How Do I Start Growing Roses From Seed?

Rose plants (rose shrubs) contain ruddy “hips” which are packed full of seeds. You can gather rose hips at any stage of the ripeness from one pink cheek through to mushy ripe but this must be done before the winter freeze.

Sowing rose seeds is easy. First of all, remove the rose seeds from the hips and wash them in a cup of water to which it has a drop of detergent and a drop of laundry bleach added. Rinse the seed and then dry them on a towel.

Mix in with the rose seeds with milled sphagnum moss which has been saturated with water and squeezed dry. Put the rose seeds in a small jar making sure that some of these seeds are visible through the glass so you can see when the germination takes place.

Cover the jar lightly and put away in a refrigerator which has been labelled and dated. You could also use a plastic bag which has been secured with a small twist tie and check it occasionally to make sure that it is still moist.

Depending on the rose variety, rose seeds tend to germinate in a 40° refrigerator in about 32 120 days. When thread like roots show through the jar, the rose plants are ready for potting so check them as the time draws near.

Make sure you shake the peat moss out of the jar and plant the rose seedlings in small pots or flats of commercially available potting mix.

Next, place the pots on trays of wet gravel or in close them in an open plastic bag to create a green house style climate.

Make sure that you give the rose plants all the light that you can. You could either place them near a window or under some fluorescent tubes.

Rose Plants – Getting ready to plant

Around 1 June, when the roses are several inches tall, plant them into a nursery bed in a place where they won’t get pushed around by the larger plants. You can transfer these rose plants into a permanent garden location the following spring and hopefully by the third year they will start to bloom.