Grapey surprise.

27-09-02: 'Midnight Blue' X "MORsoul". The latter is an unreleased Moore hybrid from 'Anytime' X R. soulieana. It was one parent of Ralph's lovely little 'Baby Austin'.

This was a huge surprise, color wise. I selected 'Midnight Blue' knowing that if anything could add color to a cross that might bleach out to pale pinks or peaches using most any other parent, 'Midnight Blue' could. I guess I wasn't wrong! This is the second selection that has bloomed in a very dark color. Much darker than anything I imagined possible. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that R. soulieana is represented on both sides of the parentage equation? Hmmm.

Bloom form is a bit disorganized, but that might right itself in time. It is already forming the next blooms just as the first is opening, and lots of new growth is appearing from the base, indicating a potentially shrubby, compact habit. Oh, and yes....it has a fragrance too. Fun, eh wot?

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.

Ralph Moore and the Rugosa hybrids: 'Peach Candy'

'Peach Candy', bred by Moore, introduced by Sequoia Nursery in 1995. Parentage: 'Sheri Anne' X 'Topaz Jewel'.

Ralph Moore did considerable work in the past 20 years with various Rugosa hybrids. There wasn't a breeding line at Sequoia Nursery that didn't get some Rugosa genes injected into it at some stage. The results, of course, varied wildly; some were spectacularly unique, some were monsters with a renegade persona, some were tragic mutants that signaled a mismatch of genetics from widely divergent branches of the family tree. My recollection when discussing these breeding lines with Ralph is that many seedlings were troubled in some way and very, very few were noteworthy.

One of the most successful of the Hybrid Rugosas Ralph bred was 'Topaz Jewel', a stunning soft medium yellow hybrid from a cross of 'Golden Angel' X 'Belle Poitvine'. Many breeders, Ralph included, have sought to take 'Topaz Jewel' a step further in the hopes of generating a true yellow Rugosa hybrid that has the toughness of the Rugosas and the generous rebloom of more modern hybrids. Unfortunately that hasn't been easy. I know that some people continue to try to work with it, and in spite of the fact that it apparently is a diploid, (no aneuploidy as far as we know) it almost never sets any seed and its pollen rarely, if ever, results in seed set on other hybrids. Ralph himself produced but one hybrids from 'Topaz Jewel', the lovely 'Peach Candy' pictured here. It has none of the characteristics of its Rugosa pedigree (unless you count its reluctance to propagate from cuttings), looking like a rather ordinary peachy-hued Miniature.

Some goals, no matter how persistent the breeder, just aren't going to get you where you hoped to go. Still, it doesn't hurt to try.

One more thing......

I found a Sequoia Nursery catalog from 1959, the year I was born, featuring many of the best of the Moore roses to that point. Available here as a PDF file. Enjoy!

From the Ralph Moore archives, on Ralph's 104th birthday

Another memento from the Ralph Moore archive, on his 104th birthday: a flyer advertising the introduction of 'Bit 'O' Sunshine', probably mailed out in 1956, the year of its introduction.

Interesting story about 'Bit 'O' Sunshine': back in the early 2000's, Carolyn Supinger, Sequoia's general manager sent me a list of Ralph's roses that she was trying to find plants of, so Sequoia could "bring home" as many of the Moore roses as were still around. Of course, many of the pre-1960 varieties remain lost and in all likelihood are extinct now. However, many "lost" cultivars did find their way back to Sequoia Nursery.

Shortly after Jerry Justice died, I was visiting with his nursery manager, Santos, who was sorting the inventory and dispatching it as responsibly as she could. I was sorting through a tray of 'Rise 'N' Shine's I was buying and in the tray was a half dozen plants that were clearly not 'Rise 'N' Shine'. I pointed this out to Santos who didn't know what they were. So, I took them home with me, knowing that Carolyn was looking for some of Ralph's older roses. Who knows, right?

I sent three plants to Carolyn at Sequoia, and she gave them to Ralph for identification. Well, guess what? Ralph said they were 'Bit 'O' Sunshine', one of his varieties from the mid-fifties. One other "lost" variety was found growing at Justice Miniatures that year as well: 'Strawberry Swirl', one of the early Mini Mosses Moore bred.

