Elina Fertility

I have watched ‘Elina’ very carefully this whole season, and it has repeated blooming quite a fair bit in my climate… I am not sure if it is heat that casues it to be a shy bloomer elsewhere, as I am also living in a fairly warm sort of climate…maybe it is some other environmental/plant factor causing this discrepancy?

I guess the degree of repeat is fairly subjective, I am not doubting for one minute that extreme heat will stop ‘Elina’ flowering…I can certainly believe that…

Anyway, it still outperforms most HT’s in my climate in terms of vigor and health!

“if it is heat that casues it to be a shy bloomer elsewhere”

I got one blossom on ‘Elina’ this Spring. It’s been in the ground three years and refuses to grow.

Btw, I’m still waiting for ‘Westerland’ to flower. I don’t think it even has buds. It’s just not good here. I’m going to have to give up on it.

Apparently ‘Elina’ is going to be even worse for me.

Paul’s foliolosa never flowered. I finally let it go.

Too many things flourish here to worry about the things that don’t. It’s hard to guess what any one rose will do in any one climate. You just have to see what works for you.

Robert, could you just have gotten a bad plant of Elina, It just doen not sound right, it is great here in South Louisiana even in the heat, but maybe its the humidity. I can tell you one thing it is a favorite of thrips.

Patrick

“maybe its the humidity”, or lack there of, exactly.

I think this is one of the reasons many Teas dislike my climate. But they, at least, usually look good in Winter.

It could be I should have given ‘Elina’ more of a head start, or that it dislikes the location or soil conditions here. No doubt it would be better budded.

Whatever the reason, I can’t worry about it. Others given the same conditions thrive. I’ve moved on. Too many roses, too little time and space.

FWIW the specimen of ‘Elina’ I am talking about in my climate is definitley budded, not own root.

I think the days of budding roses, except for specialty applications, is coming to a close in the U.S.

I don’t want to hybridize roses that require budding to prosper.

I’m still waiting for ‘Westerland’ to flower<<<<<

There has been relatively recent discussion about the performance of ‘Westerland’ on this forum, specifically about whether or not it has imparied heat tolerance…I recall yours, Robert, IS budded, yet is a poor performer…and this has made me hesitate to go out and buy this one, fearing it is going to sulk in the warmth here…I am undecided about ‘Westerland’.

Only one way to find out George. I live in an extreme climate. I’m sure ‘Westerland’ is fine most places. It might even be ok for others in my area. All I can report is my experience. Mine is budded.

True enough Robert.

Although we do get bouts of heat here, this is a much more moderate climate. Summer nights rarely exceed 65F all season long. ‘Westerland’ is an excellent rose here and I use it every year in breeding. Its offspring are often very vigorous and have excellent Blackspot resistance. Just FYI.

Our average minimum tepms in the Sydney summer here are 80F…BUT we nearly always get fresh easterly onshore breezes throughout the summer evenings, which cool things down so the plants get less heat stress, even in 100+F days, the nights are nearly always much much cooler…I am guessing where Robert lives, the heat pattern might be a lot more sustained heat, without the afternoon/evening cool-downs…this could make a huge difference to the roses’ level of heat stress, if it is more unrelenting and less “diurnal”…

BTW I live near the waterfront…Inland western Sydney gets less of this cool down effect, and is much more intolerable heat…So there are microclimactic differences as well, even in the one city if it is so spread out…LOL

“the heat pattern might be a lot more sustained heat, without the afternoon/evening cool-downs…”

You can count on that. We can have night time temperatures over 100 degrees. However that’s only in certain Summer months.

It can frost here in Winter, though this year we didn’t get any. Lack of sufficient chill hours might be the real problem with ‘Westerland’ in my situation. It just doesn’t stay cool long enough for some things.

Actually right now it’s cooler than usual for this time of year so I’m still moving pollen around.

Learning to hybridize in this climate took trial and error and creativity. I was actually told I couldn’t hybridize roses here. Were they ever wrong…I just don’t think anybody had ever tried it.

good on ya!

For the first time ever, my uncle’s Elina produced one OP hip. I got so excited I ripped the danged thing off the bush to check if it had seeds, and sure enough there was one seed. Too bad the hip was still green!! (Embryo was in situ, however it was macerated).

A hip on elina is amazing.

If this happens again on this plant, I’ll take a shot of the hip, and also try to germinate any seed. The hip was asymmetrically enlarged.