Hi Joe, in the "good old days", you could buy Captan, which prevented all the molds and fungi from destroying your seeds and seedlings. Those days are gone, perhaps for the better? I put the hips from the same cross in the blender, shake in some Ajax or Comet with bleach, and liquefy. That cleans the trash from the, leaving them clean, sterilized seed which I then dump in a strainer and flush under the faucet to rinse. I allow them to drip dry then, if there are only a few of the cross, I plant each one in a peat pellet, put them in a large enough zip loc baggie in the refrigerator. If there are many, I'll put them in dampened peat moss in a baggie with a label inside the bag so it doesn't get lost or rubbed off. I try to plant around Thanksgiving as that's when the weather is best for it here, and that was usually the end of my time until after New Year and I could remember to do it because of the Holiday. The bleach in the cleanser seems to be enough to clean the seed and the peat often retards its growth. Sometimes, there is a bit of mold, but once they are planted, that often clears up. I bet that mold helps break down the seed coat. For other ideas, Google Rose Hybridizers Association and read their ideas. Interesting stuff!

Sorry about that, I forgot the second question! I've found using Basye's Legacy as a seed parent isn't a great idea. It begins self pollinating before I can usually get to it to boink it with something else. Many of its offspring are selfs and many are either weak or once blooming. Collecting its pollen is very easy and there is a lot of it. Putting it on other roses makes seeing hybrids MUCH easier and eliminates the possibilities of Legacy selfs. The results are interesting. I've had some varieties which would only result in once blooming plants. Two which come to mind are Loving Touch and Anne Harkness. Everything I've gotten from those two and Legacy have been once blooming. Ralph Moore got many once bloomers from Anytime and Legacy. Personally, I like the idea of using Legacy primarily with minis. Your chances of creating more dwarf, controlled growth, repeat blooming plants SHOULD be greater.

I'm glad you enjoy Softee X Legacy. It has a nice architecture. Its selfs are all totally smooth and many resemble the parent. A few don't, but all are smaller, thornless plants. I've kept a few of the first generation selfs to play with figuring they'd be more homogenous for the characteristics. I hope! I LIKE thornless. I'm tired of "giving blood" while gardening. In my more youthful days, before steriodal ointments to control dermatitis, and when I had lovely higher cholesterol, snagging myself in the garden wasn't an issue as it would take a major snag to really bleed, and it was thick enough to not be that big a deal. Steriods cause skin atrophy, making it thinner. Lower cholesterol makes your blood thinner and more watery. Combine the two and you have all the makings of a Hollywood gross-out movie!