My first seedling this winter to bloom is a ‘Show n Tell’ OP seedling. It’s a miniature, yellow and has a light sweet scent. It is 3" tall and already has a second cane with another bud on it. That has to be a good thing. 
I received some canes of SnT from Kim to root this winter and one had a single hip on it. This is the first to bloom of that group. Thanks Kim!
Rob
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How pretty, Rob! You’re welcome! Why throw things away someone else might enjoy and make good use of? I’ve been sending out cuttings I’d have otherwise thrown out and spent two days wrapping those I want to propagate. We’ll see how they do. Would you believe that SnT has another ripe hip and this flower today? It’s in the eighties in the brilliant sun! Thankfully, there’s some shade under the walnut.
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I wanted to try wrapping Lilac cuttings from one of Ralph’s Blue Skies seedlings. It hasn’t gone deciduous and I discovered a little while ago, it’s blooming…again!
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It’s lovely, Rob! Nice shade of yellow and very healthy looking. Hope it continues to do well for you.
Pretty pic, Kim, and congrats on the lilac blooms!
Rob, pretty cool seedling. I love the pointed tip to the petals. Is there any chance of going backwards from this point to the time you harvested the hip. I am new to this breeding lark(have not started yet) so I ask anyone willing to share how they do it. I have been called lots of things. A new one at present is “bower bird”(a fosicking type of bird), collecting information and storing like the bower bird does in it’s nest. If some of my phrases do not make sense I will explain, don’t forget I am Australian.
Kim, Your photo of SnT is fantastic, orange/vermillion/yellow are my colour, love the shades of them, Just for good luck throw in some greenish tinge.
Thank you. That lilac flowered from May through November in Visalia in a five gallon can, sitting in a ditch continually filled with water. It flowered off and on from January through about August here last year then stopped. I’d hoped it would drop its leaves as it’s supposed to, but it doesn’t appear willing. I want to propagate it before something happens to it, but it’s either growing or flowering. I know lilacs are supposed to be difficult to propagate, though Ralph found he could root very soft wood cuttings under mist most of the year. This one doesn’t appear to sucker like the other seedling does.
David, I’m sure seed of Show’n’Tell could easily find their way down under next season. Please remind me if you’d like some. It’s VERY fertile. I’d think you would also like to grow some Pink Petticoat seed, too. It’s a very nice rose.
Nice seedling, Rob! I’m jealous…I just have bare dirt in my seedling flats.
Kim, that lilac is very interesting. Do you know if it was a cross or open pollinated? Do you think Blue Skies has the potential to produce everbloomers? It’s also interesting that your seedling thrived in standing water, as lilacs are supposed to die from that. I might have to try a Blue Skies up here in Zone 3 and plant some seed. Maybe cross it with the new Bloomerang.
Hi Joe, Ralph’s tag on it says “lilac pink, semi dwarf, very fragrant, propagate” but doesn’t give parentage information. However, it is very much Blue Skies from the very strong, upright wood. That one is like rebar! I love it for that strong wood. Cutting Lavender Lady and the other Descanso hybrids for vase use is ticklish because they are wispy and willowy, often knocking the vase off balance and spilling it. Blue Skies stems are like iron rods, standing straight, strong and proud with larger, more durable flowering stems. This one is very much that type.
The second states it is a Blue Skies seedling, also very fragrant and lilac, but it exhibits the Lavender Lady willowy growth and suckers as I’d expect it to. It hasn’t flowered here yet, but obviously had there as it is also noted to propagate. He had a three gallon can on one of the tables for several years with a two foot tall, nicely developed bush in it loaded with pink, very fragrant flowers. I begged him to propagate that one for a very long time as it would have sold like hotcakes for any holiday it was in flower for. I could easily imagine it for an Easter or Mother’s Day floral gift. He said there were sources it should be sent to for testing, but I never heard any progress on it. I can imagine several of them used to line a path. It would have been glorious!
I definitely think Blue Skies would be worth working with. It flowers very well in warmer climates and should be wonderful in those with greater winter chill. It’s definitely easier to work with in a mixed border, being more upright and strong and it holds its flowers up and away from the other plants around it to very good effect. If you want to work with lilacs, grab one. If you don’t, still grab one as it is the nicest lilac I’ve ever been able to grow in my climate. Based upon how the first seedling performs, I’d expect it to be able to impart at least a much longer flowering season than we’ve had.
