Reprinted from The Australian and New Zealand Rose Annual, 1961

(Adapted from talk to Southland Rose Society)

By Dr. R. S. R. Francis, O.B.E., Hastings, N.Z.

The raising of a few seedlings each year will be found a fascinating hobby. Rose seeds are not the easiest to germinate and there is something of a thrill at seeing them come up. To get a high rate of germination is in itself quite a triumph. Then in November and December you have a real thrill when the seedlings start to bloom and you have to decide to keep this one or that one. They all seem very precious darlings! Admittedly an amateur has little chance, on a mathematical basis, of competing successfully with, say, young Sam McGredy and his hundred thousand or so seedlings each year. However, do not despair! Small amateur raisers like Mr. A. Norman who raised Frensham and Ena Harkness and Mr. R. T. Hamilton who raised Rod Stillman have, as you can see, been able to give us most excellent roses. So there is hope for all of us, in the matter of raising a really good rose even if we only raise a few seedlings each year.

Now, it doesn't need a lot of ground nor does it take a lot of time or labour. It does, however, require a little thought and care. You can start right now upon the thought part. Go over the roses in your garden in your mind and plan which crosses you would like to make, e.g. Diamond Jubilee and Spek's Yellow to see if you can get a Diamond Jubilee bloom with the colour of Spek's Yellow. The chances are small, but you might be lucky!

Choose healthy plants not prone to mildew, blackspot or rust. Breed for health as well as for bloom. Roses such as Karl Herbst and First Love have very healthy foliage, and quite a reasonable proportion of their progeny ought to carry their trait. At least make sure that one parent seems reasonably resistant to disease. It is imperative to strive for healthy foliage. You won't get this if both parents are prone to disease.

The most unlikely colours in parents can be combined Kordes' Perfecta came from Spek's Yellow crossed with Karl Herbst. In fact you are very probably more likely to get something novel by what seem fanciful crosses. Well, you have planned your crosses. The pollen parent needn't be in your garden. You can beg or borrow this if necessary. I don't think it matters greatly which parent you use as seed parent and which one you use as a pollen parent. In a family some children take after the father, some after the mother. The same applies to roses. In the case of a gardener with only a few roses, the blooms themselves usually decide the matter as the blooms on the two plants may not be opening out on the same day. Also some roses e.g. Mme. A. Meilland are not good setters of seed. Such roses are easier to use as pollen parents.

Making the Actual Cross

This is well described in a number of books on roses and also in past numbers of the Rose Annual, so I won't go into detail. However there are some points to be mentioned.

Pollen

It is not essential to have absolutely fresh pollen. Pollen will keep for a week or more, if kept dry. Actually Roy Shepherd of Ohio, D.S.A. and I have been exchanging pollen for a couple of years, so far unsuccessfully, though our seasons are six months apart. Admittedly six months may be rather long, but pollen will certainly keep for a week or so if it is kept dry.

To Store Pollen Not Wanted For Several Days.

Cut the bloom from which you want pollen within the next week or so. A very short stem suffices. Cut it early on the day it seems likely to open out. Test the anthers with a finger tip to see if the pollen is loose or not (yellow dust on the finger tips mean pollen is loose).

If the pollen is not loose, pull the petals off, put a stiff wire through the hip and suspend the bloom (or what is left of it) upside down in a clean dry cup. Put in a sunny window free from draughts. The pollen will ripen and drop off on to the bottom of the cup. When you want the pollen it can be picked up with a camel hair brush. Don't forget to label the cup with the rose's name. If the pollen is loose, don't pull the petals off, but suspend the whole rose upside down in a clean dry cup as above. Shake the rose as it hangs once or twice. The pollen will drop down and be safe for a week or more. Don't forget the label!

Pollen for use the same day or following day.

If the seed parent is likely to be ready the same day or the next day, cut the pollen parent bloom as for any ordinary cut bloom. Put in a sunny window free from draughts. Any slight breeze will blow the pollen away. If you think it necessary, tie the window up; I do it quite often. It deters window-openers. The pollen ripens and can be collected with a camel hair brush. You can probably also get a little which has fallen on to the petals.

If you are away from home in the day time you can make use of the automatic pollinator I described in the Rose Annual for 1954. I find it quite useful.

A note about the camel hair brush. After it has been used for a pollination dip it in methylated spirits and allow it to dry. This destroys the pollen on it and prevents mixing the pollens. The brush will dry quickly in warm sunshine.

The Seed Parent

It is important to remove the anthers before they shed any pollen. If, when pulling the petals off, you notice any yellow pollen grains on the petals, you are too late. The bloom is already self-pollinated. Use another bloom at an earlier stage of development. This is especially important in single roses, e.g., Dainty Bess or semi-singles, e.g., Dusky Maiden. In these roses the pollen is shed early. The stigmas on the seed parent are receptive when they show a glistening stickiness. This shows on the day the bloom opens properly, or would have done so had you left the petals on. The best time to apply pollen is mid-day or early afternoon. However, in warm weather it can be done after getting home from work, but try to do so as soon as possible after returning home. If in doubt, repeat pollination on successive days.

