Has anyone been able to get viable seeds from Madame Hardy? As of today, the Madame Hardy rose I have is starting to develop quite a few seed pods. Or will they abort in due time. They could be self-pollinated or from the roses that are nearby. Those roses include Bill Reid, Climber Purple Splash and a few Geschwind roses. Any comments?
Ross
Hi Ross,
My ‘Madame Hardy’ has never set any seeds; it forms fake empty hips that eventually turn yellow and drop off. It has that green pointel at the center of the flower formed by green vegetative things instead of pistils. I cut a bloom in half and saw that these green thingies looked like some kind of sterile mutation from normal reproductive parts. I did not see any male parts either (anthers/stamens). Maybe a botanically trained person could jump in here and explain exactly how that works, but in short, it appears that ‘Madame Hardy’ is a beautiful rose at the end of its own family tree.
I did find a hip on Madame Hardy once, but when I opened it up it was completly empty.