I’ve posted about this seedling before. The flowers are usually shades of russet or lavender, depending on the weather, and fade to pale gray. Today I noticed two flowers of different colors on the plant. One was yellow, and the other was the kind of pink that darkens with exposure to the sun. Here are three photos that I took of flowers on the plant today. Are the first two sports, or just new examples of the inherent color variability of this seedling? I noticed that the branch that had the yellow bloom had mildew, while the other branches on the plant didn’t. So even if the yellow is a stable sport, it might not be worth propagating. The pink bloom was on a short peduncle that connected to the branch at the same point as the peduncles of two blooms of normal color, so it probably can’t be propagated, even if it is a sport.
There are a couple of other photos here:
I’ve got a seedling with both single and double flowers on the same plant right now Jim.
I have a feeling some of these seedlings are genetically unstable while young for whatever reason.
I agree with Robert. To phrase it cutely, ‘the genes are arguing’.
I forgot to mention that this seedling is 6 years old. Past color variations have depended on the weather, with russet tones predominating in warm weather, and mauve tones dominating in cool weather. This is the first time that it has produced such different colored flowers at the same time during the same weather. Yes, the genes seem to be arguing, but I wonder why they suddenly started doing it in two different parts of the plant after 6 years. Here’s one more photo taken a couple of years ago. The weather changed in mid-flush. The blooms started out brown, and changed to lavender when the weather changed. You can see that the bud opening just above the center of the photo is lavender. You can also see that the blooms sometimes have many more petals than they do at the moment.
Nice seedling. How’s disease resistance?
what are parents? Bucks?
Very interesting Jim! This might be one that will just sport frequently.
I noticed a seedling in the greenhouse that had been clean of powdery mildew. Then out of the blue one leaflet on a leaf became covered with powdery mildew. It is interesting how parts of the plants can sport like that.
Jim Sproul
It seems from some of what I’ve heard that the pale russets do have a tendancy to great variability, which kinda makes sense if one considers the complex blends of pigments in them, (Genetically, I could see the similarity – the yellow/mauve crosses conventially recommended to reinforce good lavendars often result in russets or oranges, or blends…) But yours is certainly far and away beyond what might be expected. I’m a little sceptical that a yellow sport would simulataneously sport an inherent weakness to mildew, but don’t have a full comprehension of the genetics of such. (It would be interesting if the link between yellow and disease-susceptibility had a tighter link than merely the common foetida ancestry… Anybody know more about such?) Personally, i think it would be more interesting if the genetics of your rose were stable, and the variability existed within a stable plant… Hey, it kinda reminds me of the “mood rings” of the 70’s…
Neat, Jim!
The parentage is Magenta X Lilac Charm. As far as I know, neither of the parents has any sports. Disease resistance is very good. Right now, the plant is clean except for the branch that has the yellow bloom. The three leaves closest to the yellow bloom have a lot of mildew. The leaves lower on that branch are clean. You can’t really tell from the photos I posted, but the oddly colored flowers are significantly smaller than the others on the plant, and have fewer petals. All of the blooms are fragrant.
I’ve crossed this seedling with other roses that seem to have unstable color. I’ve got a couple of good seedlings from this seedling X Cafe Ole. Cafe Ole is a russet rose that sported from the lavender Winter Magic. My plant of Cafe Ole has sported back to lavender twice. Unfortunately, the seedlings of (Magenta X Lilac Charm) X Cafe Ole have not shown much color variability yet.
Try it with Distant Drums. I have 5 Distant Drums x Ebb Tide growing (they germinated less than a month ago), so it’s a valid possibility.
Also, there is sporting behavior in the Pinocchio line of roses. I’m just not sure if it effects Lavender Pinocchio.
After 6 years? Ok that is wierd.