Nootka Rose Season!
- May 18
- 2 min read
“Nootka Rose teaches us that softness is strength. We can hold boundaries while keeping our hearts wide open to love, beauty and the wild wisdom within.”
Each Spring when the Nootka Rose begin to bloom, it’s a reunion that feels like a warm embrace from a beloved grandmother…
Each year I try to learn something new about this heart ally and surprisingly there isn’t too much new information or stories/myths that I could find about it. If you happen to have something you’d like to share, please comment!
Here’s a bit about this coastal wildflower:
❀ Nootka Rose/Rosa Nutkana (Latin), in Hul’q’umi’num’ is referred to as qel’qulhp, referring to the shrub itself and qel’q for the rose hip.
❀ Honored by Coast Salish peoples for its healing gifts, Nootka Rose is a doorway to deeper connection with the land, the ancestors and the ancient ways of listening to nature as medicine.
❀ Nutkana is derived from Nootka; Nootka Sound is a waterway on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia that was named after the Nuu-Chah-Nulth tribe that live in the area.
❀ Almost every part of the plant is edible. The stem, shoots, seed, fruit, flowers can all be used nutritionally/medicinally.
❀ With its thorns and blossoms, Nootka teaches the sacred balance between setting healthy boundaries and remaining open-hearted.
❀ Nootka Rose has been used to support women’s reproductive health, easing menstrual cramps, labor pains and helping regulate cycles when taken as a tea.
❀ The embodiment of Spirit. Centres us in the Heart Chakra, encourages laughter and joy and helps to dissolve bitterness and resentment.
*Please remember to ethically forage anytime you are removing plants from an ecosystem and to leave an offering to respect the land.
Grateful for these precious alllies who show up at times you most need their medicine.
Love you Nootka!
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