Now that's the kind of thing I like to see.

The seedling pictured here is one selection from a group of about twenty of this cross, germinated in March 2010. What isn't immediately apparent from the photo is the size of the plant; the container it is in is a five gallon "egg can" style nursery pot, with a lip diameter of about 14". The seedling itself is over 2.5 feet tall and has branched numerous times from the base. Already it is building an attractive architecture and displays a full compliment of foliage that persists to the base. Most of its siblings are also showing signs of vigor, health and attractive architecture.

Parentage:
79-02-PFC X 'Therese Bugnet'. The seed parent is R. foliolosa X 'Little Chief' and strongly resembles 'Basye's Purple'. See: 79-02-PFC

This is the kind of thing I like to see in my work nowadays, and this is much more the direction my work is taking; a lot of native species involvement and heavy use of plants like 'Therese Bugnet'. (which I am beginning to regard as a superb shrub. Now all we need is to improve in the rate of rebloom) No, I haven't seen bloom on any of these hybrids yet, but I didn't expect to till 2011 anyway. Many of these near-species crosses take at least a full year to start blooming anyway.

I also have a group of about 20 selections of R. foliolosa X 'Therese Bugnet' that are very similar in habit, but with even greater vigor, and in general, larger spaces between internodes. The R. foliolosa X 'Therese Bugnet' seedlings are also very sparingly thorned, some nearly thornless, in fact. I am looking forward to seeing first bloom on these in the Spring!