About Face Hips Are In + My First Dahlia Keeper of the Season

The About Face hips are coming in, and my dahlia season just got its first keeper. Mid-October in the garden — come walk it with me. Today I'm harvesting open-pollinated hips from 'About Face' for the eBay seed shop. Before any seeds get listed, they go through a float test — only the sinkers make the cut, because rose seeds are hard enough to germinate without selling anyone a dud. Every packet ships with cold-stratification and mold-prevention instructions. Then a surprise five: a dahlia seedling grown from last season's red-and-yellow ball dahlia just bloomed — a beautiful red I'm calling "red dahlia number one" for now. First blooms aren't always indicative of what's to come, so I'll watch how it matures, but it's earned keeper status and a tag so I don't lose track of it. Also in this update: 'La Perla' gave me no hips this year, 'Desdemona' may still give me seed hips, a look at the huge hybrid tea 'Legends,' and why most of my roses are headed for galvanized stock tanks — my property floods, and roses with wet feet rot. Chapters: 0:00 Intro — mosquito season 0:24 Harvesting 'About Face' rose hips for seed 1:25 Dahlia seedling: "red dahlia number one" (F2 keeper) 3:24 'La Perla' — no hips this year 3:45 'Desdemona' still blooming 4:13 'Legends' hybrid tea showcase 5:00 'White Lies' and 'Honey Mustard' in bloom 5:23 'Mint Julep' and 'Moonlight in Paris' 5:37 'South Africa' + potting-up plan for a flood-prone garden 6:24 The patentable-rose journey & closing 🌹 Fresh seeds from my garden — link on my channel page #rosebreeding #rosegarden #dahliabreeding #gardening #backyardgarden