'Fragrant Cloud' X carolina

Well, those tiny buds are finally starting to open and I just couldn’t wait to share a picture.

I collected the Rosa carolina clone from a small wooded lot I have in West Virginia. It blooms sporadically at the tips of new canes, after the main flush (which occurs on older wood). It also should be a tetraploid which makes it more hopeful that the hybrid will be fertile.

Link: www.geocities.com/tesilvers/FragrantCloudXcarolina.html

Very nice. How old is your plant & how long did it take for you to get the first bloom?

Looks great! Good luck with it.

That looks awsome. Foilage looks like the species rose I have in my garden which may be either carolina or virginia. Do you live in Richmond? Did I ever send you R. foliolosa?

My plant hasn’t bloomed, but it will in June.

Thanks Lydia, Jim and Enrique.

Let’s see… the seeds germinated during the winter… I planted them out the following summer… they didn’t bloom that season or the next season either… so I guess I’d say this is their third growing season (and first time blooming).

And no, Enrique I’m in Maryland; and I have Rosa foliolosa but mine came from Forest Farm Nursery. My foliolosa has bloomed once (its first year) but isn’t very happy where I’ve got it and probably won’t bloom this year.

I’ve added a picture of the opening flower to that link above, if you want to see.

I’m surprised at how “Hybrid Tea-like” the bloom still is, in spite of it being half species. Rosa carolina doesn’t seem to modify the urn-shaped buds, doubleness or the one-flower-per-stem traits. The scent is very strong (old rose scent) and I’ve noticed that the flowers hold for a very long time in the bud stage.

As far as less desirable traits that carolina has contributed: less substance (thinner petals), shorter flower stems, plain pink color and probably lack of repeat. Hopefully backcrosses to Hybrid Teas and other moderns will improve these qualities and still retain some of the interesting infusion of genes from carolina.

I’ve added two more pictures to the original link, now that the flowers have fully opened. I have to say, this seedling has really surprised me in a good way. If you want to see the Rosa carolina pollen parent, it’s the same one I used in the rugosa hybrid that’s detailed in the link below.

Link: www.koolpages.com/hybridizer/Rose/SpeciesHybridTable/rugosaXcarolina.html