Many of the early Moore roses remain lost at this time, with little hope of recovery. After fifty years or more, there is slim chance that any of them are still alive in private gardens around the country. Still, it is a testament to Ralph that well over 3/4 of his 500+ hybrids are still grown and many are in commerce to this day. (In spite of the serious decline in people's interest in roses, especially the miniatures. )

As it happens, I have living specimens of all three of the roses listed in this flyer!

Ralph Moore's 104th Birthday

Today would have been Ralph Moore's 104th birthday. This is to say thanks, Ralph, for all of the knowledge you have shared with many of us, and a personal thank you for sharing with me a number of your most valued breeding plants. They are getting a workout here, I assure you!

I believe the photos shown here are all by Carolyn Supinger, Moore's general manager for many years at Sequoia Nursery. It would be at about this time of the year that Ralph would have been sowing the previous year's seed crop, as he is doing in the upper two images. In the third image it is late Spring and Ralph is weeding out unwanted seedlings to make room for the better ones. In the last two images, Ralph and I are talking about thornlessness in roses. If I am not mistaken, the plant I am looking at ended up being named 'Gina's Rose', one of the thornless shrubs bred from 'Basye's Legacy'.

Thank you Ralph, for all the glorious roses, and for showing the rest of us how to approach rose breeding with creative abandon.

"Undisclosed"

"Undisclosed"

If you attempt to look up the pedigree of the David Austin roses of the past decade or so, that is what you'll see. As a "fellow explorer" in rose genetics, (No, I am not drawing any comparisons between myself and Mr. Austin) I find that rather annoying and disappointing. I'd like to know what went into the making of some of his current roses. Perhaps he is just protecting what he regards as "proprietary information", or maybe he just doesn't want us to know that he is using the likes of 'Fragrant Cloud' or (gawd forbid) 'Tropicana' to achieve his results. Who knows.

I gravitate much more towards Ralph Moore's way of thinking about such matters. Allow me to paraphrase him: What have I got to lose by sharing information about parentage of my roses? You can see my "recipe" for a rose, but without my personal "ingredients", you can't make the same "cake". And besides, by the time a rose makes it to market, I've already moved ahead by six or eight years or more, and so why would I care if someone tried to duplicate my results?

Makes sense to me. I'd rather describe in a fair bit of detail what I am working on and how I am getting there. Half the fun is getting pleasing results, the other half is sharing what I've learned in the process.

And just because it doesn't feel right to write a blog post without a picture, we have today: 19-02-03 from a cross of 'Joycie' X 'Crepuscule'.

Moore's "Orange Moss", aka "OM".

Just a quick note this morning before I get busy with chores.

I've grown Ralph Moore's "Orange Moss" ('Mark Sullivan' X 'Golden Moss') for quite a few years and I have come to love it for the many things it is, and lament it for the many things it is not. It is a remarkable leap forward in the breeding of the modern moss roses, something Ralph pioneered in the fifties. It is also deeply flawed, with its awkward, sprawling growth habit, sparse blooming habit, and insistence on producing an expert crop of mildewed growth from August onwards. And yet, when it does flower, the buds with their rich orange hues splashed with a smoldering red are remarkable. The open blooms are pure joy; glowing pure color and striking anthers beautifully displayed, plus it bears the richest fragrance, reminiscent of Orange Tang drink mix from my childhood!

Ralph told me personally, and documented it in writing also, that Orange Moss, while enthusiastically fertile as a pollen parent, did not set seeds. Perhaps it is a climate difference, but one of my greenhouse-kept specimens of it produced three hips in 2009. I did indeed save them and prepared the seeds along with all the rest of the 2009 crop, sowing them in March of this year. Three seedlings resulted, one of which you see here.

Two of the three were dreadfully mildewy creatures, barely holding on to life all Summer. One appears to be declining, while the second is holding on, even while consumed by Mildew. The third one, as you can see, is clean as can be, with deep green glossy foliage. I am potting this one up into a gallon can this AM, and with any luck I will see a flower next Spring. I hope that it might contain the genes for both mossing and the rich coloring of its parent. Remontancy is unlikely, I'm guessing, but who knows.

