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Hey Steve! I notice the string on the stem...did you pollinate it with something or is that simply to remind you not to dead head it?
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Hello Kim! Sorry for delay - for some reason it didn't notify me in my emails.
I did pollinate it - as the flowers looked so inviting this year, I decided to try just a few quite diverse things on her to see what would happen, even though I've never seen any hip set, and indeed no progeny are listed. Most failed, but this particular one worked, and I'll admit I'm quite excited about it. It's Celestial X Officinalis. I got 5 seeds, 3 of which were definitely fertile, and the other 2 couldn't decide, so I bunged them all in!
After this cross having worked in producing a hip (and I think it's quite interesting what the hip looks like, with that shape and those cute little prickles!) I'm going to be doing a lot more with her next year to see what else might work, and to see if there is any kind of pattern with what works and what does not.
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There have been glitches with the system notifying members about private messages. If you aren't notified about this one, you might send a quick message to The Help Desk about it with your membership name and the email you used to sign up. Good luck with the seeds! I don't blame you for planting them all. There honestly is not down side and you might raise something really interesting! Won't it be neat being the first to list a progeny of an ancient rose no one else has ever used?
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Thanks for the tip - actually it did tell me this time, so who knows!
Re the seeds, yep, that was what I thought, I might as well do them all when its so unusual.
I know, I'm really quite amazed it worked at all, and I'm excited about just what it might produce. It certainly will be neat if it works out ok! - I've used a few old roses this year that have no listed progeny that are giving me quite a number of hips and seed, but none anywhere near as unexpected as that one on Celestial!
Is the hip shape etc pretty much what you would expect from an Alba?
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Good! You're welcome! You know, it's been SO long since I've even looked at an Alba, I'm not sure whether the hip is what I would expect or not. In general, they aren't happy where I've lived because of the climate. I learned a LONG time ago to grow what was happy where I was. That precluded my being able to grow nearly all of the old European Garden Roses and focus on moderns, Teas, Chinas, Noisettes, some Hybrid Musks and quite a few shrubs and climbers. We honestly don't really have "winter" conditions, just a few odd frosts and "highs" about twenty degrees "colder" than the average "summer" weather. It's actually quite a few chill hours which count toward raising a vast selection of stone fruit but because of the overly long growing season, most of the really cold hardy, once-flowering roses develop severe fungal issues because their foliage isn't designed to last the length of the season. It becomes old and develops disease long before the season is over. The Teas, etc. are genetically equipped to retain their foliage the whole season and remain clean, so they are what I live with.
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Oh of course, I was forgetting, or rather not thinking it through. Yes, I can see an Alba probably wouldn't appreciate your sort of climate, etc.
I will of course keep you posted on what happens with these. Should I add a comment about the hip and how many seeds etc in the comments section?
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Absolutely! Wouldn't you have found that information interesting and useful? That's what the comments section is for!
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