At the moment we see a flow of new beautiful seedling pictures on this forum. I am sure many of you enjoy watching these pictures as much as I do.
I am not sure if this will be of any interest around, or will be possible to do at all, but I wonder if RHA should try to run a
I’ve always felt that something like rose breeding shouldn’t be turned into a “competition”. Why not just make it an opportunity to display our photos, without having to select a “winner”? (Choosing a winner always implies that there are also “losers”)
Are we assessing the photos on their merits as photographs, or are we selecting what we feel are more appealing seedlings? This is an important distinction.
winners and losers, thats life. It’s more for fun.
I think Paul’s right.
I’m always interested in seeing the good, the bad and the ugly from crosses. It gives me ideas of what to try and more importantly what not to try.
Liz
Me too Liz.
When I started posting my seedlings to HMF I tried to get photos of the first blossom to compare with later ones so others could see how a new rose evolves over time. It’s amazing how they change.
Sometimes an ugly duckling develops into a beautiful swan.
Most seedlings requires time for proper evaluation. Seedlings given ideal cultural conditions look quite different than those given average care. There are a great many variables. No one photo tells the whole tale.
Taking an incredible photo of a rose grown under ideal conditions does an injustice to those thinking they might achieve similar results given ordinary growing conditions.
I photograph for documentation, not in any attempt to make an artistic statement.
The whole atmosphere of competition is what has turned me against rose exhibiting as a whole and led me to try to develop roses for the garden as opposed to those who seek to develop roses for exhibition.
In my opinion ARS emphasis on growing roses for exhibition has been counterproductive for a long time which is why we are seeing a backlash in the success of roses grown as landscape shrubs with less than ideal floral form.
Most people just want something easy to live with.
I Agree with Rob words;
“No one photo tells the whole tale. Taking an incredible photo of a rose grown under ideal conditions does an injustice to those thinking they might achieve similar results given ordinary growing conditions.”
And I will add a beautiful flower is nothing if it is on a poor plant. I weed out a lot annually. Oppositely a healthy, nice and strong plant does not need a perfect flower.
I.e. Knock Out.
Sales from the flower picture ultimately did and do a lot of damage to our roses. For generations breeders selected nice flowers on under standards plants as they make a good picture that sell…
That is why I never take pictures of my roses seedlings. They have to persuade me and others by global qualities and certainly not by flower seduction only.
Thanks for all your replies.
When reading thise, I actually also agreed about “when there are winners there will always be more losers”, and that
I liked “Timo’s seedling Topic” in which he posted several pictures of various seedlings as they flowered this spring, not just some random photos. I found it especially interesting when he showed how radically different some of his seedlings were from the same hip! I would love to see more of you create your own “Seedling topics” like Timo.
Bob of New Orleans currently in N.C.
Agreed with you Bob, Timos seedling tropic are great.
I don’t have enough seedlings to do the same, but here is a picture from one of my seedlings, flowering now. Very fragrant, a bit like AD, but Westerland in shape.
Bo
Thanks Bob!
What I hoped was that more people fallowed me with their pictures. But that didn’t happen. 
I love to take pictures and show them to you. So take your camera in your hand and shoot! What I recommend is that you take your time for your picture. Step away from the normal “way of photography” and look from differ directions, very close up. Some leaves in the front. make some pictures from things around roses. Like the ladybeatle I took a couple weeks ago. This one I saw a couple days ago:
;
If people don’t want a competition you can always start a “random photo topic” where people can post their creations. Bo, you got the honor I say: Go for it!
Bob of New Orleans,
if you look up my crosses via HMF you will find that I have posted sometimes several seedlings from the same cross just for the reason you’ve stated, to show some of the variability inherent in the cross.
I can’t posted them all but I will post a few of the most promising.
If I didn’t post many photos I either didn’t do many of that particular cross or few survived. I will try to update the page as time goes by.
If parentage isn’t posted it’s because I haven’t decided to release that information as yet.
Robert Rippetoe:
I don’t know where you find time for all you contribute to these fora and to my garden. My Ivory Warrior seems very happy here in my mountain home. I hope my daughter Adair takes you up on seedling offer you posted on another topic. I wish I could but I am leaving N.C. where I have space next week and am returning to New Orleans where I have no more space.
Bob
Don’t worry Bob, there are always more on the horizon. Feel free to contact me in the future.
Wait till you start getting your own seedlings, then you will realize why I am truly out of space here.
Let Adair know that I do have unusual things that including those with banksia, bracteata, clinophylla, lineage among other things.
Dear Robert Rippetoe:
Almost too good to be true. Because of our climate, Adair is especially interested in banksiae and bracteata. Don’t know anything about clinophylla, but I do know she has a lot of unusual things and more on order like gigantea and its hybrids and sericea pteracantha. Being new she is intrigued and amazed by the diversity of the rose family which she was unaware of prior to this year. She has a no spray garden, blackspot is the plague, mildew is no problem in her climate.
Many thanks, again. Bob
Bo:
Don’t know which is better – your seedling or your photography. I feel outclassed on all fronts. No seedlings yet and when I take picutres with my digital camera I have to wait until my daughter comes to town to show me how to retrieve them! Congratulations to you and others for being so multi talented.
Bob
Bob, read the manual! A camera is easier than tire up your shoes.
Yeah, Im not into competing. I wouldnt want to lose the family atmosphere here. It means a lot to me.
I agree with the consensus here. This is a great forum where there are only winners.
Bo, I think that your intent though is very much appreciated - that is, for members to share more photos of seedlings.
Pierre, I think that I understand your reluctance to photograph seedlings. It has happened to me more than once that I have photographed a seedling that was looking unusually good for whatever reason that never looked that good again. In those cases, I have been reluctant to cull that particular seedling even though it was truly nothing special. I do like to photograph though to help with memory and to document seedling characteristics.
I noticed that the “Members’ Showcase” has not been used much, especially in the last couple of years. I wonder if the showcase could be divided by the year that photos were uploaded. Perhaps that would encourage more photos to be displayed and would help for those winter months?!
Jim Sproul
I am pretty rough at times…
…in order to be more acurate:
I speak for myself.
I do not criticize others.
Diversity of opinions and options are good.
And there is nothing bad at all in taking the beautiful pictures I am happy to look at.
Dreaming is part of the game.