Nah. It was “marketing”. 
Hi Rob ad Philip :0)
The color of Lemon Zest is wonderful and fades very little. The plant is very healthy too with strong powdery mildew and black spot resistance so far. It has been crown hardy coming back nicely from the base in zone 4. It sets some hips, but the seeds have not germinated well. It is also diploid, which was a surprise. With all the triploid landscape roses out there these days and breeders working with triploids, it isn’t a surprise for diploids to come out. I haven’t seen the parents published on it yet.
David,
Thank you for sharing your experience with Lemon Zest. I’m glad that it is resistant, little fade and sets some seeds. I was hoping to use it a lot as a parent this season. Too bad the germination rate is not good and I’ll have to rethink my breeding with it now knowing it’s a diploid. The parentage is listed on HMF as HORcoherent × Yellow Ribbons. HORcoherent being Oso Easy Peachy Cream.
If it’s diploid, that could fit some interesting niches in some breeding programs… I haven’t been aware of any good recurrent diploid yellows. (I know I was inquiring about such at some juncture, but can’t remember why! LOL. I may have been looking into a diploid yellow pollen parent…)
I gather you haven’t yet used it for pollen?
Thanks, David. Now my curiosity is piqued… The pedigree sounds promising too, no?
(I’m curious… What should the theoretical ploidy of the parents, Yellow Ribbons and Oso Easy Peachy Cream, be based on their pedigrees? I would have expected a tetraploid.)
Hi Philip,
Oso Easy Peachy Cream is triploid. I’m not sure what Yellow Ribbons is. Lemon Zest I suspect has reduced fertility (sets hips but seeds don’t germinate well and not too many seeds) because of the diverse genetics in its background and challenge of chromosomes finding their matches during meiosis. Out of the stainable pollen, much of it appears to be unreduced (2x), but some seem to be normal 1x pollen too. I tried to smother it with polyantha pollen last year, but didn’t get much to germinate. I’ll try it as a pollen parent hopefully this year.
David,
Have you had any luck using Lemon Zest as a pollen parent?
How 'bout yourself, Rob? with the unreduced pollen, it might offer some potential as a pollen parent, and I figured you would be hitting stuff with it as well. (Thanks for digging this up again.)
All of my Lemon Zest hips seem to be aborting. It could be that the diploid pollen I was using was not fresh enough. I’ll have a chance to put Lemon Zest pollen on a rugosa hybrid and the same rugosa’s pollen on Lemon Zest over the next couple days. I picked up Lemon Zest only a couple weeks ago so it’s late in the game. I may have to wait until next season where I"ll try crossing it both ways.
Can someone tell me what “unreduced pollen” means? I’ve searched and can’t seem to find a good answer.
Instead of containing half the genes, it contains the full set.
Am I correct in thinking that unreduced pollen of a diploid could behave as pollen of a tetraploid but with reduced risk of the problems/losses that can come from segregation? Or am I making stuff up?
Thanks Kim!
You’re welcome, Rob!
Well, the freshest diploid pollen I had to use seems to be R. woodsii ‘Kimberley’ and there are about five hips that seem to be sticking on Lemon Zest. All other pollen from diploid species hybrids that I have failed to set hips and I’m sure freshness has something to do with it. I did use LZ pollen on my Ruglauca, which is a diploid, and there are about 10 or so hips that seem to be taking. That would be an interesting cross if I can get some F1 out of it.
Ruglauca is (Rugosa #3 x R. glauca) x OP. It is disease free, repeats in flushes, sets hips, viable pollen and is hardy to zone 3b
