Hi Ian, yes, Rugosas are self fertile. They are down right invasive to tell the truth. Where they are happy, they can EASILY overcome every other plant in a garden. Self set seeds germinate QUITE well and QUITE easily and their colonization abilities through suckering is legendary. Ralph Moore found them a little resistant to accepting foreign pollen so he mandated a protocol of pollinating the blooms repeatedly over several days to insure sufficient foreign pollen was applied when the seed parent bloom would best accept it. He also discovered the vast majority of resulting seedlings were down right terrible. He had several green houses full of rangy, unattractive, disease prone plants which refused to flower even after multiple years. When you see released results from his breeding efforts, those represent the best of thousands of attempts. If you want to raise more of the Rugosa you have and it isn't a known hybrid, simply allow it to set hips and plant the seeds. You should get pretty much what you want.

Sweet! That's good, well for me at least. I know that, as you said, these things can be a problem for some.

I bought 'Hansa' back in march of this year, it was just a little plant. Now the thing is 3 feet high and wide! Blooms a lot and the fragrance is truly magical.

I started looking into the Rugosas and saw that some had problems with pollination and hip formation.

Good to hear what I wanted to hear! Thanks Kim

Ah, but Hansa is a Hybrid Rugosa with no information as to what it may be a hybrid with. Though it reportedly sets a prodigious crop of bright red hips, I haven't been able to find reports of any possible self set or OP seedlings so who knows what you're likely to obtain? Good luck! Now, if you were referring to Rugosa Rubra or Rugosa Alba, you'd get pretty much what you already have but a Hybrid Rugosa throws a lot more into the mix and muddies the waters of guessing results.

Time for experiments! I think it's too late for any of the flowers on it right now to produce hips. Wayyy to close to winter.
Next year I'll try and hand pollinate to know for sure.

R. Rugosa 'Alba' appears to be self fertile and most likely a pure breed. I looked on HMF references for it and there was a 2001 study on wild roses and pollination. Cool.

Just allow it to set whatever it wants and if any hang on long enough to turn colors, plant them! It can't hurt anything and you just may find answers (probably MORE questions to find answers for!) out of the results! No "help" pollinating them required, though you may wish to harvest Hansa's pollen and use it on other seed parents. Obtain an Premium Membership to HMF and start researching its offspring to give you ideas to keep your brain buzzing over winter!

I think I'll get premium this winter. It'll keep me active while supporting them

Appreciate Kim!

Fortunately, despite the failures, Ralph Moore's efforts in creating Rugosa hybrids produced at least one fine one: 'Topaz Jewel'. There are two large, mature plants of it at the California Nursery Historical Park in Fremont that are just wonderful to see, and smell.

Mr. Moore created several quite nice Rugosas. Of course none of them are "perfect" everywhere but what rose is? Fire'n' Spice was never introduced and is spectacular in several gardens. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.69222 Keith's Delight is considered a Hybrid Rugosa and some like it. I found it too susceptible to rust (a common Rugosa issue in these parts) and I was not a fan of the gentleman for whom it was named. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.38239 Linda Campbell, even Mr. Moore agreed this may well have been is masterpiece. Again, not "perfect" everywhere but in climates similar to where it was birthed, a magnificent shrub rose and a remarkable result of a cross between a miniature and a Rugosa. Unfortunately so far completely sterile but it did sport to an orange-red. Hopefully it will again. Moore's Striped Rugosa is the first garden worthy result of an attempt to put stripes into Rugosa lines. And, again, lovely where happy. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.37560.1 Red Rugostar (Magseed), sister to Linda Campbell and a potential path forward from that line. Lovely, scented and unusual. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.32474 Rountuit, so named because it pretty much required nothing in suitable climates until you "get around to it". If THAT isn't classic Ralph Moore naming... HMF reports occasional repeat but in Visalia and the inland heat of Southern California, it flowered most of the year. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.26245&tab=1 This was it at Sequoia Nursery twenty years ago, a year before it's destruction. That was Shakespeare Festival (Golden Angel X Golden Angel) X Belle Poitevine.

Star Delight, Mr. Moore hesitated to introduce this as it "doesn't repeat". Well, it DIDN'T in a 4" pot at the nursery, but when I planted it out in full sun on a desert hillside in the Santa Clarita Valley, it grew to a low mountain of a plant which began flowering and virtually NEVER stopped! The rabbits left it alone. It never had aphids or any other insects. It never contracted any fungal issues, it just ate real estate and continued flowering. I loved it! I never found hips on it nor did any pollen I applied every stick but its pollen worked to create a thornless, ever flowering climber friends like to use to slip cover their fruit trees so they have color when not flowering or with fruit. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.5954

Yesterday's Garden, a rather old fashioned appearing flower on an interesting plant. It repeated well and had good resistance in my old arid, hot garden. https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.23070.1 

He also showed it was possible to cross Rugosa with mosses, though that combination creates a very unpleasant stench to the mossing. Those efforts are on HMF and weren't released for gardens.

All were results of crossing miniatures with Rugosas as that was his prime focus and he truly felt minis were the "bridge" from one class to another. That's pretty well been shown with stripes, mosses, cresting, Hulthemia "blotches", Bracteatas, Soulieanas and others. And, many of them are successful results using fertile triploid miniature breeders. Traditionally, triploids have been thought to be sterile, however a number of his mini triploids are quite useful in passing parts of both parents into offspring containing some rather impressive and wild traits. Topaz Jewel is one. It resulted from Golden Angel X Belle Poitevine. Golden Angel is a fertile triploid and bred a line of fertile triploids. There is much there to play with if you're interested. Greater health in more difficult climates may even be possible if populations of seedlings are raised and selected from where disease pressures are greater, but be ready for THOUSANDS of really awful results. Green houses full of REALLY awful results. Thankfully, there are still some of them out there.Hopefully, they'll remain in circulation a long while longer for others to enjoy and have fun playing with.