Has anyone used Cutie Pie, whether as a seed or pollen parent? It’s a rare true mini garden rose with fine HT form.
You may like Sunrosa Red. It sets, germinates, has super repeat, and is quite shapely.
Unlike many Santa Claus types, it doesn’t have or breed for downy. I am not sure if Cutie Pie has downy, but Youre the One did. As did Smoke Rings and All A Twitter. I think that is why they used Livin Easy and Goldmarie 82 as parents, since they are not prone to it. But not even that worked. I did get a nice seedling out of All A Twitter with a downy resistant parent, but it took many crosses to net something worthwhile without downy or BS.
Because I have not grown Cutie Pie, I cant really give concrete opinion, but I wanted to reply with something. But I would still be sure to consider downy with minis, because it is very prevalent in that class due to the many decades of greenhouse + chemical breeding used that didn’t fully cull out such a secondary disease.
I grew out at least 30 minis about 2-3 years ago to look for any good for shrub work, and that was a frequent occurrence among most of them. I grew minis many years ago when I exhibited, and even at the end of doing that I sprayed with neem oil. With no spray culture, and I have no sprayed since I was a teenager/tween exhibiting roses, these things become far more apparent.
Thank you so much. As a result, I’ve just ordered a Sunrosa Red. Would you recommend I try it as a female, male, or both? Perhaps because of where I live (Oakland, CA), I have not had much downy. Mildew and to a lesser extent blackspot, and a much lesser extent rust, are the local enemies. As I have written previously, I have had excellent results with Oso Easy Italian Ice as a female, especially when crossed with Rainbow’s End.
It works both ways.
A Californian on HMF says that they experience downy during certain years (rainy), but not the rest. I think SoCal Coastal Rosarian iirc. In commercial roses, its important. First, because of nursery conditions and forced growth for sales + overhead watering, and because roses are often sold in temperate climates.