Question
I live in NJ & I want to propagate my rose bushes.  Our season is just begining & there is a couple of roses that the petals are now romoved.......how long do I have to wait for it to become a rose hip? How will I know when is the right time to take it off the rose bush & try to get seeds from it.....any advice on this subject I would greatly appreciate....  

Answer
What a great project for you, Ynnette!

First, please make sure no one used chemicals on your rose bushes.  No fungicides, no pesticides, no copper spray.  Fertilizer is OK.  This is absolutely essential.  People who know what rose hips are would normally be aware of this, but I have to say it.

Now, different rose bushes produce different rose hips.  You should keep the spent blooms on the bush, where they will develop through the summer and create the hips you want to harvest.

This will be many months away.  

The tricky part comes at the point where you have to decide if they are ripe enough to remove from the bush, or if you should wait longer.

One of my favorite columnists, Jackie Carroll, posts instructions (www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Carroll1.html).

Carroll writes: "Rose hips ripen after they are touched by the first fall frost. The color of rose hips varies, but in general, orange hips are not quite ripe, and deep red hips are overripe. Overripe hips are sweet, but have lost much of their vitamin C."

Older, more developed hips also have more un-usable material inside the hips, and are therefore harder to clean after you remove them.  The outer fleshy fruit is the edible section, but inside are hairy sections each enclosing a single seed. This part is not edible and some people get sick from ingesting it.

As with other fruits, you'll get the most vitamins if ou use them while they are still fresh off the rose.  

Carroll advises: "To prepare rose hips for tea, cut off the bloom stem, cut the hip in half, and scrape out the seeds and hairy pith. This can be very tedious with tiny hips, so you may want to save the smallest hips for jellies. Rose hips used for jellies don't need to be seeded or scraped. A half and half mixture of rose hip juice and apple juice makes a tasty jelly."

A friendly note by one gardener addresses this perfectly: "How to Make Your Own Rose Hips" (www.howtoadvice.com/Preview/Coxkef).

One medical expert maintains that most roses may not develop edible rose hips -- the flavorful kind with vitamin C for salads and tea.  At the very least, your birds will appreciate them in the winter.  Old fashioned rugosas are guaranteed to work.  

There is still time to buy yourself a rugosa.  

Let me know if you need help with that, Ynnette!

Good luck and Happy Memorial Day.