Way back in about 1999 or 2000, I decided to collect some hips from my rugosas and have a crack at growing roses from seeds. None of this pre-treatment or refrigeration business for me...I just snapped off the ripe hips, split open the casing and scattered the seeds on the surface of the sand-filled trays that I had prepared. After sprinkling some sand on top to cover the seeds, I placed the trays in a shady position that received a few hours of afternoon sun, and promptly forgot all about them. I watered the trays on the rare occasions that I remembered, and felt as proud as a new mother when tiny cotyledons started to push up through the sand.
Out of the dozens of tiny new plants, some died in infancy, and others didn't survive the move to their new homes when I transferred them to individual pots. Others survived the move, and then carked it when their slack mother forgot to water them over a particularly brutal summer.
Those that survived were obviously tough little critters, and were eventually planted out in the garden to "observe" ( which, with me, translated as "to forget about") As I write this, ten years after gouging open those mushy hips and scooping out the sticky seeds inside, I have several roses that I love, including one that has even been adopted by a "proper" rose person and is now being sold through a Victorian rose nursery (more about that in another blog entry)
The seedling pictured above is a strange little plant- despite coming from a rugosa hip, she displays no sign of the typical rugose leaves. She has lovely shiny little hips, a spicy rugosa-like perfume and is a survivor, although I did lose some transplanted suckers over one summer (having planted them within the feeding radius of a huge old gum tree, this wasn't exactly surprising).
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