Things I got from Googling and which I guess are true: If self-pollination is defined as pollination without assistance from some other organism, then roses do not self-pollinate (routinely, at least). Actually, only about 10% of all flowering plants pollinate without assistance from some other living organism. Roses are pollinated by insects and bees (of all kinds) are their chief pollinators.

That's as far as I got and I assume it means that it's just a matter of chance whether a bee fertilizes a rose blossom with the blossom's own pollen or with the pollen from a second flower on the same or another rose plant.

Thanks for the input, Mike. The reason I'm asking is that I'm trying to cross pollinate a couple of roses and the one I'm applying the pollen to opened overnight to revealing its pistils and matured pollen sacs (anthers?)
The pollen I had collected from another rose was nearing the end of its viability so I went ahead and applied the pollen without removing the petals or pollen sacs. I was just hoping that if you needed another flower from the same plant than my chances of getting the desired cross is pretty good, but if the flower can pollinate itself my chances are pretty low.
A side question: How visible is the sticky substance an the pistil to the naked eye? Could I feel it if I ran my finger along the pistil?
Under normal cross pollinating circumstances, when you remove the pollen sacs and petals on a nearly opened rose, how long should it take for the sticky stuff to appear and for the pollen sacs to release pollen? (On average anyways, since all roses are different) I've done research on cross pollination, and know the basics, but alot of websites have different steps. Some say not to remove the pollen sacs, but instead cut the rose, remove the petals, and put it upside down to dry so that the pollen will fall into whatever your using to collect it after they burst. (The website's instruction I usually use is found by googling "Growing Roses from Seed", it should be the first result. Its some San Clarita Rose Society or something, and the page's first picture should be a white rose.)

Well anyways, thanks again for your reply.

"Self-pollination" means pollination without the involvement of another plant.
Some plants routinely self-pollinate (eg. peas and tomatoes), but most others don't do it all that often. Garden roses are such complex hybrids, with such varied genetic histories it's difficult to say anything across the board about them. Many roses can self-pollinate (or are "self-fertile"), but may only be marginally so. Other roses won't self very easily or at all.

So basically, If the rose I pollinated does set hips it's likely to be the desired cross rather than it crossed with itself, just do to the odds? I'm trying a Ebb TidexTropicana. (PurplexOrange)
I don't know if Ebb tide is self fertile or not.

Do you think I should just try again and try to catch each bloom at the right time? (For harvesting pollen and applying it) Rather than risk planting all those seeds just to get what I started with. =(

Breeders usually bag the blossom they're going to use for a controlled cross before it develops, and then remove the anthers before they open. That way the breeder knows the pollen was from the intended pollen parent and there was no chance of the cross being a self-cross. Bagging also keeps pollinating insects out of the picture, and that's for a similar reason since heaven knows what pollen the insect would be bringing. If you're aiming for a controlled cross you'll need to control the pollination conditions to be certain of the pollen parent.

Don't count on the flower not pollinating itself. You can plant what you got and see what you get, but you won't be 100% sure of the parentage, but so what, if you get something good? a surprising number of very nice roses on the market from big name hybridizers have unnamed or unknown parentage somewhere in the pedigree.

Your seeds from this match could have 2 different pollen parents ... like a litter of puppies with all different sires ...

Cool. Thanks for all the input. I won't destory any hips I do happen to get, but since Ebb Tide is a floribunda I'll have plenty of blooms to work with.

You might enjoy reading about ploidy of modern roses on the Rose Hybridizers Association forum (linked below.) It has a working search function so you can see how others are using both Ebb Tide and Tropicana. There are at least fifteen threads mentioning each.
(It's also a great resource for finding out which roses may be good pollen parents but lousy seed parents.)
(And it's a good organization to join for their newsletter.)

Here is a link that might be useful: RHA forum

Wow thanks for the link anntn6b. I crossed those two on a whim, because when I was helping my Grandmother in her rose garden she commented on how ugly that would be. I just wanted to see what would happen and not to mention gain the knowledge of what happens when you cross two opposing colors.

Thanks again. =)