From the posts, Topaz Jewell is a challange to work with. I have four nice hips, probably o.p. from the nearby Austin roses. I’m wondering if they will abort or with alot of luck, I might be able to get a few seeds to germinate next spring. Any comments.
Ross
If I were to theoretically use Topaz Jewel in any work, I’d use it as a pollen donor on diploids or fertile triploids. I am half-tempted to try it on Oso Easy Honey Bunch… but the prickles on TJ are kind of menacing.
So are the prickles on Topaz Jewel!
I have four nice hips, probably o.p. from the nearby Austin roses
By this did you mean your TJ has set four OP hips? if so that sounds very cool.
Yes, you are correct. I don’t know who the pollen parents are. I just happy it has hips. So far T.J. is very clean as I culled several roses nearby for blackspot. Those were probably the pollen parents. I like the idea of using it as a pollen parent next spring. Possible partners to try are John Davis, Therese Bugnet, Rosa laxa even Morden Sunshine, Julia Child.
Take a look at High Voltage (Baiage) by Ping Lim. Some very experienced folks here are giving it very high marks for a yellow. If I had it in Oz, I would use it.
I purchased three High Voltage when they first came out, one for me and two for gifts. All three P.M. within two months of purchasing them. I have not used H.V. for breeding because of this.
I didnt even know what to do with High Voltage, so I crossed “SelfFree” and Smooth Buttercup onto it. The unique, pale color that doesnt fade much here, with the twiggy mildewed growth, was really confusing. So I crossed it with anything that I thought could be carried another generation and crossed my fingers for no mildew, lol.
Hmmm… if HV does poorly in your climate location, I can totally understand your reluctance.
I think HV is meant to be a very hardy yellow surviving very cold northern hemisphere climates. I also thought it was supposed to have great health in parts of northern USA, maybe others can jump in here and explain how HV fares in their locations as well.
Pretty good blackspot resistance. Above average crown hardiness. Definite susceptibility to mildew. Good seed setter.
I grew maybe two hundred (though I’ve caught myself exaggerating the numbers before, maybe 135?) OP seedlings of HV this year. None of them really blew me away…a lot of very light yellows.
HV itself also didn’t impress me as much this year…it may not have liked the heat.
Not a real shrubby form; a little awkward with stems shooting up here and there.
I would still use it, but I’m not as enthused as I was. If there is such a thing as a rose that acts as a “mildew killer”, that would be the one to cross with HV. Any ideas?
[quote=svencal]
I purchased three High Voltage when they first came out, one for me and two for gifts. All three P.M. within two months of purchasing them. I have not used H.V. for breeding because of this.[/quote]
Personally I would not base a decision not to use this on such a short time frame. Mildew can be induced in roses by water stress and one way to induce water stress is to have poor root development. A newly planted rose will take up to 12 months to develop a strong root system. Mildew after just 2 months might just be a reflection of the rose not being fully established.
Remember the saying about roses: The first year they sleep… the second year they creep, the third year they leap!
Jim has repeatedly mentioned the value of ‘Baby Love’ in infusing mildew resistance into his various lines of roses. My experience with ‘Baby Love’ descendants also supports this observation. I don’t think ‘Baby Love’ does much to confer long lasting black spot resistance (when they crash they do so with style and panache 
), or any resistance at all to downy mildew but PM doesn’t seem to affect them. Growing R. davidii var. elongata here I feel these properties come directly from it as my BL seedling and BL derived varieties such as ‘Brindabella Bouquet’ act in the same way. My davidii var. elongata has never had PM, gets a little black spot but gets smashed by downy.
Gardener’s Glory (Chewability) is said by some breeders to breed health, and it is a yellow BIG climber… but I didn’t give it a mention earlier here as I am not sure if you can get it in the US, yet?
“Crash with style and panache”! I love it! LOL!
Joan Monteith shared some cuttings of four of her op Topaz Jewel seedlings with me years ago and I still have 3 of them. Most were very thorny and more rugosa-like. It seems like they may have been backcrosses with rugosas. The last one was a glorious deep yellow and much more modern in appearance and like a miniflora or mini. It was named Kendra. It hasn’t been as healthy as the rest. The rugosa-like ones have a bit of a modern feel to the blooms, but have not set any hips. Attached is a picture of one of her more rugosa-like seedlings. The yellow color didn’t come through too well on this one, but it is very nice.
[attachment 1111 672009TopazJewel4fromJoanIMG_185027.jpg]
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That’s a very attractive plant, David. I hope the petals resist scorching better than Topaz Jewel did here. TJ was completely healthy, it just didn’t like the intensity of the sun and heat here.
First Impression by Jim S seems to be another healthy yellow, we can’t get it here.
First Impression is a very impressive plant so far. It’s been very willing and agreeable.
First Impression does extremely well in Pawtucket (15 miles away), but blackspots and defoliates here in Harrisville (sorry, Jim - gotta be honest with everyone). She accepts pollen from a diverse group, and the seeds germinate quite well. Not all of the seedlings made it past the first leaf stage, (remember the death gene discussion). They look great (from pink to yellow - two petals to full) but they haven’t been very healthy during the summer blackspot pressure. I’m actually having healthier and more vigorous seedlings from Chihuly (seed), Yellow Submarine (seed), Everblooming Pillar 124 (seed/pollen), Yellow Brick Road (pollen).
Andy
If I had those two available in my country, I would definitely combine First Impression and High Voltage with my specimen of Gardener’s Glory. GG has not suffered mildew at all nor any worrying amount of BS in the first year that I have grown it so far. I hope its great helath continues for me this season.
Note, this lack of fungus (BS, PM) is near-miraculous for any rose in my high fungal pressure location.
For those in my part of the world, I also think Brindabella LeadingGold is a true golden yellow worth adding in a “yellow disease resistant” breeding strategy. I have grown it, and it too showed near-zero BS (I think mine got a negligible amount of PM which should not have worried me in retrospect…I pulled it out for that reason alone…big mistake!).