54-08-01, another R. fedtschenkoana seedling opens a bloom.

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!)

54-08-09: the first of the Fedtschenkoana hybrids blooms

This is the first of my 'Midnight Blue' X ('Orangeade' X R. fedtschenkoana) hybrids to flower. The pollen parent is a Kim Rupert hybrid given to me for study and breeding.

R. fedtschenkoana (HMF listing linked here) is a species native to parts of Asia and NW China. It is a prickly, upright species to 7 feet tall (give or take) with Linseed oil scented white blooms. About ten years ago, a lab did DNA sequencing of several of the early Damask cultivars and it was found, much to everyone's surprise, that R. fedtschenkoana played a role in the development of the Damask class. Roses such as R. damascena bifera are believed to be derived from (R. moschata X R. gallica) X R. fedtschenkoana. (Hikaru Iwata, Tsuneo Kato, and Susumu Ohno, 'Triparental Origin of Damask Roses', Gene, Vol. 259: Nos. 1-2 ( 2000 )

Read more: roses - Distribution and early development, The coming of the China roses, Recent developments, Materia Medica, Iliad, richardii) http://www.jrank.org/gardening/pages/1438/roses.html#ixzz0m8e6iKaI

The seedlings in the 54-08 group will be assessed for fertility, remontancy and disease resistance in the next few years. This first seedling has inherited the unusual Linseed Oil/herbal fragrance of its species grandparent, which I find intriguing. It has also inherited some degree of striping on the petals, which is curious, since there are no striped roses in its pedigree that I am aware of.

Hybrids like this may provide a completely new way of looking at the early development of the Damask class and new opportunities might be found when combining these species hybrids with more modern and more diverse parents. There are shockingly few species used in the development of modern garden roses (some estimate as few as seven or eight species are largely responsible for the creation of most of the roses we now grow!) and I feel that if anything truly new is to be created, integrating other species is essential now. I am particularly interested in the native North American roses like R. foliolosa and R. arkansana, to name but two.

Read more about some of Kim Rupert's other R. fedtschenkoana hybrids here.

72-08: mossy Spinosissima cross updated.

A couple of weeks ago I posted here about a Spinosissima cross I made in '08, of which several seedlings were preparing to flower for the first time. Well, I just wanted to submit a quick photo update to show the progress of the buds of one of these. As you can see, the buds are mossed in a most peculiar manner, with spikes on the receptacle! I will be using its pollen (assuming it presents any) in some crosses this Spring to see if I can recover remontancy in the next generation. I have hopes that some of this cross will be fertile and might add something to the shrub architecture and hardiness of my work.

06-05-12

06-05-12 = 174-02-17 X Magseed
I will be using this seedling in breeding for the first time this
Spring. It has shown to be very healthy, vigorous and with bold,
attractive foliage typical of some of the better Hybrid Rugosas. It
doesn't hurt any that the blooms are nearly five inches across!

Golden Angel X Reve d'Or

63-09

Although it has taken 2.5 months for them to germinate, I have finally got eight seedlings from the cross of R. bracteata X Magic Wand. The idea here is to make a new Bracteata line that will hopefully maintain diploidy, and good fertility as well. Crosses fingers.

R. Pteragonis

R. Pteragonis is a primary hybrid between R. hugonis and R. sericea pteracantha, the latter being the well known 'Wingthorn Rose', grown for it's dramatic translucent red thorns. Pteragonis has certainly inherited the same thorn pattern from the sericea side of the family, and some of the yellow from hugonis, although it quickly pales to white when fully open. Pteragonis is quite hardy in all but the coldest of climates and makes for a striking addition to a landscape setting. Height 7 to 10 feet, architecture loose and vaguely V-shaped.

R. Pteragonis was bred in Germany in 1938 by Max Krause. My specimen came from Vintage Gardens, although I understand that they don't always have plants for sale. Best to call and inquire about availability.

97-09: Golden Angel X Reve d'Or

An ocean of possibilities!