Doesn't that foliage just scream "I'm a goer!"?

Little Treasures

Every once in a while you get a pleasant surprise exactly when you don't expect it. Last year, in an effort to concentrate more on developing a diploid breeding line with disease resistance, I collected a number of open pollinated seeds from 'Magic Wand' one of the well documented Moore breeders. It is one of the first generation of "Zee" hybrids; a "climbing" shrub with very small foliage and large panicles of tiny, deep pink blooms. Although 'Magic Wand' is a tall growing cultivar, it frequently breeds very dwarf offspring, regardless of the stature of the other parent. For me, it has potential value as a breeder because it is virtually indestructible in my climate, thriving with minimal care and resisting all three of the major fungal diseases without chemical assistance.

And so, I grew a population of open pollinated seed to see what traits it had to offer. Mostly, I expected to see a range of characteristics, both dominants and recessives, but I didn't expect to keep any of the seedlings. The one pictured here was most noteworthy, with its well-formed blooms, spotless foliage, dense, bushy growth habit and balanced scale of all plant parts (tiny). It didn't hurt that the blooms are remarkably sweet-scented for such tiny flowers. (Blooms do not exceed 0.5" in diameter) So, I'm keeping this feller. I've struck a few cuttings already and it roots in a matter of days (+- 8 days), which is even better.

Funny, isn't it, how these little gifts turn up in a body of work in the places you don't expect them. The surprise factor is probably what I enjoy most about the work I do. I imagine a lot of hybridizers feel the same way. :-) Oh, and one more thing: I have given it a nickname for now; a reference to a rose it resembles: 'Si', by Pedro Dot. I'm calling it "Si Plus Plus". I wonder how many people will get that pun?

"Moore's Nutkana"

Breeding: 'Orangeade' X 'Schoener's Nutkana', by Ralph Moore. Date of creation unknown, probably pre-1990. (The nickname of "Moore's Nutkana" is one I gave it, not Ralph's name for it)

Following quickly on the heels of my last post about R. fedtschenkoana, here is another rose that has a species prominently featured in its pedigree. The species in this case is the native North American R. nutkana, a beautiful thicket forming shrub with excellent architecture and often very richly colored single blooms.

Here, Ralph Moore put pollen from 'Schoener's Nutkana' (R. nutkana X 'Paul Neyron') onto 'Orangeade' (if 'Orangeade' won't take your pollen, nothing will!) and this was the seedling Ralph saved from the cross. (There may have been others, but this is the one I know about) It is a large plant to 12 feet or more, with graceful arching architecture, presenting clusters of 3 to 7 blooms all along its canes at every lateral. In many ways, it comes close to the ideal plant architecture for a rose, in my mind, and it is this trait that I include this rose in my work. I made several crosses with this hybrid about 7 years ago and found it to be a less than willing seed parent. Now that it is fully established I find it sets seed much more readily, and so in 2009 I made a number of crosses and await the germination of the seeds.

Although "Moore's Nutkana" leaves something to be desired in terms of Blackspot resistance and freedom of bloom (it blooms only sparingly after the first flush), these problems can be fixed in subsequent generations. *crosses fingers* I'll post photos of anything worth looking at when the seedlings are up and (hopefully) blooming.

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!

10-05-05: an orange moss.

10-05-05: 'Condoleezza' X ('Sequoia Ruby' X 'Scarlet Moss'). The pollen parent, which is extinct thanks to Gophers, is a sister seedling to 'Unconditional Love', one of my commercial releases.

I view this rose as one of those "close-but-not-quite-finished" seedlings that will hopefully be a stepping stone towards something more to my liking. This is a heavily mossed rose in a very attractive shade of orange with a Chinese red blending, becoming more red as the flower ages. It sets seed easily, although this will be the first year I have had an opportunity to evaluate its offspring. (I'm hopeful that it will bring something good to the line)

The plant is a compact, shrubby thing, having grown to 2.5 feet so far, but since it has lived its life in a pot, it may get significantly larger if grown out in the open garden. Blooms are about 2 to 2.5 inches each, with 8 to 12 petals and a few petaloids. The petals are a strong, clear yellow at the base, which may be an indication of its potential as a breeder of yellows.

