I’m thinking of buying some Rosa hirtula seeds and these people have them listed (see link to their home page below). I was wondering if anyone has ever used them?
I have never used B & T World Seeds.
But I have had some success with chiltern seeds in the uk. So if the seeds come in similar conditions. Expect them to be really dry and needing a longer period in stratification than normal. I got germination from every packet but not as high as I would like. I think the mechanical and the drying process affects this. The link to chiltern is below. At this moment it seems they have only a third of their rose seeds listed and most of the rarer ones are not listed.
If you do order from B& T world seeds give feed back when your all said and done.
B&T are very nice people to do business with, online.
B&T lists a Rosa species that I’ve never heard of; Rosa carpatica. Anyone know anything on this one?
I have also seen reference to Rosa pomifera ‘carpatica’
B&T got back to me saying they didn’t have a source for seed of R. roxburghii var. hirtula so I was thinking of trying a different angle; through HMF. I’ll see if I might be able to buy seed from someone listing it in the gardens section. I think this is amazing:
It can be grown unsupported like a small tree and some reports I’ve read state it can get up to 6m tall in this form with a trunk up to 20cm in diametre… how cool would roses as shade trees or street plantings be!!!
Yeah, you can do that with rose like R. m. ‘Geranium’ and R. sericea pteracantha too. They look pretty cool in a botanical garden setting where you look up sinde of a pathway and its above you.
Yeah, you can do that with rose like R. m. ‘Geranium’ and R. sericea pteracantha too. They look pretty cool in a botanical garden setting where you look up sinde of a pathway and its above you.
I’d love to have a comfy bench under it to stretch out on and snooze in the warm weather… when I’m a man of leisure ().
B & T have it listed on their website but have told me they don’t have a supplier 
Real rose trees (rather than tree roses) would be really cool. I wonder what varieties would be best to bring into a breeding program that would control the problem of natural die-back. Most roses have it to some extent or the other.
Jim Sproul
it is a very interesting idea. I myself would not know where to begin. maybe bansksie? But I know little of this rose besides some pictures I have seen.
The Rosa hirtula pictured might be a good place to start and like Jadae said maybe something like Geranium or pteracantha. It doesn’t look like that hirtula suffers much from dieback. I also saw a photo yesterday, on HMF, of R. abyssinica ('Rosa abyssinica R.Br. ex Lindl.' Rose Photo) at Santa Clara University. Does dieback become less of an issue as it ages? It doesn’t look like this abyssinica suffers much from dieback either judging by the girth of those trunks. This banksiae is pretty huge too and doesn’t seem to suffer from dieback: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2011/1908908616_3eda5b021a.jpg
Eddie’s Crimson is available from ARE. I think it would impart disease resistance as well.
Someone told me that some teas like Mrs. B.R. cant and Bon Silene make beautiful rose trees.
Patrick
Sounds good too, I don’t know how ‘self-supporting’ the Tea ‘Adam’ is but I have one of these in a pot I can try it with too. I was thinking ‘Marie Van Houte’ might be good for this too… she’s a giant and is just waking up to start growing here too. I have ‘Souv. de MME Leonie Viennot’ and gigantea here that might also be a good choice with the right support. I wonder, if you trained it early, if ‘Crepuscule’ could do the same thing???