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How To Grow Roses From Seed

April 2, 2021 by cheyanne

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In early December we foraged for wild rose hips to decorate the evergreen boughs placed along our porch railings. This spring as I cleaned up the old boughs and rose hips, I realized that this was a wonderful opportunity to show how to grow roses from seed.

how to grow roses from seed from wild rose hips foraged for decoration
wild rose hips foraged for decoration

Rose hips contain the rose seed, and planting the seed offers the opportunity to grow brand new rose seedlings!

Wild roses are species roses. They are self-fertile and easily reproduce through setting seeds.

The seedlings produced by wild roses will resemble the parent plant. Growing the seeds of wild rose hips will therefore reproduce similar plants.

Hybrid roses on the other hand will not breed true from seed. If you are germinating seeds from hybrid roses, you will be producing a new hybrid. This in itself can be very exciting, because you never know what you will get!

closeup of the anthers of a light pink wild rose
closeup of a light pink wild rose

How Long Does It Take To Grow Roses From Seeds?

It can take several years or longer to grow roses from seeds. Seed germination can take months, and sometimes up to a year for some seeds, even with the right stratification techniques.

Growing the young rose seedlings will also take time. It may take up to three years before you even see your first blooms. This however is well worth the wait!

How Easy Is It To Grow Roses From Seed?

It is moderately easy to grow roses from seed, as long as they receive the right preparation beforehand.

This preparation involves stratification, which is a period of cold moist chilling.

The most difficult part of growing roses from seed is the waiting period. You must first wait until your seeds are mature before harvesting. Then there will also be a wait while they are being stratified.

Following planting you must wait for them to grow. The waiting period is a little longer than what you would expect for a typical flower seed, however your patience will pay off!

brown rose hips on grey thorny stems with a green blurred background
rose hips still on the rose bush in spring

Rose Seed Pods

The seed pods of roses are also called rose hips. They contain the fruit of the rose, which in turn contains the rose seed.

Roses require pollination to produce a rose hip and seed. This is done most often by pollinators such as bees and other pollinating insects, unless of course it has been done by a hybridizer making a specific cross.

Rose hips vary in size, shape and color depending on the type and variety of the rose from which they have come.

We do some hybridizing in our garden, however have not yet hybridized roses.

Our foraged rose hips were pollinated by pollinators, and they produced a plentiful crop.

We love to gather rose hips at Christmas time to use as decorations outside with our evergreen boughs. They can be quite prickly with the rose thorns, however are so festive and natural.

Rose hips- rose seed pods

When To Harvest Rose Hips

If you are harvesting rose hips for seed collection, it’s important to allow the hips to mature on the plant.

They usually change colour when they are mature. Our rose hips were a deep red colour.

Rose hips should be allowed to grow on the rose bush for at least twelve to sixteen weeks. This will allow the seeds to be mature enough to germinate.

Our rose hips were harvested in December, so they will contain fully mature seeds.

What Do Rose Seeds Look Like?

how to grow roses from seed, hand holding a rose hip cut in half, filled with rose seeds
a rose hip cut in half, containing seeds

Rose seeds are an interesting lot.

Gently crack open a mature rose hip to reveal the seeds inside. The seeds are surrounded by hairs and flesh, the flesh of which is actually the fruit of the rose. Each fleshy fruit contains a single seed.

The rose hips that we opened had been outside all winter. The fruit of the rose inside the hips were no longer intact. Essentially all that was visible were the hairs and the seeds.

how to grow roses from seed, close up of a hand holding a rose hip cut in half, and showing rose seeds and hairs
close up view of the inside of a rose hip showing the seeds and hairs

The seeds are small and hard, about 0.25 cm, light brown in colour and almond shaped.

How To Remove Seeds From Rose Hips

It is not difficult to remove seeds from rose hips. I used my fingers to pull them out, and rubbed off the fleshy material and hair.

Granted, the rose hips that I had were very mushy and easy to break apart, having been outside all winter.

If your rose hip is more solid you can use a spoon or a knife to remove the seeds.

brown rose seeds on a green and white plate with red rose hips, showing how to grow roses from seed
rose seeds after removal from the rose hips.

Rose Seed Stratification

The rose seeds have hard shells and they benefit from a period of stratification prior to planting.

  • This process will increase the chances of germination for the seeds.
  • Stratification is not hard. It involves a cold chill period in the fridge, often with a moist medium.
  • This involves placing the seeds in a bag with a moist medium, such as peat moss or vermiculite, and putting the bag in the fridge for at least thirty days.
  • You can even use a moist paper towel, although this is not our first choice. If the seeds start to sprout in the fridge, tiny roots can weave into the paper towel making them difficult to remove.
  • We use vermiculite to stratify our seeds.
beige coloured vermiculite mixed with reddish brown rose seeds
rose seeds in vermiculite- these will go into the fridge

How To Plant Rose Seeds

The seeds that were removed from the wild rose hips were divided into two groups.

I believe that they have already gone through a natural period of stratification by being outside in freezing temperatures throughout the winter.

So I planted half the seeds into a cell tray. The other half went into vermiculite (in the photo above), and are currently being given a thirty day chill in the fridge.

planting rose seeds in black seedling tray with vermiculite
planting rose seeds in seedling tray

Rose Seed Germination Time

The tray of seeds was placed on a heat mat which will aide in the germination process.

The rose seeds should germinate within six weeks if all goes well.

Germination time will vary between different types and varieties of roses.

pink rose bushes growing next to an arbor at Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens
rose bushes at Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens, Nova Scotia

Can I Grow Roses From Cut Flowers?

Growing roses from cut flowers is not possible, because the flowers have been removed from the plant and will not be able to produce seed.

To produce seed, the flower has to be fertilized on the plant, and the pod that is formed must remain on the plant until maturity.

I hope that you have found this post on how to grow roses from seed helpful, and would encourage you to give it a try if you are considering it! You just never know what new rose you might grow, and you may be quite pleasantly surprised!

If you have any questions or comments please leave a comment below!

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Filed Under: Blooms, Flower Farming Tagged With: roses, seed starting

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Hello, I'm Chey! I'm so glad you're here! Join me and my family on our flower farming journey. We have a harbour-side farm property, which we are slowly transforming into a little flower farm. We are completely renovating our farmhouse from the ground up, and will be sharing lots of posts on farmhouse life, simple living, and all things that bloom! Read More…

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