I found this great photo of buds of Ralph's crested breeder, C-04. It is a back-cross of Crested Jewel onto Little Darling, its momma. This is a very dwarf plant, to two feet, and lacking vigor. It does, however, bloom like as mad thing, and passes the cresting on to offspring. But the offspring are invariably weak plants with very poor vigor and zero disease resistance. I keep it as a novelty and a reminder of the good old days with Ralph and Carolyn at the nursery.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
From the photo library: Ralph Moore's quest for the crest.
I found this great photo of buds of Ralph's crested breeder, C-04. It is a back-cross of Crested Jewel onto Little Darling, its momma. This is a very dwarf plant, to two feet, and lacking vigor. It does, however, bloom like as mad thing, and passes the cresting on to offspring. But the offspring are invariably weak plants with very poor vigor and zero disease resistance. I keep it as a novelty and a reminder of the good old days with Ralph and Carolyn at the nursery.
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Paul, thank you for posting this photo! I grew CO4 many years ago. Ralph had handed it to me and to keep it safe, I grew it on my balcony in a self watering pot. On June 5, 1996, there was a huge fire which came from the side and under the balcony, destroying everything. Many weeks later, during clean up and reconstruction, I was permitted to enter the rubble with a worker and asbestos protection. Where the balcony burned and all the debris fell to the ground, the worker noticed a chunk of charred wood protruding from a mound of soil and a green shoot growing from it. It was CO4! I carefully collected it and soaked it in a bucket of water before potting it. The plant grew! Once I determined what it was, I sent a photo of it to Ralph saying, "You may not have created the most cold hardy roses in the world, nor even the most disease resistant, but if you ever have a request for one which can grow on the slopes of an active volcano, THIS one is it!" He called to thank me for the laugh. Thanks. Kim
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add, until we determined what it was, the rose was nick named "Phoenix". Kim
ReplyDeleteKim; Paul; both are great stories. The crested buds are nice to view, too bad they haven't panned out in breeding.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your stories, too, guys. It's a cute thing.
ReplyDeleteAs you know I have a couple of C-04 and look forward to putting them to work this summer if I get blooms. Your Persil I hop to put to work as well. I have a couple of seedlings from Honey Perfume X Moore's Red Crested Floribunda. Thanks for your help on those. Jeff
ReplyDeleteThank you Paul for sharing the great photo - and a good reminder of the golden years at Sequoia Nursery! Kim that is an amazing story too! This group is photogenic in the bud stage. I wonder what the future holds for them...
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