I have been “playing” with open pollinated hips just to learn how to grow roses from seeds. This past fall, collected hips from my climber, Florentina. When opened, the hips had such a fresh sweet fragrance like pumpkins! I have over 60 seedlings! Has anyone used Florentina in their breeding program? Will the new seedlings be climbers as well? Thanks for your insight!
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Here,in zone 4,“Florentina” bears few fruit.I sowed a few seeds,afew sprouts sprouted easily.Polination is free.The following year,2024,one bloomed in outdoor condition.I dont know if it will be a climber.The flower is similar to “Florentina” itself .There was a drought, fertilized with asches,not sprayed.
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Thank you for your response - I will keep you posted as to how my seedlings proceed!
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i grabbed a couple hips this fall off of a large, healthy Florentina at a local garden this fall. not many seeds inside, but one has germinated (the first in a tray of hundreds. don’t know if that means anything regarding vigor). so i will be following along in this thread as well.
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I collected some OP hips from Florentina last winter and sowed like other rose OPs and crosses here in southern England. Germination started in early January before any other varieties and before any appreciable stratification temperatures (mild weather to then). I was reaching about 35-40 % germination before I gave up, because I had enough seedlings (only OPs, probably mainly selfs as the flowers are quite enclosed). I grew them through the year and maybe 70% were trailing and spreading and very prickly so I pruned in the summer to keep as potential rootstock. Some weaker plants flowered of which some had exactly Florentina flowers with that interesting shade of pure red and a couple with similar flowers but darker red. These weaker plants I can use to cross with something else to aim at that unique flower colour. However Florentina itself is far too vigorous for an ordinary garden growing 8-10ft per season on multiple branches. It also has a fault for the milder English climate in that it has near evergreen tendencies, so the leaves cling to the stems in a milder winter and carry diseases into the next year on their leaves
As an update to my OP Florentina seeds: I experienced a 50% germination rate. Most are progressing slowly but three seedlings have grown at a faster rate. The blooms are not the same and I look forward to the remaining 32 seedlings that are growing. Of my three blooms, one is similar to Florentina, another is similar with few er petals and small in form (like a mini). The third is an interesting apricot color.
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Very nice, I love the form on the third. I have had about ten seedlings pop up so far, and have potted up most. I’m still a month plus out from first bloom but would be very happy to get results like this.
nice well formed flowers! how is the smell?
No fragrance on these blooms
Seemingly, lack of fragrance goes hand-in-hand with strong resistance to disease on red roses…
I don’t grow it, but have heard that Firefighter is about as good as it gets for fragrance, true red, and reliable repeat all in one package. …Probably from rosarians with biases towards high-centered teas though. (Can others recommend FF, or a better alternative for the combined package?)
Any wagers on to what extent the bloom form and petal count might even improve with the maturity of the plant underneath this seedling? It does have nice form.
Thank you for the comments. I agree that Firefighter has great fragrance and form. Veterans Honor is good too but the fragrance is not as intense in my experience
For what it’s worth, it was determined many decades ago that the dark garnet velvet petals when combined with Damask scent was also genetically connected with weak peduncles and mildew addiction. Many old rose books pointed to that connection when discussing breeding of red roses. Strong peduncles and no scent often goes with lack of mildew.
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I still grow a small bed of FF at the front of the house, and I chose it due to the generally good press and reviews. However, for me here in Indiana 6b, it fades and blues very quickly in even moderately warm weather. And it does not like to shed its spent petals. Not a good choice for a publicly viewed area, plus I’ve found that they will easily shoot to 8 - 10 feet and block windows if I do not prune mid-season. Every year, I consider removing them, but it looks like they will be around for another season. They are healthy and floriferous. I have made more than a few attempts at breeding, but so far have only managed to bring a single hip to maturity (last year) and got no germinations from that.
“Self cleaning” and “good vase life” are attributes that would seemingly be at odds with one another, and your observations reinforce my impression that it is those rosarians prejudicial to HT’s for cutting who have given FF rave reviews. (I waffle on my own goals, but have always leaned towards being more concerned with the impression in the landscape.)