This seedling got dealt a heavy dose of rugosa genes compared to its siblings. It has the darkest pink flowers and the most rugosa looking foliage.
The little green hips under the flowerbuds are so prickly they look like cockleburs. Later those prickles make seed extraction a tricky proposition - I usually have to use leather gloves. There are typically only 1 to 4 seeds in the hips that remain on the plant. I think many just drop off. But this morning I pollinated 10 flowers with 'Home Run' pollen just to see if I can get any takes with a modern rose.
Here's the plant from a distance. That's a yardstick propped up against it. So maybe 7 or 8 feet tall currently and nearly twice as wide.
The buds look fun. It will be interesting trying to cross it with a moss rose. Do the buds have a smell?
ReplyDeleteNot really much in the way of scent on the buds. They're actually prickles as far as I can tell (painful even when young and green), and don't seem to have much, if any, gland tips.
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