In, I think it was, 2012, I collected numerous R. rugosa rubra seeds from hips in the vicinity of the St. Lawrence River on a trip in Canada. I finally got around to processing them this January, and now have thus far 10 seedlings. One or two have a bit more anthocyanins in their stems below the cotyledons (most have pretty basic green stem, and not bronze-colored) and I’m curious if this will pan out to mean anything pertaining to foliage or flower color? The parent plants were pretty well isolated, with only species roses in the vicinity. (I think I recall another species rose along the shores, having slightly glossier deeply etched leaves) I don’t recall if there were white rugosas in the area, but would imagine there might have been.
With well over 100 seeds, any insights that might help me with culling prior to blooming would be helpful!
I did a follow up in the post “purples/lavenders for breeding”.
One of the reasons I had for growing several rugosas from seed was to hopefully find one that might contribute to purple coloring, and I noted that some roses such as Rotes Phänomen and Basye’s Purple Rose seem to have similar pigmentation throughout stems, leaves, etc. I was wondering if anyone might have any insights as to whether one form of Rugosa Rubra seedling might have more to offer than another, and if this seemed a legitimate litmus test.
That’s a really interesting topic for me! I’ve been searching for a distinctive trait of R. rugosa ‘Rubra’ for quite some time. Sources say that this is hardly possible without a DNA sequence comparison. Nevertheless, the name ‘Rubra’ was certainly not chosen without reason. A red coloration of the shoots could possibly indicating the name.
Unfortunately, even rose nurseries are sometimes not a reliable source of reference. I bought through shipment a so called ‘Rubra’ many years ago and am still very doubtful as to whether it is actually one. It has no red shoots.
As you mentioned right, ‘Basye’s Purple’ and ’ Rotes Phänomen’ have completely red shoots, as does ‘Strandperle Norderney’, which in my opinion could point to the genetic ancestry in all three cases of R. rugosa ‘Rubra’ and R. foliolosa or vice versa. The fertility is also comparable.
2024/2025 I had several OP seedlings from a selective breeding project involving my own R. Rugosa ‘Rubra’ in question. Only very few had a very slight hint of red coloration on their stems.
A few weeks ago, I found by chance eight R. rugosa shrubs planted side by side in a very small public garden. Their habit, leaves and flowers were all so similar. I couldn’t see any differences here. But three of them show red stems which I had never noticed anywhere else before. I will try to test this germination season whether there are some seedlings showing up more anthocyanins this time.
I would be grateful to know whether you have come to any new conclusions in the meantime.
The only conclusion I have been able to make is that Rugosas absolutely despise Texas. (They all bit the dust come summer.) As I recall, the differences in coloration became less distinct as they matured (though still babies when they met their demise.)
Oddly, I collected seeds of R. notida in the same area along the St. Lawrence River, and one particularly vigorous among the many dozen seedlings survived (??!) and still grows in my back yard. I don’t know that I could ever coax it into blooming though.