Try to do your pollination in November even if a rose show is coming along. If the hip shrivels, showing that the cross does not take, you can repeat it in December and still get seed that will ripen before winter. It is getting too late in January, though I have done some then and got away with them.

Don't forget a label or price tag recording the parents and date. The general practice is to put seed parent first. Tie label on the stem of the seed parent. This will save the hip from being picked off by some enthusiastic tidier of the garden. A small piece of coloured wool tied on may also help to avert such a tragedy.

Immediately after pollinating the seed parent, cover it with a small bag - paper, gauze, cellophane or plastic - in order to keep wind-borne pollen and stray insects off. The cellophane on cigarette packets, carefully removed, does very well. This cover should be kept on for several days. I generally leave it on for a week.

Harvesting Seeds

The seeds are ready when the hip has coloured. The stem shows, usually, some browning at this stage also. Never let the hip dry up: If the soil is not ready, cover the hips with damp sand, moss or vermiculite. I prefer the last-named. Many large growers stratify regularly. Don't forget a label with details of the cross. Small aluminium labels are excellent at this stage.

Soil for Seed Bed

This is a most important consideration. It must be loose, friable and sterile. Sterilise the soil yourself with formalin about the first week in May. I use garden soil mixed with processed peat, a fair proportion of perlite and vermiculite, plus a little compost if the humus content is low, and get it really loose. Two cubic feet is enough for a cloche. This allows a three inch overlap and a depth of six inches. I put it in a large box, soak with the formalin solution, cover for two or three days and then open it up to let the formalin evaporate, but keeping rain out. Some of the moisture has to dry out or the soil would be too sodden. It takes two or three weeks to be ready. The nose test is useful. When you can't sniff the formalin, the soil is safe to use.

'This sterilisation of the soil is necessary as otherwise so many seedlings just die from wilt. It is safer also to use some formalin in the hole left by removing the soil. This prevents wilt creeping into your seed bed when you return the sterilised soil to the hole.

November comes, the buds swell and you visit the cloche every day to see that everything is O.K. and to see how the buds are progressing. The day arrives when the first bud showing colour is due to open and you see the results of your hybridising. Let us hope that it is a beauty!  But don’t be disappointed if it is merely a rather nondescript single. There is, unfortunately, almost certain to be a number of these throwbacks in a measure to the original species. Make a note of colour and perfume. Pick the bloom after you have admired it for a day or two and count the petals. Anything under fifteen petals, that is for a Hybrid Tea, is hardly worth keeping unless the colour is especially good. However, it may pay to remember that Charlotte Armstrong started off with twelve petals only.

Strictly speaking, one should pot up the roses as they germinate. I just let mine grow on in the cloche. It is a good test for survival value and disease resistance. Only the tough ones hold their own. One should also bud on the seedlings but I have had little luck with this in small seedlings.  In winter I plant the seedlings in the open ground, giving them a spot more room and see how they fare in the second year. It is generally possible to sort them out adequately then and get buds from the good ones for putting on stock. The rest can go into the incinerator unless - well, you might try one or two others for a further year.  It is difficult to be hard-hearted!

Cane-budding and aerial-layering as described in the Rose Annual for 1957, may be found useful in the small garden. If I get a good seedling I try to bud it on in the second year and get a fellow rosarian to grow it so as to get an unbiased opinion. The trouble is that at any baby show each mother’s baby is, to her, the best baby in the show and quite without faults. It is rather like that with one’s infant roses. Outside criticism is necessary and if adverse, must be accepted philosophically. If, however, criticism is favourable and you have entered it successfully at a show or two or at Rose Society meetings, well, perhaps you are on to something good and can get a nurseryman to take it on. Wilson’s Nurseries listed “Greater Hastings” last year and the Hastings Rose Society got 7/6 for each bush sold, a help to the Rose Society.

As you can see, there is not a lot of actual labour or time involved. It is largely care and thought. You do learn a lot about your roses because naturally you want to know their parents and perhaps ancestors for a number of generations. You also study their resistance to disease and if good setters of seed. In addition, you have the thrill of raising seedlings each of which, even if of no value, is yet almost certainly unique, since probably no one else in the world will have had a seedling with an exact replica of the gene-combinations present in your seedling. Lastly, you may have the great thrill of raising a rose of real merit.  Have a try at it! It’s a good hobby and an interesting one, indeed a fascinating one.

Good luck to your seedlings!

Best Bunch of Australian Raised Roses, N.R.S.V. Spring Show, 1960.

An unnamed seedling raised by Mr. R. W. Smith, Ivanhoe.