Does anyone know the origins of the rose sold in Eastern Canada under the name of “Mrs. John McNab?” Skinner’s rose is supposed to be a hybrid between r. rugosa & r. beggeriana. My rose came from Quebec via White Rose Nursery, now defunct, and looks nothing like a rugosa hybrid. The flower is mid pink and the plant grows as a shrubbier and hardier hybrid tea. It is now reblooming. It is fertile, sets hips and germinates seeds well, and behaves very much like a tetraploid. In all respects its a terrific rose. Does anyone know what this rose really is?
HelpMeFind has some information at this site:
Hope this is helpful.
I obtained this rose from the Skinner nursery about three years ago. Mine makes an arching shrub, much wider than high. I never had any trouble believing the parentage. Certainly R. beggeriana seems likely, as this habit is similar. It also is non-recurrent, but over a long season, like R. beggeriana. I will have to look again at my plant to see what I think about the leaves relative to R. rugosa. It appears to be recurrent in mid-summer as new canes bloom on their tips. Later canes don’t bloom in the current year. I have used its pollen very little, but I do have a couple of seedlings with diploids (with a China rose, if I remember). They’re too young to say anything about them. Mine doesn’t sound a lot like yours.
Hi Meg, Roger
Thank you both. I do check with HMF. Its a wonderful resource. My rose is obviously misnamed. It is much like a hybrid tea in form, but healthier and tougher. Its very much like something that would have been bred by a Canadian for our climate. I’ll have to treat it as just another mysterious pink. Maybe I’ll run into someone from Quebec who may know what it is. I have a cross between it and Liebeszauber. It is lanky and thorny (like LZ) and hasn’t bloomed after a year in the ground. I was ready to yank it out, but I noticed how lovely the leaves were and there wasn’t a spot on them, and I don’t spray. I’ll have to keep it just for its health.
After some thought I had an idea that my mysterious pink seemed to resemble Dornroschen to some extent. I went to HMF and now I think that it may be one of Buck’s roses. While there I discovered a listing for the scrumptuous “Apricot Beauty,” a recent acquisition. I’ve never been able to find reference to it and wondered about its parentage. I got huge hips on Hansa from it. Paul Olsen submitted info about its parentage, and hybridizer, Mekdeci. One mystery solved. Thanks Paul.