Pollen from Leda?

General Discussion
1

Has anyone been able to get pollen from Leda? (Damask) Is it viable?
Has anyone had hips form? Or seeds germinate?
It seems (to me) there is a lot to offer in this rose, but is there a way to get it joined to another rose?
Is there a rose you would recommend in its place?
Any input much appreciated!
Duane

2

Hi Duane,
On HMF there is one that boasts male parentage of Léda:

3

Thanks for that!
So there is pollen that is viable. I am wondering how much work it takes to get some pollen from it.
It seems to have a lot to offer, so may be worth the effort.
Duane

4

Sometimes you’ll find that there occasionally is a slightly lesser double flower amongst your flowers on one rose. Those tend to have some more stamens. I’ve had this with ‘Comte de Chambord’. With ‘Charles de Mills’ - which is very double - you usually find 2-3 stamens. Perhaps ‘Leda’ is similar in that aspect.
I’ve not tried yet pollinating with ‘Charles de Mills’, but it has many flowers at the same time. If ‘Leda’ is similar you could try to harvest many flowers of about the same stage and hope to collect enough stamens to pollinate another rose.
You could of course do some test pollinations on the flowers you harvested the pollen from. You’ll have a lot, so, if you have several other roses to choose from you could try different roses and see if ‘Leda’ sets hips.

Good luck :slight_smile: I’d love to hear if this has worked out for you.

5

Thanks for the thoughts!
Testing both ways is certainly worth a shot.
I’ll share results, although it will be a while.
Duane