Congratulations, Chuck! That honestly shouldn’t surprise us, though. Nature provides for the perpetuation of the species. Seeds being able to last extremely long periods of time frozen seems it should likely be the norm rather than something unusual. Whether you subscribe to “intelligent design”, evolution or some combination, it’s taken a while and some energy to move things to where they are. If the future was as tenuous as another freeze, all of that could be wasted. I asked Ralph Moore once why he didn’t keep his seed flats over until succeeding years. He said, first, “there are too many and I would have no room”, but just as importantly, he felt those which germinated the first year were most likely to be the more dwarf, repeat flowering types which would be better suited for the climate he was breeding for. Those which required more cycles of “freeze and thaw” would more likely be the more cold hardy, larger and once flowering types which he wasn’t seeking. I think both Ralph’s theories and your experiences support one another and both demonstrate Nature’s intention that whatever happens, SHE intends for there to be “tomorrow”.
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I think the whole concept of seeds is amazing. How there can be a little life that survives inside a dried-up brown pebble for years and can spring to life even after that.
Learned a painful lesson this year that there is a difference and price to be paid if time between harvesting the hips, and harvesting the seeds is too long (usually hips first week in November seeds up to 2 years later ). Waited too long to harvest seed last year and learned desiccated hip hair is a big dermatitis no no for me - reqd hydrocortisone relief. Now shuck seeds out right after harvest.
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I use latex gloves when dealing with hips, between dermatitis reactions with the hairs, how glandular some of them are and staining potential from the hip flesh/juice.
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