On days when I am suffering from hay fever (fortunately these are few, and limited to late May/early June) I shouldn't be allowed to commit anything to writing. I last talked about some seedlings I am using in breeding that came from a cross involving the Indian species R. clinophylla. I also mentioned that although two of my R. clinophylla plants bloomed as juvenile seedlings, their offspring have not shown any inclination to remontancy. That was incorrect. In fact, 92-06-02, sibling to the seedling shown in the June 9th post, blooms on new wood and will repeat on and off a little bit through the growing season. In a warm climate, it is possible that it would bloom through the year.
Case in point; the shoot pictured here. (Click to see a full sized version) This shoot, which is now about 18" long, is new wood from the base of the plant, and yet it has terminated in a cluster of bloom. There are several other new basal shoots that are 24" or longer and starting to show flower buds at the tips as well. Now, this is still a young plant and so I can't really say for sure how remontant it is, but this looks promising. I hope this plant in particular is fertile so I can move forward with a diploid line from R. clinophylla. Who knows what kind of tricks this species has up its sleeve, since we know very little about its behavior as a breeder.
Note the fine pubescence on the receptacles of the buds.
Several years ago Gene Waering distributed seeds of R. clinophylla to several rose collectors, including myself. From my batch of seed I grew about a dozen plants. I gave several away, ultimately keeping only two, which had flowered within 2 months of germination. I thought perhaps these would have some kind of genes for remontancy in them, although my work with these two so far indicates this is not so. Curiously, R. clinophylla has a fragrance often compared to the smell of Acetone, much like its close relative R. bracteata.
The rose pictured here (click photo to see a full sized version) is one of my first hybrids using my R. clinophylla. This is seedling 92-06-03, bred using a self seedling of Ralph Moore's 0-47-19 I grew years ago called 42-03-02.
This seed parent, 42-03-02 is a fully remontant pink/purple with 5 to 9 petals, blooming in large panicles of 1 inch blooms on a 2.5 X 2.5 foot plant. It is highly resistant to all diseases and although not tested for its ploidy, I expect it is a diploid, like its parent. It also happens to be quite fragrant. I have not used it extensively as a parent until fairly recently, choosing it more often now because I have a use for a disease resistant diploid in my work. (You'll read more about that in the months to come, I'm sure)
Back to 92-06-03: this is the most colorful of the three seedlings from this cross to bloom so far. There are four more that have not yet bloomed and they are behaving as though they have genetic problems, so I expect they will be discarded this year. The plant in the photo has long arching canes that bloom along the length of the cane all in one quick flush, with side buds following shortly after. Each bloom lasts 2 days and then drops cleanly. This clone has a slight fragrance. This plant and its two siblings are being used as both seed and pollen parent this year to determine if they have fertility. I am using some old standard diploids with them, such as 'Old Blush' and 'Trier' with the hope that these will allow me to step forward with some remontant, fertile diploids in the next generation. The beautiful ferny glossy foliage on these (especially 92-06-02, which you can read about here) is something I want to retain, but with this ancestry, I suspect these will be evergreen, warm climate roses only. We shall see!
On days when I am suffering from hay fever (fortunately these are few, and limited to late May/early June) I shouldn't be allowed to commit anything to writing. I last talked about some seedlings I am using in breeding that came from a cross involving the Indian species R. clinophylla. I also mentioned that although two of my R. clinophylla plants bloomed as juvenile seedlings, their offspring have not shown any inclination to remontancy. That was incorrect. In fact, 92-06-02, sibling to the seedling shown in the June 9th post, blooms on new wood and will repeat on and off a little bit through the growing season. In a warm climate, it is possible that it would bloom through the year.
