53-03-08: ('Tuscany Superb' X 'Othello') X 'The Yeoman'.As you can probably decipher from the code number of this one (cross #53, year 2003, seedling #8 of that cross) I have had this for several years now and I've been watching its performance in the garden. I made the cross hoping for a percentage of repeaters, and yet none of the dozen or so I kept for testing have been repeaters. However, this one has other merits: it is totally Blackspot free (that is remarkable in this climate, where Blackspot rules) and is an aesthetic winner. It also bears a delicious fragrance, influenced by (but not a carbon copy replica of) its pollen parent, 'The Yeoman', whose Anise-scented blooms are anathema to some, and heaven-on-earth to others.
I have started propagating 53-03-08 and have sent a few plants out for testing on other regions. I don't exactly plan on releasing this commercially; I mean, do we really need more once-blooming pink roses? (Obviously rhetorical: my answer is no) Still, it is a lovely, easy to care for shrub. It appears to max out at about 7 feet tall and a bit wider, with an arching outline and no inclination to sucker widely.
Ha! I bet I could give it blackspot!
ReplyDeleteDoes it set OP hips?
ReplyDeleteHi George. Merry Christmas and all that jazz!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I can't say for sure, I'll have to look. I don't think it does, no, but I should verify that. I'm guessing that if I wanted to take this forward, it would be as a pollen parent only.
Yeah, season's greetings to you also, my friend in roses!
ReplyDeleteI am one of those types that loves that type of fragrance!!!!!
Its resistance to blackspot in your climate is very remarkable, it makes this beauty exceptional.
Who knows, it might be able to breed good horizontal resistance to BS??