Maybe a New Way of Breeding Hybrid Hulthemias

Nigel Hawthorn is completely healthy here. It just is … quite infertile and horriblely annoying to propagate, lol.

As the two species hybrid has one or two full set of chromosomes from each parent many positive features are readily expressed in the F1.

Later be it F2 or backcrosses things get more complicated.

For what it’s worth, the new Hulthemia hybrids have largely been bred to be very resistant to powdery mildew. The next step is to increase resistance to black spot, and there is some progress being made along those lines.

I think that there may be other genes besides the blotch in Hulthemia persica that would warrant further work with the species. I wish you all the best of luck with your projects Warren.

One thing I’ve wondered about Hulthemia is its potential for improving the drought tolerance of garden roses. Or, even creating a series of improved, lower water, landscape types which wouldn’t necessarily be thought of as ‘garden roses’.

Jim I think the yellow genes in Hulthemia would be a good venture to exploit, if I failed to get the blotch but was given that yellow I would be a happy man.

[attachment 1800 001.jpg]A (Wendy X Gold Bunny) extremely fertile.

This was pollinated with Euphrates which was treated with trifloralin in attempt to double its chromosomes, it was used as a pollinator on this yellow resulting in seed germinating. In prior years of trying to pollinate with an untreated Euphrates, pollinations always failed.

Congratulations on getting the (Wendy x Gold Bunny) X Euphrates to result in seedlings. This is a good one to keep up progress reports on. Not only are the yellow genes worthy of exploiting, but wouldn’t the Mediterranean qualities of Hulthemia also be of value? Maybe not as large a buying public for that but if mildew and blackspot can be contained, I can only imagine something of this nature in a bright yellow (with or without spot) growing alongside of solanum ratonetti. So far all of the breeding has been aimed at transplanting the Hulthemia ‘spot’ unto a very modern American/European style rose. Also, along with the previously discussed what to pair Hulthemia with, Basyes’ Legacy has been transformative when combined with several roses (that I have) with issues.

Jackie with the Hulthemia plants I have, the breeding lines have already been chosen. Those offspring from Hulthemia F crosses will be crossed with the healthiest and those with the greatest vigour as a means of improving foliage and cane thickness. That yellow is unbelievable , a friend of mine shot some photos when in Xinjiang, the colour saturation was awesome.

WOT

Hi Warren,

That Wendy x Gold Bunny seedling has a very nice yellow bloom. Have you planted the seeds from it crossed with ‘Euphrates’? If so, have any of them produced flower buds?

From my crosses onto ‘Tigris’ this year, only one hip has made it to maturity. There were 2 or 3 others, but the dieback that always happens with ‘Tigris’ affected the branches holding those hips, so they died before allowing the hips to mature. The pollen parent in this case was a new red Hulthemia seedling that has ‘Double Knock out’ as a parent. It appears to be quite clean to the blackspot that we get in our area.

Best wishes on getting the yellow that you are looking for!