then i would go for it. The growth is tight to the plant and not likely to stick out over the pavement.

[starone]

Thanks very much woofgang, I have now ordered it. Delivery in November apparently, bare root. I am too late for this season, but perhaps I will get at least a few roses next year. Very optimistic!

[woofgang]

yes, it should flower next summer.

[joko]

perhaps you could get some sort of garden ornament with the words 'beware the thorns' or a rhyme - 'if you pick you may get a prick' or some such on it, in a nice font, just so you can say you warned people.