The second germination cycle of 2023 surprisingly resulted in two more OP seedlings of ‘Blanc Double de Coubert’ germinating at the same time in October 2024. Both seedlings look identical at first glance and have a blunt R. rugosa leaf structure. On closer inspection, there are few small differences, differing in a slightly reddish-brownish coloration of the main stem. The more colorful seedling has little shorter prickles, some more oil glands and smells intensely of them.
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That’s really interesting Roseus! Thank you for sharing this update. I wonder where the scent could come from. Are there roses with such characteristics growing nearby?
Nothing is happening with my little batch of BDdC seeds, but they only just came out of the fridge recently so I’ll continue to hope some of them germinate.
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Anyone has any experience on Polar Ice ( Ritausma, [STRonin]), another white hybrid rugosa? Does it set hips?
Based on the few mentions on this forum (search for “Polareis”) it would seem that it is infertile as a seed parent, but I guess the pollen might work?
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Hello SeasideRooftop! As mentioned earlier, my own germination attempts have been a fruitless game until 2024, whether it was an open or selective pollination.
By chance, years ago I had found ‘BDdC’ planted in large numbers nearby on an extensive roadside green space together with ‘Purple Pavement’. What an opportunity, which I took some little advantage of, but again every year without success.
Last year, on a short trip about 600 kilometers away, I also discovered ‘BDdC’ on a planted green strip. The propagator’s label was on it, and it still had two slightly faded flowers and one single ripe hip. What a tempting opportunity! I had already given up the matter, but now I wanted to give this experiment one last try and took a very close look at the few surrounding roses. There were certainly no Moss roses among them, only other Rugosa hybrids and R. gallica.
How nature plays its game. It should be noted that this location has an altitude of about 386 meters lower compared to my place of residence. Milder climate and perhaps some other fitting conditions may have had their little favorable influence.
Nevertheless, the germination success stays very low. Breeding with this rose remains a difficult undertaking!
All the more, I hope your seeds will start to sprout soon. I wish you much luck and keep my fingers crossed for you!
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A comment on HMF said that Polareis never set hips and has little or no pollen. I don’t know whether it is true because I only have a small plant this year. According to my genotyping result, ‘Polareis’ possess a copy of ksn-copia, the gene result in reblooming in most roses (I’m not surprised according to its lineage). There are some other hybrid rugosas (RdI’H, Thérèse Bugnet, Topaz Jewel and Purple Branch according to several articles) with this allele but most of them are infertile. I suspect that ‘BDdC’ also has this allele, but I just order it as a bareroot so I have to do genotyping next spring.
I don’t know if it is possible to fix ksn-copia allele to create free blooming rugosas (I remember someone tried that on this forum), but I’d like to do that.
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