The city parks planted a row of some species, and I helped myself to a few hips. Comparing them to the photos on HMF, they look awfully like R.virginiana. Is it worth growing these out? How well has this species worked for you as a breeder? These were planted near to 3 different cultivars on rugosa, escaped ‘Dr. Huey’, R. multiflora and Knock Out. It is possible that these hips are not selfs.
R. virginiana is very reluctant to set seed from foreign pollen. That was David Z’s advice on this forum which I ignored last year and pollinated hundreds of blossoms, which I left uncovered. I smothered them with pollen. I had maybe thousands of seedlings, but if any were crosses they were indistinguishable from all the rest. There were two or three from R. centifolia pollen that were completely free of the mildew that uniformly plagued the rest, so I assume they are successful crosses. Anyways, what I’m implying is that your OP seeds are unlikely to be crosses if they are from R. virginiana.
I guess I do have a few seedlings from it as a seed parent from a cross made in 2012 when I was still wrapping hips. Those do appear to be successful crosses. However, I would encourage you to make use of it as a pollen parent rather than a seed parent.
Having said that, I love R. virginiana as a breeder as long as it is combined with mildew (and ideally rust) resistant roses. It seems to impart vigor and health and shiny foliage.
It is worth growing OP seeds if you have room, as there will be some variation from which you can select the ones you like the best.
I wonder what your centiflora seedlings will look… That would be interesting if they prove to be hybrids.
Because virginiana looses its pollen very early I ran a test whereby I flushed the pistils fairly vigorously with a spray bottle after emasculating in the normal way but without then applying pollen, to see if it was possible to clear out selflings. Despite the washing each test bloom set a hip with between one and three seeds in it. None-the-less, this means that most of the seeds from hybrid crosses are likely to be true hybrids if you flush the pistils before making the cross.
R. virginiana is very reluctant to set seed from foreign pollen
Not true. My virginiana takes pollen from lots of things, especially tetraploids. The problem is discerning the hybrids from the selflings. I have many seeds in storage from the past two seasons that I am confident are largely hybrid, in fact, in case anyone with a farm and time on their hands wants to prove to it themselves. Starting this year I have been only been using virginiana as pollen parent. IMHO it offers me the greatest potential among all my species for developing hardy, disease resistant lines.
Well, it is attractive. What should I put on it? I have Rupert’s fedtschkanoa. Blue glossy foliage will be fun, and the fall color will be nice too.
What should I put on it?
That, as the Duke said, is the bare bodkin.