An in depth look at Moore's yellow breeder, 1-72-1

“1-72-1” (1972):
Breeding: ‘Little Darling’ X ‘Yellow Magic’

1-72-1 is a sibling to Moore's most famous yellow, 'Rise 'N' Shine'. It is in many ways a nearly identical rose except in stature; where 'Rise 'N' Shine' is a compact plant rarely exceeding 15 inches, 1-72-1 is much larger, with somewhat arching canes to three feet or more. Both roses have a beautifully clear yellow coloring that even forty years later is hard to improve upon, but of the two I think 'Rise 'N' Shine' has the more elegant flower form.
At the time of their creation Moore was referring to shrubs like 1-72-1 as "climbing miniatures" in order to improve their marketability. It would have been very difficult in the 1970's and 1980's to sell a "miniature" rose that grew to 4 X 4 feet!

Most people don't realize that 1-72-1 almost made it into commerce in the '70s, as a kind of larger version of 'Rise 'N' Shine'; Moore submitted the rose for the American Rose Society's Award of Excellence program, and Ralph said that if it won the award, he'd put it on the market. Unfortunately it didn't win, and so it remained at Sequoia Nursery where it was put to work as a breeder. Maybe it was better that way, as it turns out to have been one of the most important miniature breeders of Moore's career, and he made good use of it. Over the years it became clear to Moore that 1-72-1 was much more able to breed strongly colored offspring than its sibling 'Rise 'N' Shine', which tended to breed a lot of whites and very pale hues. Kim Rupert has more to say about this outstanding breeding plant:

“The final unsung hero of this tale is a relative new comer. Her sister got all the glory, while she was the wallflower. I guess it’s kind of hard to be noticed when your sister is the legendary ‘Rise N Shine’. “1-72-1” came from the same cross of ‘Little Darling’ X ‘Yellow Magic’ that produced ‘Rise N Shine’, and was selected in 1972. She was chosen as a parent because she consistently produces yellow seedlings, while ‘Rise N Shine’ gives mostly white ones. In the eighteen years of introductions of her offspring, thirteen outstanding roses have resulted. She has been mated to ‘Crested Jewel’ to produce ‘Chelsea’ (1986), the first mini to possess crested sepals from ‘Crested Moss’; ‘Old Blush’ to produce ‘Pink Poodle’(1992); and back to ‘Floradora’ to create the outstanding ‘Sequoia Ruby’ (1996). Mr. Moore has even bred her to new roses not yet on the market. Week’s ‘Shadow Dancer’, itself a Moore rose, when crossed with 1-72-1 gave the delightful ‘Twister’. It’s a short climber that can be grown as a neat little shrub. It has the cleanest, brightest red, pink and white stripes yet, on ‘Cecile Brunner’ style flowers.”
For the breeder and collector, ‘Softee’ represents one of the more interesting varieties to me. Pollen from “1-72-1” was placed on “0-47-19” producing a nearly thornless, heavily blooming, little shrub. The fragrant flowers are double, soft, creamy yellow aging off-white. There is really no telling what could come from using ‘Softee’ as a parent. When I asked why he had never tried it, Mr. Moore responded he had never thought of it. I believe it important because it brings his two most successful breeders together in one rose.”

From the article, Out Of China: “Another seedling produced by the same lot as 'Rise 'N Shine; became #1-72-1, a repeat flowering miniature climber. This sister seedling of 'Rise 'N Shine' was never introduced but we have used it extensively in our breeding. From crosses of 1-72-1 X 'Gold Badge' (Floribunda) have come 'Cal Poly', (also an Award of Excellence winner), 'Work of Art', an orange blend mini climber and others.”