While I think the Ralph Moore mosses are marvelous plants, I feel there is a lot of room for improvement on the group. In the pursuit of dwarfism, I think Ralph made compromises when making his selections. Certainly some of the "mini mosses" are wonderful breakthroughs in breeding, but most leave something to be desired as far as plant architecture, disease resistance and stability of color goes. As I say, lots of room for improvement. What would I like to see happen with this group of plants? Well, increase in both the plant stature and in bloom size, for one; I am imagining a rounded shrub of about 4 X 4 feet, well articulated with foliage to within a foot of the soil. (In a similar line of breeding I have accomplished this goal already with 'Treasure Trail', a very attractive pink-yellow blend moss that is about 3.5 feet wide and tall.) I would also like to see a significant improvement in disease resistance, This I believe can come through 'Scarlet Moss', which has the wonderfully sturdy 'Dortmund' represented on both sides of its parentage. Take note Hybridizers: both 'Scarlet Moss' and 'Rose Gilardi' have 'Dortmund genes in them and both are potentially the best breeders to pursue for improvments in the moss genre.

Improvements in color intensity and stability are also very possible and again, 'Scarlet Moss' and 'Rose Gilardi' are likely to be useful in this regard. Although the odds of success are slim, I have made one more attempt in 2009 to use Moore's old breeder "Orange Moss" in combination with seedling 10-05-05 and its sibling 10-05-09, a clear yellow. "Orange Moss" is a poor choice in that it rarely breeds any strong colors, and it has a dreadfully weedy growth habit. (Read; tall and lanky) However, I gave it a go with these two seedlings, hoping the stronger color genes of the 10-05's and their compact growth habit might tame "Orange Moss" and pick up on its lovely coloring. We shall see. Its all just wishful thinking until the first seedling flowers!

Up they come!

The second seed has germinated: 'Golden Angel' X 'Champlain'.

This year I started sowing the seeds very early. First was open pollinated seed from 'Magic Wand' and a week later was this cross, 'Golden Angel' X 'Champlain'. The photo was taken yesterday morning, and by the end of the day two more seedlings were starting to emerge, so undoubtedly many more are on their way.

Regarding this cross: I have found that 'Golden Angel' (yellow miniature from the 1970's, by R. S. Moore) is quite malleable in breeding, often taking on characteristics from the other parent, to the point that none of the 'Golden Angel' traits are visually apparent. Of course, you do get a fair number of miniatures or dwarf plants, since the miniaturism trait is a dominant, but many are shrubs that show no miniaturization whatsoever. With this in mind, I made this cross using the Canadian hardy shrub 'Champlain' as the pollen parent. The hope is to obtain some very Winter hardy orange-red shrubs that bloom frequently and generously, and have attractive, compact plant architecture. It is also known that 'Golden Angel' can sometimes give highly Blackspot resistant offspring, so in combination with 'Champlain' the odds of achieving this might be improved.

Ralph S. Moore, January 14, 1907 - September 14, 2009.

Above: 'Baby Austin', 2001. A second generation R. soulieana hybrid rarely exceeding 10" tall.

On September 14, 2009, at 102 years of age, Ralph S. Moore passed away. I doubt there is anyone reading this blog today who does not know that Ralph was a pioneer, an innovator whose influence on modern rose breeding has been global. Many modern roses have Moore rose genes in their pedigree, and for good reason: Ralph's roses are easy to grow, prolific with bloom and have great genetic diversity. Moore roses are often also very easily propagated; something Ralph regarded as very important for the future of the modern nurseryman. There are so many things Ralph gave us that we should be thankful for.

