They are related to apples, Kippy. If they're coloring nicely, like other fruit, they are likely "ripe". Go pick them before the gardener or some marauding rodent finds them! Cut them open with a knife or your clippers, pry out the seeds and either plant them, or clean them as well as you can to remove the pulp and fibers before storing them in the vegetable crisper until the weather cools (around Thanksgiving here, USUALLY, Lord only knows this year...) and you can plant them when the temps are more suitable for germination. Word of warning...the fibers inside the hip are as bad as fiberglass. Don't get it on you. I guaranty your eyes and nose are going to itch like mad once you have them on your fingers so you'll be tempted to scratch them. DON'T! It's the same as getting your hands wet in the kitchen and having to use 'the facilities'. The fibers wash off your hands easily with soap and water, but they are miserable once gotten on you elsewhere. Been there too many times! Kim

These are the recipes I've saved. Many of them come from this site and others, so please forgive me that I'm not giving credit where credit is due. To be honest, I believe I just used Pomona last year, using the ratios described on the instructions, adding sugar to taste. I didn't have enough hips to make a full batch of any of the recipes below. I haven't made anything with mine yet this year, but I did save a few sprays in tact to put in the jars of jelly, just for looks. I like the idea of using apple juice in the recipes you posted though, it seems that this would also help stretch the recipe a little. Rose Hip Jelly 5 cups prepared juice (about 2 qt. fully ripe rose hips and 6 ripe medium tart apples) 1 box SURE.JELL Fruit Pectin 1/4 tsp. ground mace (optional) 10 drops red food coloring (optional) 2 drops yellow food coloring (optional) 1/2 tsp. butter or margarine (optional) 6 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl BRING boiling-water canner, half-full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot, soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well before filling. REMOVE stems from rose hips. Place in saucepan; add water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until soft and mushy, about 1 hour. Place 3 layers of damp cheesecloth or jelly bag in large bowl. Pour prepared fruit into cheesecloth. Tie cheesecloth closed; hang and let drip into bowl until dripping stops. Press gently. Measure exactly 2 cups juice into 6-8 quart saucepot. REMOVE stems and blossom ends from apples. Cut apples into small pieces (do not peel or core). Place in large saucepan; add water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Crush cooked apples; cover and simmer 5 minutes. Place 3 layers of damp cheesecloth or jelly bag in large bowl. Pour prepared fruit into cheesecloth. Tie cheesecloth closed; hang and let drip into bowl until dripping stops. Press gently. Measure exactly 3 cups juice; add to rose hip juice in saucepot. (If needed, add up to 1/2 cup water for exact measure.) STIR pectin, mace and food coloring into juice in saucepot. Add butter to reduce foaming, if desired. Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. STIR in all sugar quickly. Bring to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon. LADLE quickly into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches; add boiling water if needed. Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 minutes. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. Rose Hip Jam (this recipe has been around since the 1700s) 1 pound prepared rose hips (about 4 quarts) 1 cup of water Sugar In a large pan, add the rose hips and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until very soft--about 20 minutes (add more water if necessary). Press or strain the mixture through a sieve to remove any seeds and to reduce large chunks of hips. Add one pound of sugar (about 3 1/2 cups) to one pound of pulp and simmer. Check the taste and add more sugar if desired. Cook until the mixture has thickened to jam-like consistency. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. This is good to eat when you have a sore throat. Rose Hip Puree (This is from an old 16th century recipe used to make rose hip tart) 1 1/2 cup prepared rose hips 3/4 cup water 2 T sugar 1/2 t cinnamon 1/2 t ginger 1 T lemon juice Simmer the prepared rose hips in water until soft -- about 10-15 minutes. Stir in sugar, spices and lemon juice and simmer for 5 minutes. Use puree for tarts, ice cream toppings or to eat as a sauce. Rose Hip Tea Prepare the rose hips as described above and place in a single layer on a drying screen. Allow to completely dry, then store in an air-tight jar in a cool, dark place. Hips may be used whole or slightly broken. Pour boiling water over the hips and allow to steep for 2 minutes. Strain. Experiment with your own ideas for using roses in recipes. You may discover a whole new way to use your roses. Drying Rose Hips and Rose Hips Puree Instructions Just after a frost is the best time to gather rose hips. Snap off the tails as you pick,or later when you reach home. Spread the hips out on a clean surface and allow to dry partially. When the skins begin to feel dried and shriveled, split the hips and take out the large seeds -- all of them. If you let the hips dry too much, it will be difficult to remove the seeds. If not dry enough, the inside pulp will be sticky and cling to the seeds. After the seeds are removed, allow the hips to dry completely before storing or they will not keep well. Store in small, sealed plastic bags. These will keep indefinitely in the freezer or for several months in the refrigerator. They are packed with vitamin C and are good to munch on anytime you need extra energy...or a moderately sweet nutlike "candy." Making Puree: Use soft ripe rose hips (the riper they are, the sweeter they are). It takes about 4 cups (1 Litre) of rose hips to make 2 cups (480 ml) of puree. Remove stalks and blossom ends. Rinse berries in cold water. Put them into a pan and add enough water to almost cover. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 to 15 minutes. Press through a sieve or strainer. All that does not go through the sieve is placed in the pan again. Add a little water, enough to almost cover, if you want a thicker puree, add slightly less. This time heat but do not boil so vigorously. This will dissolve a little more of the fruit so that it will go through the sieve. Press again and then repeat the process one more time. By now, most of the fruit should have gone through the sieve leaving only seeds and skin to discard. Drying Puree: Line a cookie sheet, 12 by 17 inches (30 by 42 cm), with plastic wrap. This size cookie sheet holds approximately 2 cups (480ml) of puree. Spread puree or fruit leather evenly over the plastic but do not push it completely to the sides. Leave a bit of plastic showing for easy removal. Place on a card table or picnic table in the hot sun to dry. If the plastic is bigger than the cookie sheet and extends up the sides, anchor it with clothes pins so it will not flop down and cover the edges of the leather. Puree should dry in the sun six to eight hours. Kodiak Rose Hip Tea Ingredients 1 tea bag 1 tablespoon (15 mL) dried rose hips 3-4 whole cloves Sugar or honey to taste 1 cup (240 mL) boiling water Instructions Steep tea bag, rose hips and cloves in boiling water for five minutes. Remove hips and cloves. Reheat if desired. Sweeten to taste with sugar or honey. Makes one serving. Rosehip Jelly Ingredients 4 quarts ripe rose hips 2 quarts water 1 package pectin crystals 5 cups sugar 1/2 cup lemon juice Instructions Simmer rose hips in water until soft. Crush to mash, and strain through a jelly bag. Should make about 4 cups of rose hip juice. Add to juice, lemon juice and pectin crystals and stir until mixture comes to a hard boil. Stir sugar in at once. Bring to a full rolling boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove jelly from heat and skim off foam with metal spoon. Pour into hot sterilized jars. 5 min. at 0-1000 ft., 10 min at 1001-6000 ft.

Roses can set seeds using their own pollen. For the seeds to have gotten across the yard it is likely a bird ate one of the hips and excreted the seeds in the other bed. If the new plants are truly seedlings from your one mini, the blooms on the new plants will probably be different from those on the original. Hybrid roses have such a complicated genetic background that the chances are very small the blooms on the new plant would be the same as on the original. Let us know what the new ones look like when they bloom.

I can't find my food mill which is still packed "somewhere" in our barn. So I had to improvise. With the Rose Hips I just filled a very fine sieve and put it over a bowl and let it drain all night. Then I poured the puree through the fine sieve 2 more times to be sure that I caught all the little hairs. For the apples, I forced them through a colander. Then I mixed the apples and rose hips and took the stick blender to them again for a final blend. You can add some red food coloring to adjust the color if needed. I used 2:1 ratio; 1 c. of Rose Hip Puree; 1/2 c. apple puree; 1/2 c. sugar. I added about a tbl of lemon juice and grated lemon peel from 1 lemon to brighten it up a bit. Cooked this down until it mounded in a spoon and then did the BWB. Make sure you taste test this as we do not like things too sweet so you may want to add more sugar. Michelle