37-03-NE

Parentage: "0-47-19" (R. wichurana X 'Floradora') X 'Lilian Austin'. Possible triploid, but fully fertile. Repeats well, completely free of Blackspot, Mildew and Rust. It has a decent Apple-like scent. (Pardon this mediocre photo, it is apparently the only image I took of it)

This is a seedling that was planted out in the garden in 2005 and subsequently forgotten about: I had planted it in a section where other roses hid it from view for a while. I rediscovered it in the corner last Spring, tucked behind other roses and growing like a weed in spite of the fact that its irrigation had failed at least a year ago. I immediately set it to work as a seed bearer, noting that it was completely free of disease. I hope it may prove useful in my search for new lines of Blackspot immune roses. (R. wichurana is capable of breeding highly Blackspot resistant roses, we know that) Another trait R. wichurana often passes on to its progeny is ease of propagation by cuttings, and this seedling is no exception. I have a couple of band sized copies of this seedling which I am willing to share with other hybridizers. Contact me if you are seriously interested.

Recognize this?

Do you recognize this rose? Its pretty obvious, isn't it? 'Basye's Purple', right? Nope. This is one of four seedlings I grew several years ago from a cross of my "R. foliolosa" (in double quotes to indicate that I suspect this is not pure R. foliolosa, but a hybrid) and 'Little Chief', the Moore miniature descended from R. multibracteata and R. wichurana. (Code number 79-02-PFC)

I don't really understand how this happened, but it suggests that R. foliolosa is a bit of a trickster, capable of producing offspring that look similar to 'Basye's Purple' when crossed with a variety of other roses. It may be important to note that 'Little Chief' is almost certainly a diploid, and it is highly likely that this "R. foliolosa" is also. The thing to do now would be to grow a population of open pollinated seeds from the "R. foliolosa" I have and see what the offspring look like. I suspect there will be noticeable variation and a percentage will look like this. I have sent out some seeds from my "R. foliolosa" and so perhaps the recipients will be able to report their results.

PS: it is of interest to me that this purple seedling appears to be fertile as both seed and pollen parent and I will be working with it more, now that I know that. If anyone wants to try pollen from it, I am willing to share it. Comment to request it.

Transplanting tip #1

About working with R. wichurana hybrids.

One breeder I work with every year is Ralph Moore's 0-47-19, one of his most important hybrids used in the development of a number of his best roses. It is a cross of the species R. wichurana* and the old Floribunda from Tantau, 'Floradora'. ("Floradora' trivia: it now boasts 3466 descendants to its credit! Most of these come down to us through 0-47-19 and 'Queen Elizabeth')

I have found that there is a trick to raising seedlings from this first generation R. wichurana hybrid. They don't like to be transplanted from flats to pots at an early stage, or they tend to roll over and die. See that fairly large seedling in the upper right? Thats about the size these have to get before they can be transplanted successfully. So if you are working with R. wichurana or any of its first generation hybrids, you may want to let these get to at least the three leaf stage before transplanting them.

Oh, and one other thing: 0-47-19 has been my best hybrid for breeding Blackspot-free roses. I consider it a very important rose in the search for disease-proof roses. 0-47-19 was the seed parent for my 2009 repeat blooming Rambler 'Mel's Heritage', which is something like a repeat blooming 'Cecile Brunner', but more lax in habit.

*Yes, we are supposed to write the name as R. wichurana now and not the old spelling R. wichuraiana, which is now considered to be incorrect nomenclature. Classification systems grow and evolve and we have to adapt to these changes :-)