Some years ago Carolyn Supinger, Ralph's nursery/office manager, shared with me a stack of Ralph Moore's writings that had been archived in the office for many years. Carolyn knew that I had an interest in playing the role of unofficial "biographer" for Mr. Moore and so she arranged for me to have copies of most of the written materials from the office. Among the stacks of paper we found there, one article in particular stuck out when I read it: it contained a carefully distilled page that summarized what I have come to think of as the core philosophy of Mr. Moore's work ethic. This brief article reads more like a "note to self" than anything else, which indeed perhaps it was. The following is a direct quote from the first page of the note:

I Believe In Miracles
(or Stick Around For Fifty Years and See What Happens)
by Ralph S. Moore

In any endeavor there are four things which contribute to success. These are:

a) Communication
b) Dedication
c) Persistence
d) Vision

A. Communication: Word of mouth / Directed study / Books, etc. / What the market wants.
LOOK AT YOUR PLANTS: - they can communicate a lot, viz.:

- Water
- Fertilizer, etc. to the breeder
- Small differences / bending the plant the way you want it to go.
- The "Burning Bush" experience. (see explanation below)

B. Dedication:

- It is being there
- Its is being in it for the long haul
- It is overlooking failures and disappointments
- It is knowing it is all worthwhile

C. Persistence:

- DON'T take NO for an answer!
- It is finding a way
- It is seeking advice, but not being bound by that advice
- It is "STICK-TO-IT-IVENESS"

D. Vision: Possibly the most important of all.

- It is seeing things as they might be
- It is sometimes separating that VISION into parts which step by step are attainable
- It is being ready to change course
- It is finding a better way
- It is seeing the whole as though it were already accomplished; a reality.

So you don't believe in miracles? Sequoia Nursery / Moore Miniature Roses have been a miracle....things never seen or done before have happened here. THE ROSE is a miracle. A lot has been accomplished but much more needs to be done. Let us set our sights high....THINK the IMPOSSIBLE DREAM.

*end of quote*

To elaborate on what Ralph often described as The "Burning Bush" experience, I can add the following: to me, he described this as the experience whereby a person can become so focused on the goals immediately in front of him that he neglects to look around him and see what else is happening. If the hybridizer does not look carefully at his results, important and subtle features and shifts might go unnoticed, and so opportunities can be lost. Knowing how and where to proceed can be greatly influenced by recognizing when a new door has opened. This was a very important aspect of Ralph's scientific mind and it kept him alert and watchful all of his life, in all ways.

My personal thanks to you Ralph, for all your many kindnesses and for sharing both your knowledge and your plants in order to further my own breeding goals.

Ralph Moore obituary at The Valley Voice

42-03-02

42-03-02 = (R. wichurana X 'Floradora') X (R. wichurana X 'Floradora')

As the years pass, you discover seedlings that grab your attention for one reason or another. Perhaps one stands out as very different from its siblings, or one might have an architecture feature you like, or superior disease resistance. While it might not be immediately apparent what purpose such a seedling might serve, it is wise to hang on to it and culture it and wait for its purpose to be revealed. I know that sounds a bit too mystical to be appropriate for something as systematic and planned as rose hybridizing, but the concept has meaning.

Take 42-03-02 illustrated here, for example. It is a selfing of the Moore breeder 0-47-19. It bears a striking resemblance to the Moore Hybrid Wichurana except that it has deeper coloring and is a 2.5 foot rounded shrub, always in flower. As its parent is a known diploid, I am assuming this is also and so I now use it in breeding specifically to further diploid breeding lines. It accepts a wide range of pollens and makes seed with about 50% viability in most cases. Testing the limits of its ability this year, I put some strikingly dissimilar pollens on it, including a 'Schneezwerg' F2 seedling and 'Scabrosa'. I have also used my R. foliolosa on it, and all of these pollens have resulted in healthy, fat hips.

My recommendation to breeders is that when a seedling grabs your attention for some reason, pay attention. It might prove to be a stepping stone at some point down the line, It might not tell you what its purpose is today, but it might turn out to be meaningful in a few years time and you'll be glad you kept it.

Mistakes were made, part II

Some would say that hybridizing is mostly luck and happy accidents. I would tend to agree with that. Consider this rose. I call it simply "Floor Moss". Why? Because it was a chance seedling that grew in the gravel floor of one of my greenhouses, under a bench just at the edge of one of the aisles. I first saw it about four years ago when it was about 4 inches tall, and I thought to myself just leave it be and see how it does. I figured that if it survived on near total neglect where it was, it might be worth keeping. Well, it grew like the proverbial weed and flowered for the first time in 2008. This year it has had 8 blooms and at least that many still to come. Yes, its a Moss hybrid and I suspect it is a 'Condoleezza' hybrid, as I was doing a lot of crosses with it back then. In fact, since it is a once-blooming Moss, I have a feeling that its other parent might be "Nutshop", Ralph Moore's Moss bred from 'Schoener's Nutkana'. The bicolor pink style of this flower supports that possibility. Of course, I will never really know.

