This tall, vigourous, healthy, orange flowering specimen (in the southern hemisphere) is being utilised as a pollen parent.
Having ‘acquired’ blooms from the churchyard between loitering pedestrians and vehicles paused at traffic lights, I can’t ask its name - even if it would be known.
Attended by an extremely diligent deadheader, full height (leave alone hips) is uncertain. Blooms are culled barely having reached their prime (‘Acquisition’ required even more diligence. And speed. Yes, it has robust thorns…)
CHARACTERISTICS: 2m(?) tall, dark glossy foliage (still present now in mid-winter and wine coloured new growth), blooms: 25 petals, approx 4", vibrant orange (reddening at tips-photochromatic, yellow inners/centre), Zone 9b
I have made various ID forays but usually either the height or colouration isn’t quite a match.
PS as a pollen parent somewhat disappointing at this stage.
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If it is very fragrant, I might look closer at Fragrant Cloud.
Perhaps ‘Alexander’ (offspring of ‘Tropicana’/‘Super Star’), although photos on HMF don’t show much photochromism if any.
Thankyou lee_hull, “Churchyard” has only a mild fragrance and definitely not Fragrant Cloud which I do have in my garden (coral-ish colour and way too short). The general impression of the bush is tall, upright and the blooms are the colour of a mandarin as in the full bush image (even though photos of individual blooms look more peachy…)
Thankyou vanislesmith, Alexander is one I shortlisted and your suggestion made me delve a bit deeper: Although the description states LIGHT green leaves, many of the images show the dark leaf colouring of my experience. From the image accreditaions I now see that it was definitely available in Australia.
Another on my shortlist is Octoberfest (McGredy NZ) - also with evidence it made it ‘across the ditch’, as they say, to Australia.
Now I am hoping you are correct because of Alexander’s 8 generations of offspring compared with Octoberfest’s nil…
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