Known first generation offspring includes:

1979: ‘Orange Cascade’: 1-72-1 X ‘Magic Wand’, Climbing Miniature, orange Blend.
1983: ‘High Stepper’: 1-72-1 X ‘Magic Wand’, Climbing Miniature, yellow blend.
1983: ‘Softee’: 0-47-19 X 1-72-1, Miniature, white.
1986: ‘Chelsea’: 1-72-1 X ‘Crested Jewel’, medium pink, some cresting on sepals.
1987: ‘Joycie’: 1-72-1 X ‘Gold Badge’, Miniature, orange blend.
1987: ‘Snow Twinkle’: 1-72-1 X ‘Magic Carousel’, Miniature, white.
1988: ‘Golden Gardens’: 1-72-1 X ‘Gold Badge’, Miniature, medium yellow.
1989: ‘Work of Art’: 1-72-1 X ‘Gold Badge’, Climbing Miniature, orange blend.
1991: ‘Vi’s Violet’: 1-72-1 X ‘Angel Face’, Miniature, mauve.
1992: ‘Cal Poly’: 1-72-1 X ‘Gold Badge’, Miniature, medium yellow.
1992: ‘Pink Poodle’: 1-72-1 X ‘Old Blush’, Miniature, pink blend.
1993: ‘Tag-a-Long’: 1-72-1 X ‘Make Believe’, Miniature, red blend.
1993: ‘Orchid Jubilee’: 1-72-1 X ‘Make Believe’, Climbing miniature, mauve.
1996: ‘Sequoia Ruby’: 1-72-1 X ‘Floradora’, Climbing miniature, medium red.
1997: ‘Twister’: 1-72-1 X ‘Shadow Dancer’, Climbing Miniature, red blend.
1998: ‘Woodstock’: 1-72-1 X ‘Clytemnestra’, Climbing miniature, yellow blend.
2002: 'Star Dust': 1-72-1 X ‘Out of Yesteryear’, Miniflora, white blend.
2003: 'Lemon Pearls': 1-72-1 X 'Out of Yesteryear'.
2005: ‘Keith’s Delight’: 1-72-1 X ‘Rugelda’.

There have been a number of other hybrids created by Kim Rupert in recent years, marrying 1-72-1 with R. fedtschenkoana hybrids and R. hugonis, to name just two. Kim's hybrids tend to be highly unconventional shrubs that are highly experimental yet attractive, aiming to improve the shrub architecture, while exploring new aesthetic paradigms.

I too have employed 1-72-1 in my work in recent years, with various goals in mind. Most recently, I made a number of crosses using yellow breeders in combination with the AgCan breeder L83 (A. Kordesii hybrid) including 1-72-1 as one parent. I was surprised at how many seedlings displayed medium to strong yellow or orange tones from this cross. Of these, I have selected three seedlings which have superior disease resistance and have demonstrated the ability to form seeds. These will be used in breeding to pursue the creation of a modest-sized yellow shrub rose that will withstand cold winters and have improved disease resistance.

Relatively recent additions to my 1-72-1 family includes 58-06-05 and 58-06-03
two beautifully pigmented "brown" miniatures. (although at between three and five feet tall, they can hardly be called true miniatures, even though they meet the ARS guidelines for such shrubs. Its hard to know what to call these odd-sized plants) Here is 58-06-03:

58-06-07/05: the "Brown Sisters"

Breeding: 1-72-1 (Moore, 1972, sister seedling to 'Rise 'N' Shine') X 'Hot Cocoa'.

The seedling at top is 58-06-05, the lower photo is of its sister, 58-06-07. There were other selections from this cross back in '07, but they were discarded for various reasons. (I seem to recall the others were rather ordinary oranges and soft yellows; nothing remarkable) These two were kept for their remarkable coloring, the first one being the most dramatic of the two, as you can see. It is very difficult to capture the color of either with a camera, but these photos come close to being accurate. If you are familiar with the old Floribunda 'Jocelyn', or Sam McGredy's 'Brown Velvet', then you have some idea how these two look.

