In general, how self-fertile is rubiginosa? I found a stray (weed) rubiginosa plant growing in the middle of a bed of flower carpet (pink) plants that was covered in hips (the gardener obviously couldn’t tell the difference between it and the flower carpets and had left it there) and seeing as I’ve been wanting to try some rubiginosa crosses I grabbed the hips to try germinating the seeds because I’ve had no luck striking the cuttings. The seeds have started to germinate (really really strongly which to me suggests selfing…) and I started wondering what the chances were that they were selfs or hybrids with the flower carpets??? I guess I’ll know sooner or later but any insight at this point would be appreciated.
My bet would be selfs - just from personal experiences trying to hybridize with it.
Hi Simon,
I agree with Tom it would most likely be a self. This species is self compatible. I have made crosses with it though and it is possible to outcross with it using pollen of modern roses with some, but not insurmountable difficulty.
Sincerely,
David
Good to know. I was hoping this would be the case. How long do these guys take to flower?
I live in MN, so we have shorter growing seasons than other areas. If the seedling really really grows strong the first year some side branches may flower the second year, but typically it has been 3 years to get R. rubiginosa seedlings to flower here. I don’t have too many of them anymore because I don’t have the space for them, but really enjoy the ones I have. I love rubbing and smelling the new growth because of the great fragrance as I walk past them.
Yeah, I figured they would self-pollinate themselves. When I was doing my hybrids, I would emasculate the blooms before they even opened, allow them to mature a day and then used them. Any other way would have their own pollen released everywhere. I did the same with rugosas for the identical reason. I am glad that I only used Baby Love because its immediately obvious that this method worked and that theyre 100% hybrids. If I had used something else, I would have no clue until about a year + later. Even though Rosa canina is closely related and very similar, it is far easier to work with because of the flower and pollen physics involved. If I recall, the blooms are also larger in Rosa canina.