'Frontenac' as a seed parent?

General Discussion
1

This year I made 75 crosses using ‘Frontenac’ as a seed parent and one of my very fertile seedlings as the pollen parent. They all failed. What a disappointment. Using the same pollen on other roses has resulted in about 90% successful takes. Is ‘Frontenac’ considered female sterile (I’ve read it’s a good pollen parent) or do I have a compatability problem? Has anyone used ‘Frontenac’ successfully as a seed parent?

2

Fred, apparently you are not alone. Either you are the first to try it as a seed parent, or you are just one of the crowd. HelpMeFind lists “0 unique descendants” for Frontenac.

Try it as a pollen parent and see how things go.

Peter

3

Fred,

Frontenac sets OP hips, but as with several of the other Explorer roses that set OP hips such as William Baffin, John Davis, and John Cabot, I have never been able to get a single cross to take using any of them as the female parent (and believe me I have tried). I learned years ago that these roses are much better put to use as pollen donors.

Julie

4

Julie,

I’ve used the same pollen and the same technique making crosses with John Davis and William Baffin as the seed parents. They were both very successful, which is why I don’t quite understand the failure with Frontenac.

Fred

5

Fred,

Years ago, I bet I tried several hundred crosses using John Davis, John Cabot, and William Baffin as seed parents. I only ever got two hips to set on William Baffin, each with one seed, neither of which germinated. I still even recall that the pollen donor in each instance was Buck’s Prairie Clogger. Are there others out there that have had success using William Baffin, John Davis, or John Cabot as females? They certainly are excellent pollen donors, but perhaps I should revisit my hybridizing attempts in the other direction if others have been successful.

Julie

6

Julie,

I tried maybe a dozen pollinations om William Baffin this year. Mostly from Fuchsia Meidiland and Chuckles. I thought that because they have R.wichuriana or R.multiflora in them that they would cross well with WB, being it has R.wichuriana in it through R.kordesii. All of the hips have shriveled up except one, and that one maybe from the bees. They’re numerous OP hips forming on it though. I like you, have had better luck using WB as the pollen parent.

Paul