This one had grown through the bottom of the can into the standing water filled ditch and was obviously very happy. I don’t think the water is an issue as long as the crown of the plant remains out of the water. It definitely didn’t inhibit this one. I wish more of his lilac work survived as he had some wonderful lilacs and crepe myrtles out in the back forty. One lilac had almost one inch flowers in enormous heads. He liked it as a novelty but never felt it worth pursuing as a viable variety. Those are all graded off at ground level, leaving bare dirt. Who knows what might come back from the roots?
My first bloom was from Moonlight 1913 x Carefree Beauty. A bit ordinary maybe, but I like it. 8 petal, 2inch CB pink with a large white eye, no fragrance. Lax Hybrid Musk type canes, vigorous, healthy so far. I’ll snap a pic next time it blooms. I only have a few seedlings this round, as I just restarted hybridizing.
Thanks all!
Kim,
Thanks for sharing the pictures. SnT sure is a pretty color! I’m in full agreement with you about sharing with others and want to share rooted plants of some of my own this coming season.
David,
I remove the seeds, put them in moist vermiculite and put them in the fridge. I normally have germination starting around the 3rd month. These seeds happened to germinate just short of one month. Today I have germination from OP seeds of Paul’s 54-08-08: Midnight Blue x (Orangeade x Rosa fedtschenkoana Regel)…the pollen parent is known as OADEFED. I’m looking forward to see what comes from this lot.
Joe,
Hope you have germination soon!
Rob said, “Today I have germination from OP seeds of Paul’s 54-08-08: Midnight Blue x (Orangeade x Rosa fedtschenkoana Regel)…the pollen parent is known as OADEFED. I’m looking forward to see what comes from this lot.”
ME too! Can’t wait to see those babies!
Can I add another "Me me toooo". What could they look like if you have any of the parents photo’s please post them or would they all be on HMF.
Rob,
Thanks Rob, more info if you do not mind, how deep is the vermiculite and is it a closed system(as in a bag) or box. What temp do you run the fridge at.
Kim, do we continue this here or make a thread on it’s own.
What a fantastic rose, so you are invovled with a cross you made. Do you think there are things in the wind for this rose, I hope so
Thanks David, only Paul has really done anything with it. I’ve focused on the Dottie Louise X Fedtschenkoana seedlings instead. They take what’s behind this and add Basye’s Legacy to the mix. I’m to the point of culling the original DLFED seedlings and only maintaining two or three of them. Click on the DLFED to see the listing of them on HMF.
Man! I love this new forum!
Back to the Lilac. What is remarkable is how hard it is to get these to grow in this neck of the woods and I would presume in yours. And it looks healthy, even more remarkable. And large flowers that seem to be everblooming? I need one of those! I am originally from Wisconsin, where lilacs are grown much like the common privet here (they are related) and only rarely see one that is actually surviving here, let alone thriving. It sounds like Ralph should have done something with those.
I grew several of his seedlings in Newhall, Jackie, as well as Blue Skies, Lavender Lady, Angel White, Descanso Pink and California Rose, though the latter two seemed identical to me. There were also a few unnamed ones friends shared suckers of with me. They all suckered and flowered profusely there each year. I know Lavender Lady and Angel White flower very easily in much of the San Fernando Valley, and that these and Blue Skies and Descanso Pink grow and flower perfectly in West Hills here, too, as I’ve given suckers to friends there and they’ve grown perfectly. I have a small piece of Primerose, the “yellow” lilac which I understand isn’t very yellow, but definitely not pure white. It isn’t losing its leaves, either.
These require far less winter chill than many and good air circulation prevents the mildew often encountered. I hope they’ll decide to lose their leaves to give me a chance at trying to propagate them.
Hi Kim,
I would be interested in a cutting of that lilac seedling too - sounds great! I also need to find Blue Skies. I had some French lilacs at our other house that I tried crossing. I still have the one seedling that came up. It is quite dwarf and blooms nicely in the spring, but the leaves burn badly in the heat.
Blue Skies grew and flowered perfectly in Newhall, in the canyon bottom near the intersection of Golden Valley and Sierra Hwy, Jim. You’re welcome to cuttings. When would it be good for them to be taken? I’d have thought once it went deciduous, but it is refusing to, flowering instead! I just remembered the photos on HMF of the garden. This one flowered Christmas day last year, too. Lilac photo
Rob, this is what that bud of Show ‘n’ Tell I posted two days ago turned into today. The weather has been brilliant sun, nights in the fifties to low sixties and days in the high seventies to mid eighties.
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wow, that’s beautiful Kim. What a change in coloration from the first picture.