The legendary Canadian HT ‘Red Dawn’ developed by Robert Simonet is now available from Pickering Nurseries. Also, ‘Dr. F. L. Skinner’. I sent them plants of both cultivars a couple years ago.
‘Red Dawn’, of course, was crossed with ‘Suzanne’ by Robert Simonet to develop the ‘Red Dawn’ x ‘Suzanne’ breeding line. It is in the pedigree of most of the Explorer Rosa kordesii cultivars and thus made the development of them possible.
Thanks for the heads up as I been missing something from Simonet.
By the way just returned from the Island and brought back what’s claimed to be Eddie’s Crimson and Eddie’s Jewel. Eos did bloom this year but was a tad off for cane survival. Also picked up a few hardies never heard, one called Jamie - has a slight hint of rugosa but leaves similiar to Therese - and Mrs Colville. Also got a couple of tenders, Darlow’s Enigma and Baltimore Belle and rose d’amour
Order accepted with no problem. Nice work Paul and now another prairie niche filled in the garden … need to get Joel to get Suzanne and ross rambler going.
Great news Paul. Is the desciption on HMF accurate that RD is hard to zone 3?
Whoaaaa, holy smokes just came across Joel has put Suzanne out.Finally a major grower putting out canadian prairie heritage roses. I need to find out what else as this is good news.
Order Quantity: x $ 15.00 each
Variety Name: Suzanne Type: Hybrid Spinossissima
Bloom Characteristics:
Colour: Pale coral pink Fragrance: moderate fragrance
Petal Count: 17-25 petals Bloomshape:
Comments: Double bloom form.
Bloom Period: good repeat bloomer
Growth Characteristics:
Height (first year): up to 6 ’ Width (first year): ’
Growth Habit: Arching. Very winter hardy, produces hips. Vigor: high
Foliage Note: Small, attractive fall color foliage.
Additional Information:
Awards: ARS Rating: 7.3
Origin: Skinner, 1950 Code: 20suz
Other Names: Year Added: 2011
Extra Note: Very hardy. produces decorative hips. healthy grower, Needs little care; relatively disease-free
Rob,
I had you in mind when I sent ‘Red Dawn’ to Pickering Nurseries, because I knew you wanted to obtain it.
‘Red Dawn’ is no more cold hardier than any other HT cultivar, generally speaking. It was crown hardy at Morden for many years (and so was ‘New Dawn’, one of its parents). However, at a location (Unity) in central Saskatchewan it would winter kill entirely even when given some protection.
Thank you Paul. Zone 3 just didn’t sound right. It’s great that you were able to provide them with plant material!
Anyone ordering ‘Suzanne’ should be aware that it suckers even more aggressively than ‘Banshee’. Subsurface runners can surface 10 to 15 feet away from the mother plant.
Thanks for the heads up on Suzanne - I did see it at Brooks and Olds - two different levels of care I think. I will curious how Joel did it as I have some bareroot ones at the moment (1 to 2 years old only from Sheila). If it’s grafted I hope it`s tame - my Banshees are so far.
This is such good news about Pickering getting into this since skinner`s left a few years back.
I had Dr. F.L. Skinner from Skinner Nurseries for a while and lost it to mole/vole damage. It was magnificent even if it was ‘only’ a once bloomer.
What surprised me was how much earlier it bloomed than other HT-looking roses. And the colors on the petals were refined with pale yellows grading to deeper pastels at the bases of the petals.
Thank you Paul.
About Suzanne, I have it from Skinner and it suckers less in my clays…maybe it can get what it needs very locally, but I haven’t had it appear anywhere else. But then, my Banshees aren’t agressive sucker producers either.
Joel also put out this year Eddie’s Crimson which I never seen under his moyessi… now I can compare against the one I got last week … bad timing or impatience on my part I guess.
Riku,
I also sent Pickering Nurseries ‘Suzanne’, ‘Eddies Crimson’, ‘Hazeldean’ and my ‘Prairie Snowdrift’. I think it’s possible they propagated ‘Suzanne’ by budding it on to Rosa eglanteria rootstock.
