sterility of rugosa hybrids

General Discussion
1

I am wondering what everyone’s experience has been on the rocky Rugosa road?
Specifically I am thinking of the sterility issues I"ve read about in crossing rugosa with modern shrubs I am interested in.
How much of a problem has this been? Is it with both pollen and as seed parent? Is the pollen completely sterile?

I am asking because I have seedling that is a few years old that I believe is a cross between Mary Rose x Hansa. It has semi double to double blooms that do have some fragrance. The color is somewhere around mauve. There is an outside chance it was from Party Hardy pollen. I will look at the pollen again, but it seems I did that last summer when it first bloomed.

I am trying its pollen on a few roses this year, but was wondering how much of an effort I should make with it.
Thanks for any thoughts!
Duane

2

If I were you, I’d just go for it–see what happens! Try pollen on several different categories of roses, Rugosa and other types, that are known to set hips easily.

3

I haven’t had any seedlings flower yet from rug x mod (waiting) so no personal experience with a next generation so far.

There are a few rugosa x modern(ish they’re “old” but still “modern”) hybrids floating around with at least some fertility (eg Robusta, Raspberry Rugostar, Vanguard) maybe they are exceptions though. Then you have situations where things are claimed infertile like Agnes, which Rolf Sievers has been using as pollen parent in the last few years and finding to be relatively pollen fertile when paired with compatible things, that part of the sterility dead end from some rugosa hybrids may just be trying to to breed them exclusively to X group of incompatible plants.

4

Ralph Moore fought sterility in Rugosa offspring for years. There were a few which produced a few seedlings and those were mainly fertile triploid crosses.

5

Thanks for the responses!
I have tested it’s pollen on multiple seed parents, so I’ll see how that goes.
I also put pollen on it and have hips developing that haven’t dropped yet, so I should find out soon enough.
Duane

6

To Kim’s point, getting a hybrid between a Rugosa and some other family is something of a challenge, depending on the genetics of the other parent, but it can be done. Taking that hybrid further is a major challenge–as Ralph Moore found, the F1 generation is often sterile or nearly so.