A little anxious! The main parent plant has been pulled out as it was getting too large (and dangerous due to the long whippy canes and many thorns) and cuttings have been put in... hoping they take... as insurance a friend has a plant going already.. just in case my green thumb goes brown.
'Sweet Flora' sets thousands of OP hips but is very selective about the pollen it chooses to accept from deliberate crosses. During the 2011-2012 pollinating season the only successful takes were from an application of 'Monsieur Tillier' pollen. Only three hips were successful and only a small number of seeds were collected. These were collected today (24th March, 2012) are currently waiting to be stratified. In the previous 2010-2011 pollinating season a similar pattern was observed. A number of pollens were applied but the only successful take was from Tea pollen ('Madame Joseph Schwartz') and this made only three seeds from one hip that produced only one seedling and this proved to be very unthrifty. OP seeds germinate like weeds and grow very strongly like 'Sweet Flora' does, however, only once bloomers have so far resulted and all have been discarded.
Early spring... the plant is in its second year and the plant is 6ft high and wide with thousands of buds about to open. Will get some photos when in full swing!
