December treat.

43-09-02: 'Golden Glow' X 'Morden Sunrise'.

The idea here is improved winter hardiness in the yellow color range. Both parents are renowned for their ability to thrive in harsh, wintry climates, and so I hope to see some of that persist in this cross. At this point only two seedlings remain, and this is the nicer one of the two. Curiously, it has inherited the peculiar Cinnamon-like fragrance of its Canadian parent, 'Morden Sunrise'.
Its rather nice to have a late December bloom as pretty as this, just before Christmas. One might almost think spring was just around the corner. (HAH!)

Golden Glow X Morden Sunrise

Two years ago I gave up on Golden Glow as a breeder; it kept giving me whites and pinks and the occasional sickly pale yellow. I'm 2009 I acquired Morden Sunrise for breeding and decided to make one last try with Golden Glow, and mated these two. The seedling pictured here (43-09-02) is one of three that I kept. The other two are medium yellows. Although these seedlings may not offer anything in terms of Blackspot resistance, they may have superior Winter hardiness in cold climates.

It is interesting to note that all of the remontant seedlings obtained from various Morden Sunrise crosses have that unusual Cinnamon/musk fragrance!

Breeding for Winter hardy yellows: 09-07-11

In recent years the creation of improved "landscape friendly" shrubs for cold climates has become more of an aspect of my work. To that end, I made a cross in 2007 of 'Golden Angel' X 'John Davis'. I have noted that 'Golden Angel' has bred not only some very disease resistant varieties ('Apricot Twist' is nearly 100% immune to Blackspot and Mildew) but also has the potential for breeding cold climate yellows, seeing as its seed parent was the Brownell climber 'Golden Glow'.

Here is one of about 14 seedlings I obtained last year from this cross of 'Golden Angel' X 'John Davis'. In my wildest dreams I did not imagine getting a yellow as clear and strong as this. (Bloom is about 2/3 open. I will photograph it again later, and get a shot of the plant also) As was expected, this group did not bloom in their first year, as these types of seedlings tend not to have any juvenile remontancy. These first flowers are not large, about 2" across, but the plant appears to have superior architecture and the foliage is very beautiful, with a nearly species-like look: dark green, matte and a bluish sheen. There are two other yellows from this group so far and several still to bloom. This is very exciting as these may prove to be useful in the breeding of good yellow disease free shrubs for locations with harsh Winters.

Very busy day, so I can't go into any more detail. I hope to get another photo later today. Enjoy!