58-06-07 (the second one) has very shapely flowers very reminiscent of its seed parent. 1-72-1 often breeds bloom form like this, which is why Moore liked working with it so much. (That and the fact that it often breeds good, strong colors) I'm not sure about the future of 58-06-07 though, since it doesn't produce quite enough volume of bloom, tending to produce one or two blooms at the end of a shoot. That ain't a trait I like to see in my work, so I may try it as a breeder and just leave it on the bench for a while.

The other one, the richly colored 58-06-05, is a much more generous bloomer, producing most of its bloom in clusters of three or more, and quite a lot of them too. Like its sister, it is a tallish, upright grower, although it is well branched, eventually forming a pillar-shaped bush to about 4 or 5 feet tall. No doubt it could be trained into a bushier form, if you wanted to.

This year, I have decided to submit this variety to Rogue Valley Roses to auction off the naming rights. If it works out, I will likely select a new seedling every year to auction off. Rogue Valley doesn't yet have any information on their site to announce the details of this offer, but I expect it will be coming quite soon. I'll let you know more about it when it happens.

To celebrate a sunny day: 1-72-1 by Ralph Moore.

Breeding: Ralph S. Moore, 1972. Sister seedling to 'Rise 'N' Shine'. Parentage: 'Little Darling' X 'Yellow Jewel'.

Today I am celebrating another sunny, warm(ish) day on the farm by presenting one of Ralph Moore's most important yellow breeding plants, 1-72-1. This just hapens to be a sister seedling to 'Rise 'N' Shine', Moore's most commercially successful yellow miniature. In many ways 1-72-1 it is very similar to 'Rise 'N' Shine' with one significant exception: this is a larger plant, with a growth habit that has come to be known as "a climbing miniature". (Its not really a climber, but rather a large plant with 4 to 5 foot arching canes)

A little known tidbit about this plant's history is that it was submitted for the AOE trials and was scheduled to be released as a commercial variety if it won an award. Unfortunately it didn't win an AOE, but it played a far more important role in Moore' breeding program. 1-72-1 is the parent of many excellent roses, including 'Cal Poly', 'Golden Gardens', 'Joycie', 'Pink Poodle', 'Sequoia Ruby', 'Twister' and 'Work of Art'. Moore made it known to many of his hybridizer friends that although 'Rise 'N' Shine' has played a role in breeding many excellent roses, 1-72-1 was the better parent. 'Rise 'N' Shine' breeds far too many white and off-white seedlings, whereas 1-72-1 breeds a higher percentage of strong yellows and oranges. Without 1-72-1 we'd have a significantly less rich gene pool in the yellow color group, and its influence can be traced through many generations of modern roses both large and small. Here's to Ralph Moore on this sunny day, and to the lovely golden 1-72-1!

More from L83: 37-07-03

The seedling pictured here comes from a cross of Ralph Moore's yellow breeder 1-72-1 X L83, the AgCan tetraploid Kordesii breeder. The idea here, of course, was to work towards yellow in the Winter hardy, Blackspot resistance line. This is as close as any of this group has come to yellow, and it is peachy pink with a yellow center at best, but I think it represents a step towards better things. As 1-72-1 is a tetraploid yellow miniature climber, the likelihood is that all of this group are tetraploids also, and therefore fertile with any luck. The first thing I will do is allow these seedlings to self and see if seeds result. Then next year, if the open pollinated seeds germinate, I will make some intentional crosses, probably mating this with other peachy seedlings from the same cross. (There is one other so far and many still to bloom) I will undoubtedly mate this with the 'Golden Angel' X 'John Davis seedling mentioned a few days ago.

Results from the L83 crosses: 77-07

At left: 77-07 selections. Click on the photo to see a full sized image.

