On older heirloom/old fashioned roses the flowers die away and leave a large rose hip which turns orange. If you clip them off leaving a wee bit of stem, after they turn orange they look just like tiny pumpkins.

you can use those for mini-decorations for the Autumn Holiday season.

Its a Good Thing.

David, I've never heard the term "heirloom roses" before, so had to look it up. Are the rose hips produced by these roses much larger than the ones found on more modern ones?

Yes they are, the ones I'm getting are 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter!

And the smell - one rose bush stinks up the whole yard, but pretty like you know - much better than the one skunk that hangs around here .

Heirloom roses don't have much to look at, but they make up for it with smell and the size of the bush.

Thanks David. It's many years since I had rose bushes in my garden, and I've never grown any of the old ones, so didn't know about the large, useful rose hips they produced.