Anyway, I will probably put some pollen on this rose tonight, to see if I can recapture the remontancy in the next generation. I have already proven that it is fertile; I collected open pollinated seed from it this Spring and they germinated easily.

Bracteata line breeding.

It seems to me that line breeding is rarely pursued in the breeding of roses. In part, I expect this is because undesirable recessives start to show up and loss of hybrid vigor becomes an issue as well. Still, many of the Canadian Explorer roses rely heavily on line breeding, making extensive use of the 'Red Dawn' X 'Suzanne' line and the 'Kordesii' line, and with great success.

Well, I have been working with the Moore line of Hybrid Bracteatas for several years now and it has become very clear that the biggest battle with these is getting decent color out of them. Ralph Moore's most attractive hybrid of the group (for me) is 'Out of Yesteryear', whose parentage is 'Sequoia Gold' X 'Muriel'. 'Muriel' is Moore's first successful cross using R. bracteata (crossed with 'Guinee') that was fully fertile and able to carry forward the line. 'Muriel' is a tetraploid, as is 'Sequoia Gold', but when these two were crossed, 'Out of Yesteryear' resulted and it turned out to be a triploid! How two tetraploids mated to produce a triploid is a bit of a mystery, but there you have it. Even more interesting, 'Out of Yesteryear' is a fully fertile triploid, contrary to the mytholgy of triploids being infertile. You can use its pollen on pretty much anything and get loads of seedlings from it.

I've done plenty of crosses with 'Out of Yesteryear' over the years and there are some excellent traits it passes on, and some not so great ones. Its offsrping tend to have excellent vigor, beautiful foliage and often very beautiful blooms packed with petals. Many are often fragrant as well. However, seedlings can be very thorny, the petal texture too thin and rarely do you get anything with strong coloring. Many seedlings are just white. So when I get a seedling that has decent color, I'm inclined to explore it as a stepping stone towards Bracteata hybrids with good color, which leads me to these two.

174-02-17 = 'Sheri Anne' X 'Out of Yesteryear'. One of its siblings tested as a tetraploid and I suspect this is also. It is a thorny plant that is more horizontal than vertical, with smallish glossy foliage. It blooms at many nodes along the previous season's canes and can bloom in large clusters sometimes. Blooms have a vaguely HT shape when in bud (see photo) but open to a flat 2.5 inch shape. Color is a medium red in bud, fading to a pale red/pink. It sets seed with most any pollen, but seed fertility is low at about 10-20%. However, when it does produce seedlings, a high percentage of them has something about them that warrants further evaluation. Offspring tend to bloom in big clusters with compact, graceful architecture and good color. One of my favorite new shrubs came from a cross of 174-02-17 X 'Hot Cocoa'. (More about this soon)

33-03-03 = 'Twilight Skies' X 'Muriel'. Why, you might ask, did I select the mauve miniature 'Twilight Skies' as the parent for this cross? Because it was there! I had grown it for two years when it was new and it set seed readily, bloomed like mad, so I thought why not? It was untested and might have qualities that would make it worthwhile as a parent. The seedlings from this group were mostly lavender/pinks with one coral colored one in the mix. Several were grown for two years and all but 33-03-03 were discarded for poor vigor or unattractive blooms. 33-03-03 is a semi-climbing plant with dark green glossy foliage and 2.5" medium red blooms that fade to a reddish pink with age, about 25 petals, cupped in form. It blooms in clusters all along the arching canes, repeating in flushes through the year. David Zlesak kindly did ploidy tests on some of my Bracteata seedlings for an article we were co-authoring*, a few years back and it turns out that 33-03-03 is a tetraploid. It is fertile in both directions and should be compatible with most other tetraploids.

