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.
