The previous link didn’t work. Hope this one does.
Youre adding the http:// in twice 
Try this one for John’s pictures.
Link: new.photos.yahoo.com/finneganjohn/album/576460762380584159
Those seedlings have very attractive flowers, John. I added Aicha to the garden last year, and was shocked that it couldn’t hold onto its leaves at all… one of the worst blackspot offenders to date. I do hope that its hardiness is sufficient to make up for this inadequacy, but I have to wonder how long the plant will last. Maybe one of its offspring would be a better plant to continue with.
Is Lutea Maxima available anywhere and has anyone tried it? One of David Austin’s book recommends it.
Pierre,
I for one agree with you for using Wichuraiana, for me it is really one of the only lines I can get good ramblers from in Tampa Bay, and I actually do get a little repeat blooming on some for what it is worth. I do realise that ramblers are few and far between in my area but I have turned a couple of non-believers in other forums into true believers after they had seen my ramblers in bloom. I continue to use it because at first I really liked HT’s but I have really branched out since I started my gardens a few years ago. My first try at ramblers was Evangeline, from the first bloom I was hooked. I have about 15 ramblers at this point not too many to some but for Tampa Bay it really is unheard of. Going to a rose society meeting in Lakeland 2 years ago and having one in bloom to show Floridians was amazing to me.
Regarding Stefan’s first Dec. 23 post, I do feel that marketing for unknown, amateur breeders might be done through diverse trials of the nature that I had addressed in the “amateur rose trials” thread of Dec. 3. I should start on new thread soliciting folks’ thoughts on such…
I don’t have the species R. wich. in my yard, but many of the hybrids in my climate (New Dawn, Dr. Van Fleet, and other dawn descendants) do spot for me some. The only truly clean rose I have is R. banksia. I understand that she is capable of mildewing in cooler climes though, as well as being tender… Like other ramblers, however, she’s a one shot deal, and in gulf coast climates, folks have less patience for a 2 week bloom period in a 325 day growing season… Andrew, your’s might be a tough sell on that account as well as for the size issues…
I would be curious to know what some bracteatas such as baby Mermaid could yield…
Phillip, this is why I was posting on White Drift and Carefree Marvel earlier this year. Both are easily contained, fertile, well-branched, and have extremely similar wichurana foliage.
I’d like to reiterate Stefan’s comments about the difficulty of amateur or small scale breeding programs marketing new rose cultivars. It’s fine to develop new types of roses or cultivars of existing types, but then how do they get widely distributed to the consumer? An example is the four Rosa kordesii L83 cultivars developed by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Balsgard in 2000 and publicized in HortScience 23:1, p.415-416 (February 2004). Photographs of them were on the front cover of this publication. Well, where are they? As far as I know they are not in North America yet. And how are they to get here if there is no marketing program by the breeder? I have no knowledge there is one.
Another example is the Finnish University of Helsinki rose breeding program. I initiated communication with the breeder, Peter Joy, at least 10 years ago to hopefully eventually obtain them for trialing in a North American Zone 3 climate. The breeding program is finished, but is there anyone in charge of distributing them other than to a couple of Finnish or Scandinavian nurseries? I doubt it. I anticipate it will be several years before these cultivars reach North America.
Because of the limitations of growing roses in a climate like the northern Great Plains where I live in, I regard each new rose cultivar cold hardy to Zone 2 or 3 a treasure. So it’s frustrating when one doesn’t have access to these cultivars.
One way to market new roses is to register them with the Canadian Ornamental Plant Foundation. There is a membership fee. Many of the top nurseries in North America and Europe belong to this organization, because they recognize Canadian excellence in developing new ornamental plant cultivars. COPF publicizes newly registered plant cultivars and collects the royalty fee from nurseries who propagate the plants. The royalty fee is then passed on to the breeder. Monitoring the nurseries to ensure they are being honest about the quantity of plants they propagate is also done by COPF.
This reminds me of when I was in the entertainment industry. You can have the greatest song or video in the world, but without the ability to protect one’s product or to control, market and promote distribution, one has nothing.
I think we either make the choice to marry ourselves to a smaller grower who will promote our work or we have the choice of giving our product over to a larger company who takes control of the product and may choose or choose not to promote the work depending on their needs.
It is good to know about the Canadian Ornamental Plant Foundation. How hardy must a rose be to be considered by them for distribution? Do they also do testing?
Thanks, Robert
Robert, for registering ornamental plant cultivars with COPF, there is no restriction regarding cold hardiness of the plants. For example, David Austin registers his rose cultivars with COPF. No, COPF does not do any testing. However, rose cultivars should be officially registered with the American Rose Society before registering them with COPF.
Interesting. So COPF takes no responsibility for the quality of offerings to be promoted?
I am registering most of my better seedlings with IRAR. Some of the early seedlings I registered just to keep track of them, not because I thought they were wonderful. The same can be said of some unique crosses.
If COPF monitors sales and distribution, it seems that one would still need a patent to have any real protection?
Is there anyway they protect the breeder without a patent or trademark?
I’m just thinking out loud. It seems to me they primarily offer promotional services?