I have jogged down MANY paths spreading pollen and raising seedlings and the back yard really shows it! You would think I have unlimited acreage from some of the parents used, but, I don't. There have been so many questions to answer, so many possibilities to explore! Here are some of the fun explorations which have helped soften the blow of being trapped at home in the effort to prevent being killed by a deadly virus...
I have previously posted about my cathedral eater, Nessie, a seedling of Montecito and Mlle Cecile Brunner. Nessie has proven fertile as both male and female parent. It's an intensely well scented rose and has passed scent on to many of its seedlings. Here are some of its results:
Nessie X Faith Whittlesey #1. I find it interesting that using a monster containing R. Brunonii and R. Gigantea could so easily produce shrubby, more dwarf, fairly continuous-flowering seedlings. This parentage combination has done just that. The flower is rather variable due to heat and light, not only in the number of petals, but how intensely the pink tones are maintained.
Nessie X Faith Whittlesey #2, also quite variable in color and shape due to temperature.
Nessie X George Washington Richardson. The pollen parent is a "found rose" from an old California cemetery. It has been identified as what is considered to be the original Mlle de Sombreuil. There are also several seedlings from this cross. So far, the two which flower the most heavily are what appears to want to be a climber with these flowers. Yes, it is HEAVILY sweetly scented.
Nessie X Annie Laurie McDowell. This cross has created the widest range of plant sizes yet. Two are almost miniature plants which are scented and repeat. Several are completely without prickles. with a few almost as heavily prickled as Nessie. The moderate sized climbers appear to be repeat flowering while the largest haven't flowered yet in their third year of life.
Of course these are all heavily scented, too!
This is Nessie X Sweet Riley. Sweet Riley is named for a friend's grand daughter and was created by crossing Yellow Sally, a Sally Holmes seedling I raised, with Secret Garden Musk Climber.
a large, strong wooded HT looking apricot-orange shrub which offered a small amount of repeat..
and two polyantha type plants with repeat bloom and fragrance!
Faith Whittlesey X Annie Laurie McDowell. This began as a very weak little seedling which was potted and left to develop. It's finally flowered and I guess I need to let it mature more to see what it wants to be.
This hasn't flowered yet, Faith Whittlesey X R. X Actii. R. X Actii is a hybrid between R. Wichurana X R. Hugonis. I love the foliage!
Florence Bowers Pink Tea is another found rose. Of course, I couldn't leave it alone, so I played with Paul Barden's 42-03-02, a self seedling of Ralph Moore's 0-47-19, the R. Wichurana X Floradora rambler he raised so many miniatures and other neat roses from. Paul reports 42-03-02 is useful for creating polyantha type roses. One of the seedlings is like a large polyantha.
The second seedling is a repeat flowering rambler, actually rather like Paul's Mel's Heritage, though from Florence Bowers Pink Tea. The scent is light.
It's really a great deal of fun playing with these "found" roses. Particularly when their original identities can be determined, as with George Washington Richardson being identified as Mlle de Sombreuil. NEW roses created from OLD ones. Fun!
Atmore Lamarque is Lamarque, but an historic plant from Southern California which traveled from Placerville, CA, via covered wagon in 1869, to be planted at the Atmore family Queen Anne mansion in Fillmore, where it still grows. This is Apricot Twist, a brownish-apricot miniature from Ralph Moore, pollinated with pollen from Atmore Lamarque. So far, it's a short climber with nearly continuous bloom spring through now (mid August). Like Lamarque, it doesn't self clean well, but it does have scent, it's pretty, flowers alot and has remained healthy. It also appears to be setting self set hips!
This one appears "old", but it's actually bred mainly from recent roses. This is what happens when you cross Blue for You X (First Impression X April Mooncrest). It's scented, requires a LONG time to fully open and lasts quite a while before it must be dead headed. It's also healthy here.
Jim Sproul shared a single, red mini with me of his breeding that has proven itself invaluable and extremely versatile. L56-1 has an involved pedigree and has bred as if it is a fertile triploid. It provides rather remarkable and interesting results with everything I have crossed it with. Here are some interesting offspring from its use.
L56-1 X Eyes for You. The plant has beautiful foliage and it has a very resinous texture, very "wet" with a good deal of plant scent. The flowers are lightly scented and begin yellow, then "tan" or "paint" with orange patterns before turning solid orange-tan. I'm using everything I have on it to see "what if?"
How about a new Moss rose? This is (Indian Love Call X L56-1) X Kim Rupert. Beautiful, dark green very glossy foliage with intense moss!
This is a bit of a climber with some repeat and a heavy "Linseed Oil" scent from the species. Pretty Lady (Scrivens) X (L56-1 X R. Fedtschenkoana.
There are also a number of L56-1 X R. Minutifolia hybrids, but those will be dealt with in a separate post.
This old-fashioned looking rose is a cross of George Washington Richardson (Mlle de Sombreuil) X (First Impression X April Mooncrest). There is scent and repeat is good. It's being watched to see what it wants to develop into.