I was disappointed that Pickering Nurseries decided not to market my ‘Prairie Snowdrift’, because they were reluctant to pay any more royalties for rose cultivars (it will be eventually registered with COPF). Yet, it is the best semi-hardy, white rose for a Zone 2 or 3 climate. Hopefully, they will change their minds in the near future. For U.S. consumers, it should be available from High Country Roses within a year or two.
Paul,
Your ‘Prairie Snowdrift’ is very attractive.
Thanks Paul for the contribution of selling Pickering on getting the Prairie heritage roses now out to all of NA/World to have easier access … that in itself is a big success.
However you succeeded in Canada as I ran across some 20 or 30 Prairie Snowdrift for sale this summer at a nursery here with your name on the tag - no vendor name. Picked one up for the front and it’s done well … now for winter. Pickering always seems to wait a bit before it introduces today’s creations. I remember falling a sleep waiting for Quadra to hit in the early 2000’s.
This nursery and “business” part of roses is a thing that is quite perplexing to me … seems to be some sinister elements here and there in the industry. I remember trying to convince an international prominent nursery in Britain to let me import some of their roses (OGRs) a few years back. Was extremely perplexed by their negative and what seemed to me to be an untoward behaiour … I assume it was something to do with royalties. It was as if they feared I was going to plant them and ilegally sell them as if they had some NA marketing argrement already(for OGRs???) or skip a quarantine that was not required at the time if they provided a phyto and I was CFIA import licensed. Dumped them and went to Radoslav - where I got Ariana (which did spectacular this year when I covered it (scores of blooms).
A bit off topic, but I wanted to share this: my first crosses using ‘Suzanne’ have given me a couple of seedlings that are forming first flowers only 4 months from germination! This is quite a surprise to me, but a welcome one. Just FYI.
Paul
my first crosses using ‘Suzanne’
On Suzanne or using Suzanne’s pollen?
Suzanne as pollen. In case you are wondering, I can assure you this IS a Suzanne hybrid, not just a stray selfing.
I’ve tried various pollens on Julie’s 02-036-1, Easy Goin’ X Suzanne, so far with no luck. This season I saved a couple of OP hips from it to see what comes out of them because what I’m seeing with Easy Goin’ and Livin’ Easy OP seedlings is pretty interesting.
Don, although 02-036-1 (Easy Goin’ x Suzanne) does set OP hips, I’ve not had any luck using it as a female. Then again, my pollination attempts have been fairly limited. Early in the season the blooms tend to be quite double and it is harder to work with. I tend to save most of the early blossoms for pollen. I’m usually done with my crosses by the time the petal count lessens–which is generally towards the end of the hybridizing season. It is an odd rose in the sense that the petal count can be anything from very double (late spring/early summer) to semi-double during the course of the summer. The petal count seems to decrease as the summer progresses. As a male it will cross with many modern roses. Have you had any luck using it that way?
There are several people out there with EGS1 (Easy Goin’ x Suzanne) starts right now so I should probably reiterate that this rose is by no means bullet-proof with respect to disease (BS), although it does remain clean for most of season here. When it drops leaves it does it suddenly–but the leaves just turn yellow and drop quickly. I’ll find a few BS lesions but it doesn’t appear to be an overwhelming infection. But I’ve had a significant number of very healthy seedlings that are descendants. It is worth using as it can contribute hardiness and yellow coloring to offspring. EGS1 does not repeat but has a fairly long bloom period and some of the off-spring do repeat. I only keep healthy seedlings so it is hard to estimate the exact percentage.
As a male it will cross with many modern roses. Have you had any luck using it that way?
I have not used it a whole lot. Over the last three seasons I tried it on:
Dragons Blood
Golden Angel
Joycie
Persian Autumn
Geranium
Carefree Copper
Fashion
Harisons Yellow Bigelow
Rosa roxburghii
There are currently a hip each on Carefree Copper and Fashion and one seedling from Golden Angel that is probably really a selfling.
I do plan to be more aggressive with it next season with the hope that it transfers its hardiness and yellow genes. Hardiness is becoming an important target trait in my program as there are a lot of modern roses that are ‘right on the edge’ here.