I just so happen to have had a poets wife seed germinate and i am curious about prospects. Poets wife is a favorite of mine from David Austin. I dont necessarily know why though, its not the most disease resistant, but i love the color of yellow (Even though it fades a bit), the flower form, and the fragrance. Its growth habit is intersting too, but i have read many people dislike how gangly it can be. I have notced that it doesnt really like to set seed at all, but i think it a good father is probably nearby and the bees are doing the work. I stopped trying to hand pollinate PW because none of the pollen would ever take. The hips are also interesting as they usually only have 1-4 seeds per hip. Here is to hoping that this seedling produces something interesting with decent health.
For those interested, the roses near my PW are: in your eyes, state of grace, and silver cloud. I used to have paris d’yves st laurant, love song, and summer love nearby, and these could also be parents, but i replaced those this year with tipsy imperial concubine, plum perfect, and yellow freedom.
Jim Sproul has posted a number of seedlings using Poet’s Wife as pollen parent on his facebook though.
Only use of it in breeding I’m aware of. I ruled it out because of the health issues (there were some pictures on australian based facebook groups with it having a lot of downy mildew or something). I went with Gardener’s Glory instead, not as full but healthy here (just gets very very big…).
I was able to check out jim sprouls fb page and found the posts! Thanks for letting me know. It looks like there is opportunity to see improved health of the seedlings. Hoping for the best!
Here is a little update, looks happy enough. I am a little concerned about the yellow spotting. Ill admit that im not the best at growing roses in containers, so im unsure what would cause it. As far as i know, my rose bushes don’t have rose mosaic. Thoughts?
It’s probably a nutrient deficiency of some sort or you may have spider mites or even aphids. Check for insects on the foliage under sides and consider feeding with a weak concentration of a water soluble fertilizer. I like “weakly, weekly”. Most suggest a tablespoon per gallon every two weeks, so I’ll use half tablespoon per gallon every week after they’ve been thoroughly watered. You can also foliar feed with water soluble. Yes, you can use fish emulsion to keep it “organic”, if the stench isn’t objectionable where you grow them. I don’t use it because we do have possums, raccoons and the four dogs in the yard who eat EVERYTHING, so I keep “food products” out of the fertilizer program.
After some adjusting my care, the rose is way happier! Turns out the weakly weekly fixed the problem. Apperently the mix i am using must be fairly poor. Thank yall so much for the help and advice!
I finally have a flower! Initial assessment, incredible strong fruity lemon/grapefruit citrus scent with a good mix of honey suckle. Looks like it is droopy like its mom. Flower seems to be opening slowly (although its not optimum growth conditions). Foliage is medium dark green. It is suuuper spiny.
Wanted to give an update, i have established it in my south carolina backyard. The foliage looks fairly clean for the amount of blackspot we usually get here. The fragrance is still phenominal, cant wait to see how the plant architecture turns out in the end.
The foliage is very healthy, and also very Austin-like with that particular blend of OGR-influenced modern appearance. I hope that the blackspot resistance you’re seeing holds up! The fragrance sounds great, too. If it repeats relatively quickly, then that might bode well for a garden-workable growth habit that avoids the Jolly Green Giant syndrome found in certain Austins.
Another poets wife seedling! Im actually getting tons of op seedlings germinating right now. Nothing super special, has a nice fragrance, but i think worth posting so people can see what poets wife has to offer.
It is nice to see that seedlings can inherit the parent’s coloring; yellow and fragrant is usually promising enough to make it to the next round of selection in my book, barring some hideous (unchanging) floral disfigurement or an obviously awful plant.
I hope that your earlier seedling’s health is still holding up through the heat, and I hope you’re not heading for a Debby Drowner in your part of SC! (We could really use the rain up here, so I’m actually hoping she’ll visit us shortly).
Stefan! Tis pretty rainy, Debbie is pouring, but so far hasn’t been crazy in my location. Seems like poets wife loves to pass down the yellow and the fragrance. So far the gangliness seems to go away as well. The previous seedling is still doing well in my yard! I dont give my seedlings any special help and the soil is sandy and poor. It hasnt been super floriforous, but its still a young plant. This year has also been kind of dry, so it hasn’t received tons of water either. I woulnt say the previous seedling is phenominal for a southern climate, its not spotless. Compared to other roses in my garden, I would say its doing better than most. Its health seems comparable if not slightly better than my poets wife bush. I am trying to air layer it and send a cutting to my parents in utah. I think it would do well in a cooler more dry climate.
I am also anticipating the bloom of another seedling! The closed petals are very green and the plant has decent vigor. I wonder if poets wife crossed with sugar moon… its the only rose in my yard that starts with greenish petals.
Petal chlorophyll is another trait that will always get a little extra attention if I see it in a seedling, although its inheritance is still a pretty big mystery to me. I see it from time to time in a minority of seedlings from parents with no evidence of the characteristic. I suppose roses that already produce visible chlorophyll in their petals might tend to pass that along to their offspring more consistently, but maybe it is recessive or controlled by multiple genes.
Your first seedling sounds like it’s doing well for its first season outdoors! Health can definitely also improve with increasing maturity in some seedlings. I’ve written off a few in the past that came back to surprise me later, so you never know.
