Can anyone tell me if the 1965 mini ‘Baby Cheryl’ or the Dee Bennett ‘Tiny Tears’ set hips? Looking at the hybridizing records, it looks like both are descendents from Ralph Moore’s roses and could bring an interesting mix of ‘Magic Wand’ and the ‘Wichurana x Floradora’. I’m exploring options for micro-minis as seed bearers due to current space restictions. I finally got some clones of ‘Little Chief’ from Sequoia Nursery to set seed last year before we moved, but got no germination.
Also, I’ve always found it interesting that much use has been made using ‘Magic Wand’ as a pollen parent with ‘Little Darling’ as seed bearer. However, I’m puzzled why ‘Magic Wand’ wasn’t used more frequently on fertile miniatures (like Rise n’ Shine or Sheri Anne) once they became more common. Anyone know why this is so? Does ‘Magic Wand’ only produce worthwhile offspring when used on certain roses, such as ‘Little Darling’ or was the potential of ‘Magic Wand’ pretty much exhausted by the time fertile seed bearing miniatures were around?
I cant really answer your questions but you might look into experimenting with ‘Merit’ from Ray Spooner. The form on this rose is to die for. Of course it is only the size of a pencil dot but that’s only hindsight =)
The smaller a rose gets, the less likely it is to produce fertile seeds. Tiny roses will rarely set viable seeds.
‘Magic Wand’ is still a great parent when used in conjunction with fertile minis. I used it last year on an average sized un-named yellow blend mini and got excellent results. Many of the offspring are VERY small, certainly qualifying as micros; ‘Magic Wand’ definitely appears to behave as a dominant for extreme miniaturism. I would strongly recommend using ‘Magic Wand’ on any regular sized mini that sets seed easily. (‘Sequoia Gold’, ‘Sheri Anne’, ‘Rise ‘N’ Shine’, ‘Joycie’, etc.) You will definitely get a very good percentage of micros from such a cross. Oh, and the color range of it’s offspring is amazing also; everything from whites to pale greens to reds, oranges, white with red picotee, blends, reds with white reverses, mauves…etc.
If you want pollen from ‘Magic Wand’, I can send you some soon. Cuttings available also.
Thanks Paul, ‘Magic Wand’ just arrived this afternoon from the Uncommon Rose. I had one at the old house and always liked it growing with the herbs, although it never set seed as suggested in Fitch’s 1970s book on miniature roses. I’m glad to hear that you’ve had such good color from it’s offspring, can’t wait to see what I can get out of it! Due to limited space this year at the new house, I won’t be able to get many roses to use as seed bearers, although I did already get Rise-n-Shine and Fairy Moss.
If you are looking for other minis that are good seed parents that frequently produce microminis I suggest Moore’s ‘Orange Honey’. In crosses with other “standard” minis and even full sized roses, ‘Orange Honey’ has consistently produced a number of microminis for me. If you like warm colors, ‘Orange Honey’ is a great parent for that too producing many orange / gold colored seedlings.
You will find ‘Magic Wand’ is very poor at setting seed. I wouldn’t bother trying too hard to put pollen on it. Its pollen is EXTREMELY fertile though and will go on just about anything. I will take a photo of one of my favorite offspring from ‘Magic Wand’ this year and post it later today. It is a 2" plant with 1/4 inch beautifully shaped vermilliion/brick red blooms.
This is the ‘Penny Ante’ X ‘Magic Wand’ seedling I mentioned. That bloom is no more than 1/3 inch across. I have a second, even smaller one I will post
Here is a second seedling from the same cross. The plant is 1.5 inches tall, has another 6 or 7 buds on it and the open bloom is 1/3 inch across. I like the shape of this bloom, with its starry look.
Thanks for the pictures Paul! I’ve noticed that the older miniatures or those that are only a generation or two away from the polyantha class, seem to suffer less from midge. Tom Thumb, Cinderella, Red Imp, Magic Wand, Little Chief, Tiny Tears, etc., all suffered less than the minis with more hybrid tea form, like Rise n’ Shine.
At the old house, I would have been able to tell very quickly which roses showed more resistance to midge. If you ever get the opportunity, you might want to look for this same trait.
Thanks for the suggestion about ‘Orange Honey’ David! That’s another one I’ve thought about trying.