Is anyone working on climbers?

I’ve got a couple of pisocarpa x 42-03-02 that I got from Paul Barden several years ago that I only recently began working with in earnest. I am looking for interesting climbers to cross them with. Does anyone have climbers in their pipeline that might make suitable suitors? I have a copy of 42-03-02 to trade, or we could discuss options.

Hi Don, yes, climbers are one direction I’m playing with, but I don’t think they would be sufficiently hardy for you. There are a number of Nessie (Montecito X Mlle Cecile Brunner) X Annie Laurie McDowell right now; several Nessie selfs and several Pink Petticoat X Nessie seedlings which aren’t quite a year old. Nessie is loaded with hips using various goodies from minis to Noisettes and older HTs, even Grey Pearl, and Nessie’s pollen has been spread as far as it would go. Secret Garden, a found Musk rose, pollen has been applied to nearly everything in the yard (including Nessie!). Banksiae lutescens pollen has been applied to numerous roses, and, Basye’s 86-3 pollen has been applied to a host of minis through shrubs to see what may work.

I’ve been keeping an eye out for possible hardy climbers and/or large hardy shrub roses and occasionally making crosses in that direction.

It’s getting a little late for me to root cuttings, but I will keep an eye out for any interesting possibilities and keep you in mind.

I’m intrigued by my 1041 (maybe in my previous post, I can’t remember) that is a larger-flowered virginiana or carolina seedling that appears to be a cross. Who knows how difficult to recover rebloom but the health and hardiness possibilities are significant. Awkward, stiff, leggy habit that needs to be tempered by a softer-caned climbing type.

I wouldn’t say I’m “working on climbers” so much as “I’m using plants that, more than likely, will result in climbers”.

“in the pipeline” not so much. I had a number of seedlings from Mr. Nash x Rugelda (seed from Joan Monteith) several of which wanted to climb, but only one of which (due to comparably demure habit) survived the first years in plastic pots and still exists. It was either the seedling nick-named “junk yard dog” for its thorns and lack of bloom, or the one whose first bloom earned it the nickname “dirty kleenex in barbed wire”. It has actually produced very nice Austin-style blooms for me as a mature plant – less apricot than its siblings, but with a yellow center in its cabbagey blooms. Thorny as get-out with rather coarsely toothed glossy foliage. Problem is, I have never been able to root the bugger. Methinks it is not a rose built for Central Texas, and I would love to know how it might do in colder climes.

As an aside, this cross had very high viability, and nearly 3/4 had cabbagey blooms. Apricot blends were pretty common among them. I was not able to even pot up many of the seedlings due to the quantity, if anyone wants to repeat Joan’s cross.

More to your point…
The best I would have to offer you would be off my R. setigera serena (female fertile) which will take 2 generations to provide much of interest. (She’s a pretty plant on her own, but a late, one-time bloomer, and wants a few years to build before performing.) I think it’s a species that warrants use, particularly if you are in a colder area, or a region where RRD might hit.

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Kim, I think you’re correct about tenderness of your Nessie babies. Checking out the photos of Nessie just now I recall my shock at seeing just how large roses can get to be in California compared to Connecticut.

Joe, I have a couple of similar virginiana’s from Aloha that are rampaging through one of my beds and threatening some f1 moyesii’s. I’ll be happy to send pollen your way but in a couple more years they will be sprouting up in your backyard anyway.

Philip, I am interested in your setigera’s. Let me know what’s available by pm.

I made the cross R. tunquinensis x R. laevigata this season that resulted in hip set. Hopefully something useful will come from it!