Cold stratification procedure for North American species rose seeds

Rose Growing
1

Hi All,

I’m brand new here and just getting started with rose hybridizing. My interest is primarily to learn and have fun but one path I want to pursue is working with North American species. My plants are all pretty young so to get practice with growing seeds, germination and seedlings I ordered some seeds from reputable wild seed providers (not Ebay).

I am looking for advice on the best cold stratifying procedure for North American species seeds, in particular Rosa blanda and Rosa virginia. One of my seed sources, Prairie Moon Nursery, advises a double cold stratification, essential first cold, second warm and third cold again. However I can’t find any other documentation about doing a double stratification.

Any helpful advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

2

Welcome!

I can’t speak to r. blanda but I grew a lot of r. carolina from seed last year, which is very closely related to r. virginiana. I just sowed them in a planter outdoors at the end of October, then they all started popping up when the weather got warmer 3-4 months later. I think had around an 80% germination rate.

I love Prairie Moon but their rose seeds have been hit or miss for me. I’ve also seen them recommend double cold strats for several plants which I have grown with anywhere from 3 to 0 months of stratification. Bear in mind that different climates tend to produce different results, so if you have enough seeds you might try taking a few different approaches.