How great to hear, congratulations. :)

Thanks so much for sharing this. I planted some seeds outside, maybe in nov., I didn't do anything to them either just mixed in some sand with the existing soil so the roots could grow easier which they may not have needed anyway. I don't have any germinations yet but I have hope now that this will work. Please tell me, did they start to germinate in the fridge or did you just plant them out after a few months?

I'm in zone 6b, what zone are you in?

Thanks! The seeds went into the fridge in September, and I took them out (no signs of germination) not long after Thanksgiving... late Nov or early Dec. They started to sprout sometime in January, I believe. I just put them into some compost mixed with sand, peat moss and a little Rose-Tone.

Most of the seeds I planted had at least one Noisette parent, but only the bees know who got mixed with whom.

I'm in 8b, so it's a bit warmer here than up where you are- I'm optimistic on your behalf that you'll have some action once things start to thaw out there.

Good luck,

Virginia

Thanks, I've got my fingers crossed. This is so interesting to me, I can't wait to see what the blooms are like. I would love to hear any updates you'd like to share. I hope you get some pretty ones :)

This is all quite new to me, so even if most of them survive, I don't really know how long it might take to find out what the blooms are like. I know from rooting cuttings that the early blooms may not look (or even smell) very much like the more mature flowers, so I figure it will take some time (maybe a year? longer?) before I have a good idea of what the seedlings are like. If/when I have something to show off, I'll post some photos here.

I hope you'll be seeing some volunteers soon. I did forget to ask if your seeds were protected from squirrels/other seed-eating critters? That's a lesson I learned the hard way with my camellia seeds...

Virginia

Ok I've been trying to germinate rose seeds for many year with no success Id love to hear y'all's method lol

Hi krystarz-

I outlined what I did in the posts above. If anything's unclear, please let me know what needs clarification.

Virginia

Congrats Virginia! It's a lot of fun isn't it? Depending on what varieties your seeds were you may not have to wait very long to see them bloom. On seed from remontant varieties I've had seedlings bloom in as little as 8 weeks from germination. However, some once blooming roses can take up to three years to produce their first bloom.

I collected my hips last fall and put them in the fridge, maybe Octoberish. I cleaned the seeds and stratified them the first week of January. I got my first germination, in the paper towel in the fridge, the second week of February. I leave them in the paper towels to germinate. I've found I get more that way than I do by just planting them in soil. One year I had an abundance of seeds so I planted a full starter tray with all the excess seeds. I didn't get any germinations out of 72 seeds. That was a bummer! I alternate weeks in and out of the fridge to sort of simulate spring weather. I have a couple dozen started now and that first one will need to be planted up to a cup this week.

As for the mold, don't worry about it. Mine get all kinds of moldy and still germinate just fine. I've read that some molds actually assist in breaking down the seed coat to allow germination.

Krystarz, I have a PDF paper I did for my rose society on how I do my seeds. If you are interested send me a PM with your email address and I'll send it to you.

I just filled one of those 72 cell seed starter greenhouse thingies with OP seedlings. Had 'em in the fridge in paper towels for awhile. I also had some mold on some of them and it appears that quite a few of them are germinating even with the mold. So Seil is definitely right about that. I was a bit worried they might just turn black and die, but nope. They all look nicely swelled and a few starting to sprout. I hope the seedlings start coming up soon. I have them under a light several hours a day. The mothers of the seedlings are LADY X, OPHELIA, BARONNE EDMOND DE ROTHSCHILD and CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'.

Thanks, Seil- it is pretty exciting! That's interesting about the mold possibly being helpful with the germination process. I planted them anyway, and the seedlings are looking healthy. In fact, I plucked out a dozen of the biggest seedlings to give their "cell mates" more room in the seedling flats, and they already had such good roots that it was a bit tricky to extricate them.

Most of the hips came from some publicly grown Noisettes (am I a bad person for rescuing the seeds from becoming squirrel snacks?), and from a rose belonging to a friend. I may have had 16-20 hips, and I've had about 60-65 seedlings come up so far.

If any of them look reasonably attractive, and have that wonderful Noisette fragrance, I'll be happy.

Beth, it sounds like you've got some good parents for your roses... 'Ophelia' has had some fairly famous offspring, and is a lovely rose in her own right. Maybe one of your crosses will make the others more famous as parents than they are now...

Good luck,

Virginia

Just a quick update... I've been pinching buds from my seddlings for a while now, but when I saw a cluster of 5 buds on one of the larger plants, I left the biggest bud since I was curious to see what I might get.

I know that immature blooms may or may not resemble mature blooms from the same plant later on, but this is a pretty little flower in my somewhat biased opinion...