174-02-17 and 33-03-03 happen to be growing side by side in one of the greenhouses, both descended from R. bracteata through 'Muriel', and both were selected for their relatively strong coloring. Yet it never occurred to me to cross the two together....until now. The idea (and hope) here is that some of the more interesting Bracteata traits might be reenforced while retaining the vigor, repeat blooming habit and red coloring of each. Anything could happen of course. I might end up with a load of diseased seedlings with no vigor and no rebloom. Its possible the seeds might not even germinate, assuming I get seeds at all! We shall see.

*See: Bracteata Gene Counts Article

In search of better moss shrubs: 90-02-02

This seedling is another of my moss shrubs, bred in 2002. It came out of a cross of 'Condoleezza' X "Nutshop", back when 'Condoleezza' was still just an un-named test variety Sequoia had sent to me for evaluation. The pollen parent, "Nutshop" is also a Moore moss shrub bred from ('Schoener's Nutkana' X 'Christopher Stone') X "Orange Moss" and its code number is 25-59-7. It earned the nickname "Nutshop" from Burling Leong and Kim Rupert who found it growing on the Sequoia Nursery property years ago, overgrown by other plants and long forgotten. "Nutshop" is a once blooming pink and yellow moss rose, with good shrub architecture and dark, almost black mossing. It passes on repeat flowering to many of its offspring if mated with the right rose. I have used it only as a pollen parent, although it does set open pollinated seed.

I have been watching 90-02-02 for years now, always hoping it would perform better with each passing year, but I have to conclude that its a dud. It is a low growing plant (under 2 feet) with awkward growth and mediocre, sparse foliage. The mossing is quite good and the buds when half open are a beautiful flame red with a yellow reverse. The blooms have a unique "orange juice-ish" scent that was no doubt inherited from "Orange Moss". When full open, the blooms fade to a pink and pale yellow combination which unfortunately tend to scorch in the sun. Hence, a dud.

However, this cross was only a test cross and only a half dozen seedlings were raised. I don't know why I never pursued it further, since this seedling shows potentially better things might be had from such a cross. This could be an instance where a much better seedling might be had if I grew out 100 seedlings or more to select from, and so I think I will repeat the cross again this year to see if something better might be had.

Those crazy crested hybrids.

Back in the 1980's Ralph Moore of California became enchanted by the bizarre Parsley-like sepals of R. centifolia cristata, commonly known as 'Chapeau de Napoleon'. At that time there were no known hybrids from it, and so Ralph set out to accomplish what would be one of the most challenging tasks of his career: to create a Floribunda style modern rose that had sepals like those of 'Chapeau de Napoleon'. As it happens, this was to be a most difficult goal to achieve, and Ralph still did not get as far down that road as he would have liked, even thirty years later.

One of the big problems with the centifolia cristata line is that first generation hybrids are often sterile, and so you immediately hit a wall. However, Ralph was able to obtain two hybrids that proved to be fertile and became pivotal in making a way forward: 'Crested Jewel' and "Queencrest". The latter is just a nickname for a seedling created when he crossed 'Queen Elizabeth' X R. centifolia cristata, as it was never introduced into commerce but only used for breeding purposes. 'Crested Jewel' ('Little Darling' X R. centofila cristata) has been the most significant contributor to the crested breeding programme, being highly fertile as a pollen parent and marginally fertile as a seed bearer. Most all of Ralph's repeat blooming "Crested Floribundas" are the result of crossing a Floribunda with 'Crested Jewel'. (You can read more about this line of breeding at this URL)

Fast forward to 2000: I collected open pollinated seeds from my 'Crested Jewel' and sowed them the following Spring. I don't recall how many seedlings I got, but only one was kept. When it was a year old it was planted in one of the areas assigned as a test beds, along with thirty or so other seedlings, mostly intermediate hybrids engineered to take me to specific goals. Here the seedling remained until January 2009, when I rediscovered it languishing in back of a group of larger seedlings. I dug it up and put it in a pot and moved it into my main breeding house, where it is about to be put into service. It looks almost identical to 'Crested Jewel', with semi-double medium pink blooms on a tall plant, and moderately intense cresting on its sepals. The big difference though, is that it is fully remontant. It sets seed and so I am presuming it will prove fertile when used with other hybrids. *crosses fingers* Why I never pursued this in breeding is beyond me. I should have tried working with this years ago.

I'll post photos of the open blooms in a couple weeks.

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.