3rd generation Mermaid

I was in Corvalis a few days ago visiting some friends. I persuaded them to stop at a place called Garland’s Nursery which was a miracle in itself because we all know how much time gardener’s take at nurseries! Anyhow, I scanned all of their roses but their were none I wanted. I did memorize a few of the tags on roses that were new to me. One had the parent called ‘Prima’. I checked on the net yesterday and Prima is another name for ‘Many Happy Returns’! The rose was ‘Guinevere’ which makes it a third generation of ‘Mermaid’. A lot of breeders seem infatuated with that line of roses so I thought I’d post here and give a heads up since grafted plants ‘Guinevere’ seems to be readily available in the USA unlike ‘Pearl Drift’ and ‘Many Happy Returns’.

-Mike

Link: www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=39732

Why is Mermaid and its descendents so popular?

Mermaid has tremendous health and vigor, apparently because of its R. bracteata genes. Many hybridizers are looking for ways to bring new genes into the gene pool and R. bracteata genes would seem to be a great addition. However, Mermaid is nearly completely sterile. Maybe that’s part of its allure. The harder it is to work with a rose, the greater the achievement would be if we succeed.

Wow, this is nice to know. I have one hip from a pollination of Muriel. That is a very nice combo of bracteata. What luck. What is the exact parentage of Guinevere?

The other parent was Amber Queen. Plant Patent 13,184

Amber Queen X Many Happy Returns