I got no fragrance from it yesterday when I first noticed it, but this morning I sniffed again, and she does have some fragrance, so I'm hoping that will be a permanent trait.

Virginia

Virginia, I don't think you are biased at all. I think its lovely and considering how many seedling are the default, 5 petal pink, I would consider this one is a success! Congrats.

Thanks, sutekesh. The rose is most likely of Noisette ancestry, and I rather hope the basic flower shape will be stable since I think it would look quite pretty in clusters. It is a very small bloom on a very small plant (about 6" tall), so I'm telling myself to 'expect the unexpected'.

But as you say, it isn't a 5-petal pink, so that's a nice bit of beginner's luck.

Thanks again,

Virginia

It's beautiful! The fact that you got anything besides a five petaled pink rose is a great success! That seems to be the default setting for 99% of my seedlings, lol!

Thanks, seil... I think I did get lucky with that one. It's fragrant, and the bloom still hasn't shattered. The plant is putting out a new cane and seems to be getting over the PM that most of the seedlings have had to some extent, so I am happy with its progress, and hoping it continues...

Thanks again,

Virginia

My second OP seedling to bloom opened this morning... temps have been in the 90's with triple-digit heat index temps, so it's anyone's guess if future blooms will look similar. I took the photo of the bud yesterday; it almost has a Pernetiana look to it, and I wonder if the rich coloring will stay with the open flower in cooler weather?

Virginia

Virginia - I really like this one! I'm no expert but I like the shape of the petals as well as the colour. I just browsed through the light yellows on HMF and in my books, this one is a definite winner! Keep us posted on the progress.
Sharlene

Wow, what distinctive pointy petals .. very nice, please keep updating us with photos.

Thanks, Sharlene and msdorkgirl! Those pointy petals were a surprise... I can't imagine where they came from. Kinda reminds me of a waterlily or Poinsettia...

Of course, the next bloom could be quite different, but I hope not very different; I rather like this version.

Thanks again,

Virginia

Beautiful bud...and then I saw that glorious poinsettia flower!!! Looking forward to seeing more of this rose as it grows.

Melodye.

Beautiful seedlings!

Thanks, ozmelodye and ut2nc- I'm looking forward to seeing how they mature!

Virginia

Here is my latest-to-bloom seedling. This is actually the 4th seedling to flower since one of the littlest 2-inch roses snuck in a quick bloom (tiny white bloom much like the 2nd pale yellow rose above in shape).

Bud from yesterday:

Fragrant flower from this morning after two heavy downpours:

The leaves have been nibbled by June bugs, and the flower was battered by heavy rains, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this one grows up.

Virginia

OHH, so pretty, I love different roses. Congrats! What is the scent like?

Virginia, that is an interesting looking bloom. Was it also an OP or a specific cross?

Sharlene

msdorkgirl, thanks- I'm usually not much good at smelling fragrances, and worse at describing them, but it has a sweet, rosy scent, if that helps.

Sharlene, I really am glad we had that rain, but if I were at all prescient, I'd have moved that rose onto the porch so it could have opened unmolested. Oh, well- hopefully, it won't be the last time it blooms! Yes, they're all OP... I'm pretty unsophisticated. :>)

Virginia

Got nothing to with being unsophisticated - I haven't done many crosses this year so most of my seedlings are going to be OP next year. Got a few good hips coming on Arthur Bell, Westerland, Bonica and even on Black Baccara!

Here a couple of my keepers - both crossed with Westerland

Sharlene

They are both beautiful; the shape of the first one reminds me of some camellias. Not the color, though! Any fragrance?

In your experience, is the first flower to bloom usually indicative of what later flowers will look like? I haven't had any repeat flowers yet.

Virginia

Virginia, I don't have much experience but so far all of my repeat blooms from last years seedlings have been similar to the first as far fullness go but I have seen slight changes in colour intensity but that goes for a lot of roses - depends on the weather.

One has been the exception - it's the first one in this post - this is the plants second bloom

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3147799/would-like-to-share-rose-seedlings

and in my ideabook - this was the plants first bloom

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/46557294/thumbs/baby-from-2014

THAT IS THE SAME ROSE! Subsequent blooms have looked like the first again!

There are so many contradictory reports on blooms changing once the plant matures but I haven't given up hope and have kept a couple from this year again.

As far as fragrance goes on the two photos - the orange is slight and the peach moderate - afraid I am not very good at describing fragrance.

Sharlene

Sharlene, those blooms do look different, though not outrageously so. Both are quite lovely though, and strong fragrance is a plus.

I rather like variable roses; it's like having more than one rose without taking up as much space! Many Teas will change a lot with different temperatures, etc.