In 2007 I made a few crosses using the Agriculture Canada breeder L83 by Dr. Felicitas Svejda. It is basically a R. wichurana and R. rugosa selection, multiple generations long. It also happens to be a tetraploid, making it particularly useful in breeding with modern lines. There were three crosses I got large numbers of seedlings from and L83 was the pollen parent in every case. 'Seed parents were: 'Golden Angel', 1-72-1 (Sister seedling to 'Rise 'N' Shine') and a proprietary red Floribunda I use extensively in breeding. Out of at least 70 seedlings of each cross, at least 40 of the two yellow groups were saved and potted into gallons and about 60 seedlings from the red cross were potted on.

77-07, the red group, has been the most fruitful. I would estimate that about 35% of these, a much higher number than expected, have been strong reds and several have been large blooms and very double. In the photo, 77-07-08 shows what some of the more double ones have looked like. Several of these have had fragrance and there was one that was a purple very similar to 'Tuscany'. So far about 20 of the reds have been moved on into 5 gallon containers and will be moved outside to watch their progress. This has been a very exciting group of seedlings and I am eager to continue trying new ideas with L83.

Last Fall, some members of the Rose Hybridizers Association received some of my surplus seedlings from the 77-07 group, so this information will be of particular interest to you. Have any of you seen any of the seedlings flower yet?

Since we're on the topic of miniatures....

I thought I'd show you a new mini: 58-06-05. This came out of a 2006 cross of Ralph Moore's famous yellow breeder 1-72-1 crosses with 'Hot Cocoa' by Tom Carruth. Only in my wildest dreams did I imagine a miniature with this color intensity would be possible. Now, to be honest, the plant lacks grace (grown in the greenhouse so far, it might look better when moved outside into the open) and the foliage is a bit sparse for my liking. But this is potentially a useful exhibition style variety, since it makes plenty of one-to-a-stem blooms that present well. This seedling also propagates rediculously easily from cuttings.

The photo doesn't do it justice, really; the petal texture is more velvety in reality and the color is deeper, richer, more luminous. Its a real "Jocelyn brown" color. Very "oxblood'. I'll be moving this seedling (and its sibling which is similar, but with better foliage and architecture) outdoors soon so I can see how it behaves in the garden. With any luck the plant will take on a more attractive growth habit and the foliage will improve.

Old dogs and new tricks

I've said this before and its worth mentioning again: 'Joycie' is a remarkable rose to use in breeding. It will take pollen from just about anything and produce loads of viable seeds that germinate well. Even more important, it is very malleable, unlike its relative 'Sequoia Ruby' which I spoke of recently. (Both 'Joycie' and 'Sequoia Ruby' share the same seed parent: 1-72-1, which I'll tell you about in an upcoming post)

The seedling pictured at left is 52-04-03, a cross of 'Joycie' X 'Maréchal Niel'. As you can see, this rose is heavily influenced by the pollen parent, a Tea-Noisette from 1857. I doubt 'Maréchal Niel' has been used in breeding is quite some time (although I see the clever and innovative Louis Lens has a 1995 hybrid listed using it with R. helenae.)

52-04-03 has been slow to mature, as one would expect from a cross like this. Tea hybrids usually are slow to build up size, and finally, at four years of age this one is showing its potential. It doesn't much like my climate, which isn't surprising, so I have budded it last year onto R. multiflora and will keep a specimen in the greenhouse where it will perform better. The photo is of that bud grafted specimen in a five gallon container, taken two days ago. This will be a warm climate hybrid, I expect, and in the right situation it will make a climber. How big it will ultimately get is anybody's guess at this point. I'm guessing modestly large: 8 to 10 feet, perhaps.

This beautiful seedling bears clusters of nodding 3.5" blooms that open slowly and last a long time. In the open garden, the coloring is quite a bit richer with hints of antique gold. It has a moderate Tea fragrance that at 10 or 11 in the morning is quite wonderful. It has recently formed a new shoot from the base that has about 9 blooms forming on it, indicating that it may be capable of making bold displays. It is also nearly continuous with bloom, cycling rapidly. Sounds promising?

I will begin propagating this a bit later on this season. It may require an understock to perform its best, we'll see.