As usual, seeds from this year’s crosses started germinating much too early and I have a garage full of seedlings I can’t move outside permanently yet (although it was in the 70’s today). Seedlings so far:
(APRICOT TWIST X LEMON FIZZ) X MIRACLE ON THE HUDSON (MOTH) - 3
SCARLET MOSS X MOTH - 11
RUGOSA ALBA X SCARLET MOSS - 2
SMOKE RINGS X SCARLET MOSS - 1
SCARLET MOSS X (((BLUE FOR YOU X (R. CAROLINA X R. CENTIFOLIA)) X PJNAT1/1133))) - 1
I have a number of roses grown from Joe Bergeson’s seeds. The pollen parent in this cross is one. If I’m reading Joe’s notes correctly he used mixed pollen to create the pollen parent. PJNAT1 is Prairie Joy x Native Rose. Native Rose is an unidentified species rose which grows around Bergeson Nursery in Fertile, Minnesota. 1133 is Joe’s cross of (Gina’s Rose x R. virginiana) X 1113. 1113 is Joe’s seedling of unknown parentage. I have four two-year-old seedlings from Joe’s cross, two tall and non-blooming and two short and repeat blooming. The one used here is a short heavily reblooming blush/white flowered seedling. I’m assuming I have two seedlings from each possible pollen parent in Joe’s cross.
Several arkansana hybrids:
((SUNTAN BEAUTY X ABRAHAM DARBY) X R. ARKANSANA LD1)) X MOTH - 2
((SUNTAN BEAUTY X ABRAHAM DARBY) X R. ARKANSANA LD1)) X (((BLUE FOR YOU X (R. CAROLINA X R. CENTIFOLIA)) X PJNAT1/1133))) - 5
R. ARKANSANA LD2 X ((R. ARKANSANA HYBRID DZ X (CAREFREE BEAUTY X R. ARKANSANA LD1)) - 10
((R. ARKANSANA HYBRID DZ X (CAREFREE BEAUTY X R. ARKANSANA LD1)) X (((BLUE FOR YOU X (R. CAROLINA X R. CENTIFOLIA)) X PJNAT1/1133))) - 1
((R. ARKANSANA HYBRID DZ X (CAREFREE BEAUTY X R. ARKANSANA LD1)) X R. ARKANSANA LD2 - 1
(((SUNTAN BEAUTY X ABRAHAM DARBY) X R. ARKANSANA LD1)) X OP))) X (1111 X 1069)
I’ve been using three arkansanas, two pure arkansana clones from Larry Davis and a hybrid arkansana seedling from David Zlesak. 1111 X 1069 is another Joe Bergeson cross. 1111 is likely Midnight Blue x (Prairie Joy x OP). 1069 is (Gina’s Rose x R. virginiana) x MOTH.
I visit the Foley Antique Rose Trail (not going to abbreviate that) in Foley, Alabama periodically to collect seeds. It’s not being maintained very well. There are a lot of markers with no roses and roses with no markers. I collected a hundred plus seeds a few months ago. I now have a dozen or so unidentified seedlings with more germinating in addition to the following:
DUCHER OP - 4
GOLDEN THRESHOLD OP - 1
I have a few others beginning to germinate now, but not going to list them yet.
And here, I haven’t even put my seeds into stratification yet! That’s partly out of fear that I’ll have seedlings before there is space for them under lights, and partly because I haven’t quite found the time–last year I did something similar, but I had many more crosses and seeds to deal with then, and still ended up drowning in seedlings that were hard to keep happy and well-lit until they were strong enough to start going outside.
Do you have good luck growing R. arkansana where you are? Thus far for me (in Maryland), the clones I’ve tried have not been happy at all. Oddly enough, R. blanda, which is proposed as its likely diploid progenitor species, has survived much better. Cane borers/girdlers have been its only serious problem.
R. arkansana has been a challenge. As I said above, I’ve used three arkansanas, two pure arkansana clones from Larry Davis and a hybrid arkansana seedling from David Zlesak. I doubt I ever got more than a half-dozen blooms a year from any of them, but they did bloom. The first pure clone from Larry only lived for a few years, but I did manage to get a couple of seedlings from it. After I planted it in the garden it only lived for a couple of years. It just grew in reverse until it disappeared. The hybrid from David survived well enough, but it was also a very shy bloomer here. It also refused to accept most pollens I tried on it and it’s pollen would produce hips/seeds but little germination. I finally removed it after I got a few seedlings from it using pollen from another of the arkansana hybrids I’d created. I still have the second pure arkansana clone from Larry. It has two canes that are about a foot high and produced four blooms in 2022. I’ve been expecting it to die for years, but it never does. I’ve had it 10 years+ now. I crossed it both ways with one of my hybrid arkansana seedlings in 2022 and have a number of vigorous seedlings from it in both directions. These are the first seedlings I’ve ever gotten from it in either direction. All the arkansana hybrids so far share arkansana’s reluctance to mix with other roses outside the immediate family, and most have been reluctant bloomers. The only two heavy blooming arkansana hybrids had miniatures as parents or grandparents (Suntan Beauty and Cal Poly). Both of these had smaller blooms but bloomed very heavily, and neither of the hybrids were small plants. Both exceeded six feet in height and almost that in width. I no longer have the Cal Poly hybrid, but the hybrid with Suntan Beauty as a grandparent is happily suckering in the garden. If you’re interested let me know and I’ll see about digging one up for you.
Thank you, that’s a wonderfully generous offer! It sounds like I should probably give any potential goals for the species a long think first, though. Your confirmation of my experience trying to grow R. arkansana in a hot zone has been extremely helpful, and I’m especially grateful to hear about your previous breeding results. My interests in working with the species are motivated in part by a sentimental attachment (it was the wild rose that I always encountered during visits to family in North Dakota while growing up; one time I even found a wild stippled bicolor like the one that’s called ‘Peppermint’, but with even more white and a greater color contrast, which is forever seared into my memory). In spite of that, even when I grew some named R. arkansana hybrids in Minnesota, I noticed that many lacked strong cane hardiness and had significant foliage disease problems. A few bucked at least one of the two trends (for instance, Prairie Fire was extremely healthy while it lasted), but if I’m being honest with myself, I suppose that I probably can’t think of many examples of R. arkansana hybrids that would make clear sense with my current goals. Luckily, the species that surrounded me where I grew up was R. blanda, so I still can grow a piece of my home and hopefully weave it into some useful crosses.
No pictures of the arkansana hybrid, sorry. Looking for a larger, more vigorous version of Scarlet Moss from the cross with Miracle on the Hudson. Scarlet Moss hates it here and lacks any real vigor. It’s fertile enough, but the lack of vigor means I don’t get that many blooms to play with. Miracle on the Hudson is a heavy bloomer for me. The first two seedlings from that cross have flower buds on them now. The buds are too small (and my eyes too bad) to tell if they’re showing any mossing yet.
Both of the R arkansana still survive and bloom and produce hips here in KS. I doubt that it is hot climate that troubles them in your location. They go along severely neglected through drought and summer days of 100 + F temps. They have to compete with a lot of other stuff such as bamboo, or unwanted golden rain tree seedlings, but still manage a decent number of flowers per cane. Hips with viable seeds are less common because of beetles infesting the seeds, like boll weevils do to cotton. I got about 30 seeds from 20 or so flowers on a cane of the bigger stronger type last fall.