Rose Hybridizers Association Forum

I just cut open one hip from my Baby Goldstar, a miniature rose. It was still green, but it has been on the bush for a few months, and all its hips are green whereas my other roses have hips that are turned red. It had one proper seed, a decent size, inside the quite small hip, and I planted it outside so it can experience the winter cold and maybe germinate next spring.

My Baby Goldstar was open pollinated, but is surrounded by a lot of other roses. I am a beginner, and as somebody on this forum advised me months ago it is a good idea for me just to get used to growing rose seeds.

I just wondered if anyone here has grown seeds from this rose, and whether its hips always stay green or whether they eventually turn red? It was only one hip that I just tried out, will probably leave the other hips a bit longer. I noticed that some hips on it were shrivelled and brown, and had no seeds inside, so presumably they were not fertilised?

I keep lousy records, but four months to hip ripening does not seem at all unusual for me. I do not grow BG, however. When you say, a few months, I wonder if it couldn't have used a few more weeks of ripening.

On the other hand, it seems I have read that green hips frequently have fertile seeds, and they might even germinate more quickly then those from fully mature hips...

Thanks, I will leave the other hips a few more weeks.

It does look as though Baby Goldstar hips never turn red and will remain green even when ripe. But to be on the safe side, and to see if they ever turn red, I will leave the others until the end of November or early December.

This Baby Goldstar rose also has some new flower buds on it, so maybe it will keep flowering until around January or February when it gets winter proper.

It would be so wonderful if the seeds grow and give roses with some variation.

Today I noticed that two green hips had fallen off the Baby Goldstar rose, and were in the soil in its pot with a bit of stem. I cut them open, and each had one seemingly well-formed quite big seed inside, which I planted.

Almost December, and the hips were still green, not turning colour at all.

And the Baby Goldstar rose has one new flower and two buds on it. I don't suppose there are any insects at this time of year to pollinate them though.