Will pale seeds germinate?

As I prune, I'm keeping the odd hip to see what turns up if I can grow the seeds on. I'm particularly interested in progeny from Rhapsody in Blue and have a couple of not-very-exciting-plants-so-far I raised from its seeds last year. This year, there was only a single hip on it when I came to prune and though the hip was red the seeds inside are cream, not brown. I seem to remember reading somewhere that seeds are not ripe/viable until they turn brown. Is this true or is it worth stratifying my pale seeds and planting them out?

Not true Meryl ... There is even some evidence to suggest harvesting them a little young might in fact improve germination because the inhibitors haven't had a chance to fully develop by that time and the seeds are not fully dormant. The real indicator is how old they are. If they are 100-120 days old then they should be fine. Down around 90 days and you start getting iffy. If they feel hard to the touch (i.e. not squishy) then there is a good chance they will germinate. There is something to watch, however, as young fresh seeds may develop more fungus when stratified due to higher carbohydrate (sugar) and moisture levels in the seeds. A quick dip in a fungicide may help with this and maybe put your paper towel in the oven at 200 degrees for a while to kill off any spore and use cool boiled water to moisten it. Usually fungus is not too bad but black fungus will kill off a seed real quick.

Meryl, which way do you use to get your seed from the pod to pot, if you can 'defulge' your method to the public

My "method" is strictly amateur, David. The seeds tend to sit around, in or out of the pod, for a week or so, until I bestir myself. Now that I have just re-read Simon's old seed raising instructions, I will in future start by giving them a quick soak in fungicide. In the past, they have gone into a ziplock bag (dated, with the name of the plant the hip came from) of damp peatmoss and then into the vegetable drawer of the fridge. After a month or two in there, each seed, sprouting or not, went into a tiny pot of seed raising mix.

Thanks very much for your advice, Simon. Most helpful. I'll give the paper towel a go too.

I'm a fan off the peat moss too