Any experiences with these roses from Burlington's?

General Discussion
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I am definitely, at long last, planning on ordering Basye’s Legacy which has been on my wish list for a good half dozen years, but in addition to shipping, plants from CA must carry phytosanitation which adds to the cost of a package, so I feel like, out of principal, I should round out my order, just to avoid paying $60 for one single #$&@ band… (This is how it begins… I’ve already determined the kid’s gonna hafta get a full scholarship anyway.)

A medium flat box holds six bands.

I have a no-spray Central Texas garden without irrigation that really separates the excellent from the exceptional (and kills all others). BS pressure is high.

I would love to hear folks experiences/thoughts with this (relatively random) assortment under consideration:

Dinky – Dunno much about it, but it looks like something I want to play with. Of course the extreme bloom-power shown in online photos probably implies a modicum of sterility, and I know nothing of its health. 'Dinky' Rose

Shadow Dancer – I’ve been wanting to work with some stripes. Is there a candidate that folks think would be preferable? Some of the Delbard painter series can probably be had cheaply here in a month or two, but they are grafted onto Doc Phooey which can present issues for me here for some reason. 'Shadow Dancer' Rose

Lyda Rose – Perhaps not as disease-resistant as I had been led to believe, and the reviews I have heard have been mixed, but this had been one I was wanting for some time as well. 'Lyda Rose' Rose

Blue Mist – was considering in lieu of Lyda Rose after hearing mixed reviews of latter, but wonder if this suffers many of the same faults with a particularly uninteresting pedigree?.. 'Blue Mist' Rose

Heinrich Karsch – allegedly thornless older cultivar about which I have found little information. A mauve that arose from two older orangey polyanthas, so I don’t know what kind of color gets passed on… 'Heinrich Karsch' Rose

Sweet Chariot – used in many of the mauves of today, but perhaps far enough that there is more and better modern stuff to use rather than going backwards? Plus, it’s diminutive size makes me think planting it in my tough garden would be tantamount to releasing a chihuahua in the Serengeti to fend for itself. (Same might hold for prior one as well…) 'Sweet Chariot' Rose

Jeanne LaJoie – years ago, something made me think this worth acquiring, and although I’m not aiming for old pinks, she does look quite appealing to me.

Keith’s Delight – is intriguing, but probably a thuggish, thorny struggling thing in my climate. (Had a seedling of Mr. Nash x Rugelda here, and while the blooms and foliage were attractive when fresh, I called it “Dirty Kleenex in Barbed Wire” for the way the smelly blooms faded. It also suffered BS. I wonder, had it been given more acidic soil…) 'Keith's Delight' Rose

Moje Hammarbert – I have been interested in Rugosa genes, but again, I very much doubt this would be remotely happy in Central Texas.

Thanks for any insights.
-Philip

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Can only comment on Sweet Chariot as it’s the only one here (Sydney, Australia), so heat isn’t really an issue but does look like we have higher rainfall (especially the last 2 years because of La Nina and I didn’t have it during the drought years). It’s small, flowers a lot, basically every flower will go to hip OP, bit more iffy intentional crosses (but that could just be me damaging too much, it’s a very small flower, low down) but workable. Seedlings seem to either be generally polyantha like or mostly like the pollen parent, there hasn’t been any real middle ground for me (yet). Petals mostly drop cleanly, even when wet (not gross balling like on a lot of other things) but that probably isn’t relevant to you :slight_smile:

I’m always curious about what the primary difference between more western USA and here is with rugosa’s, they all seem to do well here and and temps are similarly hot in the often 104f range. Having said that a lot of rugosa get BS here, Hansa, Belle Povetine, Schneezwerg, Ann Endt all spot up to some degree, never complete defoliation except the winter dormant period they go through. Dagmar Hastrup is the only (named and) consistently clean one I’ve had…but even seedlings from it with things like will Bracteata spot (and are evil sprawly thorny things), whatever magic it has seems to break pretty easily.

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Thanks.
Perhaps my “Rugosaphobia” is overblown. I think the Antique Rose Emporium, roughly 90 miles/145km from me, grows several cultivars of Rugosa. The soils vary pretty rapidly in my neck of TX, but I am now fortunate to no longer be as close to caliche.

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I’m a bit on the fence about Blue Mist so far–the small flowers are cute/interesting, but the plant is overall not extremely clean here during the summer-fall season, although the plant is tough and will certainly not die just because it loses leaves. The flowers are really tiny, and while the plant will produce tiny hips and seeds that germinate extremely easily, they would be time-consuming to pollinate. Its selfed (presumably) seedlings are very similar to the parent overall, and I’ve seen that it can certainly produce even more fully double offspring with cute (if tiny) flowers, if you’re into that.

Sweet Chariot doesn’t exactly seem to be disease-free here so far, either, but my plant is very young and still oddly fragile. This one did relatively well in Minnesota, so I’m hoping it might improve.

Rugosas can be okay and even quite good around here, although some do get black spot (especially certain hybrids); they really need lighter/sandier soil than I can give them in the ground, and have been happier to stay in pots. Even if they do otherwise thrive, they (and others in sect. Rosa) can be highly susceptible to cane borers, to the point that they’re losing as much growth as they’re building, or more. If the borers go really wild, they can dwindle to almost nothing, and sometimes rugosas go into a death spiral if they’re pushed too far. Heat hasn’t been a real problem for rugosa survival here, even in pots.

I haven’t grown Shadow Dancer, only its derivative School Spirit, which probably isn’t as healthy (it’s not especially BS-resistant in summer and fall), but that is not necessarily any reflection on Shadow Dancer. SD seems like it might be a decent enough starting point for passing along stripes.

I just ordered Heinrich Karsch recently myself, so we might be able to compare notes later.

Your comment about the Mr Nash x Rugelda seedling reminds me strongly of one of my Dixieland Linda x Yellow Brick Road seedlings; based on that, I wouldn’t exactly count on acid soil coming to the rescue!

Stefan

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I grew Heinrich Karsch for several years, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I kept it alive for several years. None of the multiflora-based polys I’ve grown have done well here. HK produced a number of seedlings with colors similar to its own, although none that I thought better than the parent. When I finally gave up on HK and uprooted it I found several large galls on the roots. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons it never thrived for me. I still have one descendant, ((Heinrich Karsch x (R. soulieana x OP)) x OP. It’s a large shrub with white blooms shading purplish in cooler weather. It’s actually blooming now in the middle of January.

Mark