Three of the yearlings bloomed today. One was a ‘La Belle Sultane’ x “Fa’s Marbled Moss” cross that is… eh. The second is a ‘Golden Celebration’ x FMM cross that got the shape of the seed parent and the color of the pollen parent but is just not really a hardy little thing.
And then there was this!
I wish, I only wish, I could get a photograph that does this justice. It is an OP seedling of ‘La Belle Sultane.’ Compact, spherical little bush, mid-green foliage, about to be smothered in these blossoms! This is the first one to open, and it opened from a beautiful, tall, pointed bud. The color ranges subtly from crimson to magenta and are deep and velvety, like a more magenta “Basye’s Purple.” There is also a pleasing fragrance. The plant was winter-hardy and disease free in the garden over last summer and winter. Just can’t photograph it properly. I guess I’ll have to get out my prismacolors and draw it!
Well, the first flower was nice, but as more are blooming this rose is becoming even more astounding. The plant would be covered with perfectly circular, 10 cm diameter blooms if it weren’t pouring raining, but each flower that opens is more wonderful than the last. I picked these buds, just opening, to bring into the house before any more rain damaged them–note the shades of purple coming in on the central petals! Nice fragrance, too! I’ve been calling it “Neon Rainbow” after one of my favorite old songs.
The garden should be in full bloom by now but there is, alas, nothing. It has been cloudy and raining the last three weeks --unheard of here in Colorado! The albas bloomed, promptly balled, and fell. Everything else is biding its time.
Very nice looking! You’re lucky to get something from ‘La Belle Sultane’ that doesn’t have petals that curl towards the centers making for a most unpleasantly deformed flower. Many of its seedlings do that, which is why I won’t use it in breeding anymore.
This will have to do as a “whole plant” shot. Hasn’t stopped raining/hailing/highwind/being generally uncooperative for weeks. The plant is now only about 40cm tall, but new canes have started to grow.
I’m sure this is a not a self; the leaves are glossy, for one thing, and not shaped or colored like LBS. The color is slightly warmer, rather lighter and rather larger than LBS, and so far the petal count has been 15 uniformly (these, of course, may change). The darker plant on the left is a seedling from the same hip, which has yet to bloom. I have six more seedlings from this hip as well, so I’m waiting impatiently for them to bloom.
Really nice one, Fara! I like those purple smudges.
So are you seeing any of those “white mercury-vapor lamp” (purple and green) sensations with this seedling like you’ve seen with its mama.
I almost think I might have noticed something along those lines with a rugosa X davidii F1. It doesn’t seem to photograph this way… but in person, the color has an unusual something about it that I have a hard time describing. It photographs as a darkish-fuschia color but there’s something more to it in person. Kinda bugs my eyes out, but not in such a bad way. Maybe it’s the rosafluene that Don described.