Virginia

The second seedling to bloom (photos above) has rebloomed. I can't recall if temps were similar for both, but this flower is paler, larger and the water-lily effect is not evident...

Even the bud is paler:

And the flower:

The most recent seedling to bloom is a single with a strong spicy fragrance... cloves, I think.

Today I noticed a certain shift in the light that reminded me that fall was waiting in the wings, so to speak. It's still quite hot here, but it no longer seems like there's no end to summer. Which is good because I'm expecting some of my roses- seedlings, too- to perk up and start blooming once the weather cools.

Virginia

That's great Virginia!

I have had quite a blooms as well. The 40 odd which haven't bloomed yet have had a hard time during the hot weather the past few weeks. The little cups dry out so quickly! I have also discarded quite a lot- mostly the single pink blooms. Here a three of the ones that I kept - criteria being colour and fragrance. Can't wait to see what they look like next year!

Sharlene

Wes OP

Those are lovely! Yes, heat can make blooms smaller, and affect their coloring. you might have different-looking blooms with cooler temps.

A new rose for me is 'Gourdault' an old Bourbon that should be deep crimson or purple, and quite full. I've had two blooms in our hot, humid weather, and they were neither full nor vividly colored. I think I did receive the correct rose, though, and it's just the heat preventing it from looking as it should. I expect cooler weather will settle it down.

I had a second bloom from the white single- looks just like the other, and I find the fragrance delightful; spicy, but also rosy.

Virginia

Thank you for sharing these seedling successes! It inspires me to think about doing it.

Frank Strickland, the late breeder of the lovely HT rose, St. Patrick, said that the first bloom looked very "cabbagy" and he was not impressed. The only reason why he kept it was because he had very few seedlings that year. It wasn't until a new cane came up the following year, that the rose showed its true potential. I'm glad he was patient, because St. Patrick is one of my favorite roses. He was an amateur breeder just like yourselves. Keep up the good work!

Virginia, I know your seedlings are from 'OP' seed, can you tell from what roses they came. ?

David, this is a very, very belated response, and I apologize for that.

I collected hips randomly from roses in a public garden, so I can't say for sure what any of the parents are, but I do seem to recall collecting some hips from some of the more modern roses as well as the Noisettes. I'm thinking the more modern-looking yellow roses may be seedlings of 'Honey Perfume'? I do think I collected some hips from that rose, and I think I see a few points of resemblance with my plants and 'HP'. Maybe. Possibly.

Of the original surfeit of seedlings, I think maybe 20 or so have survived my "tough love" approach to culling seedlings; a few plants are doing the classic Noisette tall and narrow growth pattern, and a few look like they might be wanting to climb. A few are still quite small- perhaps due to poor growing conditions, but perhaps they just want to be dwarf-sized plants, and there's nothing wrong with that...

butterfly, did you have any success with your seedlings? If not, I hope you don't give up!

Virginia

I'm glad your seedlings are doing well, you must post pictures of what you kept! :) I cannot wait for mine to get bigger and actually bloom! I'm glad I kept trying it until I got it right :)

Alana, I've tried just planting seeds straight into my potting mix (compost, sand, peat moss and plant tone), but I do think a few months' refrigeration may be needed here with our mild winters. You're a bit colder, but refrigerating may be needed in your area too.

As I said, I didn't do anything special other than chilling the seeds. No paper towels, no peroxide, etc. I was intrigued by what seil said about mold possibly assisting the germination process, and wonder if too much "keeping things sterile" might be counterproductive.

I had so many more seedlings than expected that I didn't take great care of them; too lazy to provide TLC for them all, but also wanting to keep just the tough survivor-types. Besides, I don't have room for 60+ additional full-grown roses.

I didn't plant any seeds last year, but this winter I have a few hips I've been eyeing (from 'Basye's Blueberry', 'Mme Lambard' and 'Nur Majal'), and I may throw some seeds in the fridge for a month or two and plant in the spring.

It IS fun to see so many little roselings sprouting!

Congrats on your seedlings- hope to see future posts on what you end up with.

Virginia

I will post when I have something more to post! Thank you!

I haven't looked for seedling blooms lately, but I did just find some photos of the seedlings above dating from last summer.

Sadly, I never did see another bloom like the first one (white with button eye). Hopefully, I've just missed any later flowers, and it isn't kaput.

Virginia

Love them! Thanks for updating!

Those are gorgeous!'

Virginia why oh why did you post these pictures!! Now, I need to know how you did it!! Do you just take hips off of any rose or do you cross pollinate? (yes, I am clueless) I think it would be so fun to wait and see what you get!!

These are all lovely! I would fall over if any seed I planted bloomed into any of those red or yellow flowers. And that darling single white! So sweet, so cute! You did a great job. :)