Yesterday I posted a photo of the first bloom of one of my 54-08 hybrids (Midnight Blue X [Orangeade X R. fedtschenkoana]). Today, two more opened their first blooms, and one of these, 54-08-01, is pretty spectacular: deep fuchsia/purple blooms about 2" across, with 15 petals and a modest fragrance. The plant is nearly identical to all of its siblings in most ways, showing heavy influence of R. fedtschenkoana: small, fern-like cedar-scented foliage, upright growth and plenty of needle-like prickles. There is a tiny bit more info available on the HMF page for this seedling.
I have gathered the pollen from the two blooms shown here and hope to use it tomorrow. I have to ruminate a bit to select an appropriate parent from what is in bloom right now. Perhaps 'Little Darling'??! (just kidding!)
This one puzzles me a bit :-S
ReplyDeleteThe 'Orangeade x fedtschenkoana' parent is white isn't it? The 'Midnight Blue' genes seem to be expressed really strongly in the flower but not so much the foliage. I wouldn't have picked such a wonderful colour from MB x a white based on previous discussions on RHA where you guys have recommended I use other purples, dark reds, or burnt oranges to breed with purples to develop such colours. It's all very interesting :) It's probbaly due to 'Orangeade's strong orange colour isn't it and the white in the parent was masking it maybe. Have you found this to be the case with other whites? By looking at the parents of whites can we presume they are coloured roses dressed in white (epistatic expression)?
Simon,
ReplyDeleteYes, the R. fedtschenkoana parent is phenotypically white, but its genotype contains a great deal more than what its appearance suggests. You answered your own question when stating "It's probbaly due to 'Orangeade's strong orange colour isn't it and the white in the parent was masking it maybe." Yep, pretty much. Some whites are white as breeders, but some with a lot of color in their pedigree are not. That is the case with Kim's hybrids as well.
When I made this cross, I acted on the hunch that the fedtschenkoana hybrid had the ability to trigger strong color expression in offspring (if mated to the right seed parent) and as it happens, I was right. The seedling shown here far exceeded my expectations, however. There are several more still to flower and one in particular intrigues me, with its cluster bloom habit. (Undoubtedly picked up from 'Midnight Blue' which is another reason I selected it as the seed parent)
And yes, the foliage is highly reminiscent of fedtschenkoana and not at all like 'Midnight Blue'. Curious!
Well I look forward to seeing this other seedling too and will hit the books to look at the pedigrees of fertile whites more carefully.
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