Breeding roses for very strong fragrance

If disease-resistance is a focus (and it probably should be imho) you may want to focus on newer cultivars and/or species in your breeding stock. Historically, breeders focused on others aspects, and left the issues of disease-control to a blossoming chemical industry.

I don’t know the actual history of… I’ma say… “environmental enlightenment” in the industry, but, if folks were starting to look towards developing more resistant roses towards the end of the 1900’s, the wildly successful Knockout rose probably put an exclamation mark behind that goal.

As a house that had established a reputation for some healthy plants, Kordes was probably one of the first breeding houses to seriously commit to resistance as a primary goal and, reportedly, had a real wake-up when they decided to go entirely no-spray. After making that commitment, they feared for their entire stock of plants as they watched and saw the extent of the disease pressures in their fields, and the chemical dependencies of their stock.

Generally though, introduction by Kordes post-2000 have very good resistance. But their earlier of the newer introductions mostly lacked fragrance. Many had other deficits as well, and the more tolerant plants would often be deemed too prodigious or not quick enough to dedicate their energy to blooming for the impatient gardener.

They are becoming more committed to the other aspects as their “Parfuma” and “Nectar Garden" collections attest. The French breeding houses probably maintained a less singular focus and their recent offerings also have improved disease resistance with quite luscious blooms.

Realistically we need to realize that no matter the phenotype (part of their genetics that are expressed and evident to us) of any parent, the genotype is much, much, deeper, and carries a lot of baggage in the genetics of the inferior ancestors. For example, Kordes, as I understand it, germinates hundreds of thousands of seedlings each year. The percentage that make it through their trials to get to market is abysmally small. It is metaphorically the roll of hundreds of die that come together in any one seedling that is ultimately deemed “marketable" but thousands of siblings were culled in the process. The odds of any one offspring, in turn, of that seedling sharing all of its best attributes is next to nil.

There are many healthy and Fragrant roses out there now. The vast majority are pink. Obtaining a trifecta of health, recurrence and fragrance in e.g. a deep red or saturated yellow is essentially a holy grail of the hybridizer.

(Take my assertions with a grain of salt! Others no doubt have a deeper understanding than my generalizations, and corrections nay be in order.)

2 Likes

Yeah that was my thought too as likes of Mister Lincoln, Fragrant Cloud, Double Delight etc. have very poor disease resistance.

I have a lot of (strongly) fragrant newer varieties like Pope John Paul, Francis Meilland and Chandos Beauty and some unknown variety knows Desiree that definietely hold better resistance.

But my healthiest rose is no doubt Earth Angel, its also one of the most fragrant.

1 Like

Hi .I live in zone 4 and have same problem as you. Breeding scent into the mix is high on my list but to date it eludes me .Wish i had more to say on subject

2 Likes

@mntlover1 Duane is breeding scent into cold hardy roses

Welcome PetePL!

What groups are you working with? As I mentioned above, I’m working with rugosas, and I am intending to only select fragrant or very fragrant parents. To this end I will be including a couple of OGRs as well as the list of hardy rugosas I have.

Welcome Cromwell, I wish you many successes in your breeding! Keep us posted

Hi! I am planning on working with Bourbons and Portlands but I don’t know how reliable those are as seed/pollen. Have few DAs I would be curious to cross with some Portlands. And quite a few HTs to cross with each other and potencially cross with some old roses.

1 Like

Are any of these hardy in your garden, or do you plan on achieving your zone 4 hardiness objectives through another means?

I also have a couple DAs, Graham Thomas and Heritage. I have not done anything with these yet but I will likely try. I also have a couple of Paul Barden roses, Marianne and Allegra, both of which are quite fragrant. Though listed as Gallicas they are not technically OGRs. I am hoping that enough of the Gallica might come through when crossed with Rugosas (with the repeat gene from the DAs they are descended from). Both are very fragrant.

I also have a few floribundas. I will probably try them at some point, but I confess I’m not very confident that I’ll get what I’m after with these.

I mean I am in 7b not zone 4 so all roses are hardy for me without any protection.

Marianne is 100% sterile, sadly.

That is too bad! I was going to try it this season. Any how, Marianne is a job well done. Thanks for introducing it.