No, you don't need to give them any special care. I have a Carefree Beauty, and last year I just put the seeds in a pot and several sprouted. My climate is much warmer than yours, and I didn't refrigerate them and I put the pot outside and they came up. You probably need to keep yours in a warm spot, though.

Thanks Eahamel! I will keep them inside until the weather warms-have some high lumen orchid lights if need be. How are your seedlings doing?

Many don't actually require cold stratification. In my hotter climate, I actually use the refrigerator stratification to delay germination until the weather is conducive for me to plant. It makes no sense to put them under soil when the temperatures are still in the nineties and higher; the humidity is very low; it's very windy and if there is going to be any rain, it's weeks to months away. Better to hold them until around Thanksgiving here when the temps, humidity, winds and possible rains are better suited for germination. That requires holding them in cold storage to prevent faster germination. If you don't want to plant now, keeping them in the vegetable crisper can help delay the need. Otherwise, go for it! Kim

Usually keeping them in the hips will delay germination. But, do not let the hips dry out as that may put the seeds into "deep" slumber.

When I gather my hips in the fall I put the hips in the fridge right away. Once I clean them and put them in damp paper towels in January I take them out of the fridge and just leave them in the basement, where it's cool but not cold, and check them once a week for germinations. This seems to work pretty well for me. I may stick them back in the fridge for a week every so often and then back out. Sort like spring around here!

Well I'm hoping I will get some good results, I've had about a 90% success rate over the last few years with rooting cuttings but this is my first venture into seed starting (for roses). The hips have stayed on the bushes all winter,so I hope that's not detrimental in any way. They certainly have been cold for the past few months. I cleaned the seeds, let them dry and potted them yesterday in a light seed starting mix. Hopefully they wont rot. How soon should I expect to see sprouts? Thanks to all!

That depends to a large degree on the genetics of the rose and the conditions they're either held under or planted. I've had some which exploded out of the ground within two weeks of planting and I discovered a few which germinated in pots of hesperaloe I planted re using the soil from last years seed boxes. They'd fully dried out many times after transplanting the hesperaloe, but when I up sized them from the cups I had the hesperaloe seedlings into gallons, sure enough, there were rose seedlings at their bases. Kim

Thanks Kim, I have them in the house @ 68 degrees, once they (hopefully) germinate I will move them under some high wattage cfl lights until I can get outdoors when the weather moderates.