I have no idea. I don’t grow it, and I would like to some day. Persica is one of those unsolved mysteries in roses. Persica is something that interests me greatly. I would love for this thread to develop further along the lines of information about Persica. I am especially interested in the variations of Persica that was discussed last year http://www.rosehybridizers.org/forum/message.php?topid=9419#16749. I also believe there are many things which can be gained from the species other than the “blotch”.
Not yet… I’ve stopped looking as I’ve switched my focus to clinophylla, bracteata, and gigantea at the moment, which are already here… esp. since Tom mentioned he had managed to get something out of ‘Euphrates’.
Many years ago, I had Persica from Don Gers in Northern California He grafted it on Silvermoon, which roots very easily. It proved very difficult to maintain but it DID graft to “rose”. It’s very possible the trouble reported with Hulthemia is due to the cold, damp climates in which it has been used. Ralph Moore seemed to have little problem with keeping it alive and propagating it in Visalia. Jim, how have you found them to propagate in Bakersfield?
You might try grafting persica to a spin or a foetida. It’s not an ideal solution because of the suckering problem but they are genetically more closely related than any of the usual rootstocks are.
This post was originally about developing methods of propagation for the supposedly difficult-to-propagate species ‘R.Persica’, not its modern descendant Hulthemia hybrids which are easy to propagate.
I thought the species might readily graft onto its descendants, the Persica hybrids which we know are easy to strike, and which must be genetically very close to ‘R. Persica’.
Wonderfully! It’s grown to about 2ft square atm and I even have a hip forming from it atm Crosing my fingers it lasts the distance… all crosses with it were failing and all my most fertile things so I thought… it’s a stupid cross really… BUT… EVERYTHING takes on ‘Altissimo’ and stuff me… it DID! Only one hip though but it’s swelling nicely and starting to colour up a little… I’ve never been able to get ‘Altissimo’ seeds to germinate naturally so will leave them in the fridge longer than I normally would this time to see if that helps and might extract an embryo or two as I have been able to get embryos to germinate from ‘Altissimo’ before.
P.S. ‘Euphrates’ produces long limber canes so while the plant is low to the ground I’ve made layers of some of these canes (to the ground) in the hope they will strike. If they do I’ll send you up an own-root plant if I can manage to move it successfully. It grew poorly in a large pot eventually defoliating (I think it just got too hot for it during those near 40
I imported Euphrates from Harkness back in 1984/85. It grew on a short slope for years until an El Nino hit and it was buried nearly to the tops of the canes. The blamed thing rooted, every cane rooted and I still have one of them in a fifteen gallon can which refuses to die. I dug them all, potted them and gave them to anyone who showed any interest. Of the Harkness hybrids, Nigel Hawthorne was the cleanest, never any disease. Tigris was the most “miffy”, cycling between committing suicide and flourishing. Euphrates mildews worst of the three, sometimes even the petals show fuzz, but it will NOT die!
Nigel Hawthorn is the cutest rugosa I have ever seen. the bloom color is amazing, too. But I have never seen it set anything ever in a decade at Heirlooms where it is planted.
I wish that the idea could be replicated in a more modern fashion. It looks super drought tolerant – at least for Oregon lol.
Several years ago, I had budded plants of it for sale at a nursery I worked for two blocks from the Pacific Ocean in Pacific Palisades. Like Banksia and Blueberries, Nigel Hawthorne thought it was spring all spring and summer, well into the fall, and continued blooming. Forty miles inland, in the mid desert where I lived at the time, it bloomed for a few weeks before it got hot. I found it very interesting how long it continued blooming and that in the perma fog, where people grew slime mold for lawns, it never suffered any fungal attacks.
Well… as you said… health is a relative thing. Most things mildew here at the moment… and ‘Euphrates’ has none. ‘Ann Endt’ is the worst offender for me at the moment. Not because it is mildewing badly but because the thing is only mildewing on the recepticle and the ones with mildew never go on to produce mature hips… this makes it a PITB to choose the right bud to pollinate when you only have one plant of it and pollen ready to go and no suitable flowers at the right stage (because AE flowers will self pollinate before fully opening making the window of opportunity slim). It will be interesting to see if it strikes as easily as you say it does with the canes bent down and buried half-way with a knick in the underside of the stem. Given it is the only hybrid hulthemia available in Australia (except maybe hardii but I’ve heard that is as sterile as a fence post and I haven’t been able to track down a source for it yet)… beggers can’t be choosers. It would be great if someone had some spare OP hulthemia seeds they could post over from one the the more recent hybrids… we are allowed to import modern hybrids as “Rosa ‘hybrida’ (variety 1 x variety 2)”. I would be very happy to buy seeds from someone willing to post them (my email link is active).
Hey Simon, thanks for the offer of ‘Euphrates’… but honestly I can’t see myself experimenting with it… It just doesn’t 'do it ’ for me…But I am very curious about what you get out of it…keep posting on it
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Crosing my fingers it lasts the distance… all crosses with it were failing and all my most fertile things so I thought… it’s a stupid cross really… BUT… EVERYTHING takes on ‘Altissimo’ and stuff me… it DID! Only one hip though but it’s swelling nicely and starting to colour up a little… I’ve never been able to get ‘Altissimo’ seeds to germinate naturally so will leave them in the fridge longer than I normally would this time to see if that helps and might extract an embryo or two as I have been able to get embryos to germinate from ‘Altissimo’ before.