I have an old timey rose bush - I think that's what we've decided. It produces beautiful flowers that look like a wild rose, open not a tight bud. In fall the bush produces large, marble size (or bigger) berries. They are redish orange. Inside the berry, after it dries on the bush, it has these seeds inside.
What exactly do I have here? And what should I do with them?
You've got seeds!...and they'll need to be "cold stratified" to break dormancy. Here's a link with some good instructions. http://www.alaskarosesociety.org/documents/seed_germ2.htm
GREAT - thanks for the info. I'll print and read tonight.
shihtzumom, what rose is this from? ... :o)
Dee
Agrinerd: What a nice surprise to find your link was for the Alaska Rose Society! I'll have to visit the site more often. Rugosas are hardy here in Alaska... of of the few types that are! They have huge rosehips on them... the size of small crab apples! Here's a photo:
Here's a rugosa in bloom.
Weez: Sorry I didn't see your reply. That's what I get for cleaning up my watched threads. I love rugosas! Is that their fall color in the first picture?
Wow! Those are really big rosehips! Could those be the kind that from which rose jam/jelly is made? Weez, have you ever tried to start these from seed? Really pretty color in the fall garden! Thanks for the pictures.
I love these. I have wild roses of white, light pink and dark pink growing here in my area.
Well, Agrinerd, looks like I missed the thread for awhile, too! Yes, the frist picture was taken in October, I think.
Roshana, Yes, the hips are like a small crab apple. I've heard of making rose hip jelly, but I've never done it. Rose hips are quite high in Vitamin C. I've never harvested hips for the seed, either. I should try that. If they winter over on the bushes, I should pick them in the spring, I think, so they can stratify & scarify themselves. They would make interesting seed trading material. We have many old growth rugosas in Seward, as there are in many Alaskan towns, I am sure.
I found this site for Rose Hip Jelly: http://www.recipegal.com/other/RoseHipJelly.htm
Weezingreens, do those have the most unbelieveable smell? If so, I think you identified a rose for me that I've been trying to identify for a few years now. I bought it as a row run rose from Gurneys several years ago. The leaves are identical to the photo you posted above!
Yes, they do have a wonderful smell! The leaves do have distinct look. Old, established bushes get quite large, too. The pictures were taken from old established bushes next to the American Legion here, and they get about 5 feet tall and several feet across. Rugosas are winter hardy here in Alaska, but most others aren't.
Here is mine. :-)
another view
Yes, Melissa! Aren't they great roses! Your's is one of the hybrid doubles. They are such hardy plants and put out lots of offshoots. If you collected seeds from yours, it would probably revert back to the original Sitka type.
Fairyhunter: I have wild roses in my yard. Other than the rugosas, they seem to be the hardiest ones. Ours are all pink, and the hips are small and rather pointed, less like crab apples.
We also have some small white single roses in our yard. We dug them up when Seward tore down the old Clinic, so I guess they are my 'Clinic Roses'. The blooms are large and white, and the leaves are quite tiny. I have no idea how they came to be growing at the clinic, but I'm sure they are a domestic that someone brought in at least 40 or 50 years ago.
I saved the hips from a rose that was planted before we bought the place. The hips are small about the size of a garbonzo bean.
I just finally split one open and there are seeds inside but the rose bush looks more like one of those fancy nursery kinds. The growth is upright, doesn't spread and the blooms were are deep dark red.
I'm going to try growing them from the instructions you linked to and see what I've got. Would anybody be interested in trading one for another color?
