Henry Kuska was very generous to give me a microscope with a web camera and some software to measure the grains. There was a slide with some calibration dots on it to calibrate the software also. You take a picture of the grains with the web camera and then you measure the grains with the software, it’s pretty simple actually. I think it is 200x magnification that I use to talk the pictures.
The top picture is of grains from plant that David doubled and the bottom is of grains from the OP seedling.
Paul, would you happen to have a picture of the Carefree Beauty x John Cabot that was used in your crosses? I’ve got a bunch of seedlings from that cross coming up and I’m a bit curious. My Alberta x John Cabot seedlings were quite variable in bloom form and color, as well as plant architecture. I’m also curious to see the variation that you get from your cross with it and Belle de Crecy.
The top picture is it from 2010 and is the only one I have of it. It has very lax growth that it gets from JC and large single flowers that it gets from CB. Its been pretty healthy so far and it didn’t have any die back last winter, but it was only 18" tall and was covered with snow pretty much the whole winter.
I included a couple of pictures of its siblings from when they were young seedlings. I don’t have either one of those anymore.
Very pretty bloom on CBxJC2 Paul! I can’t wait to see the results of everyone’s crosses. So far I’ve got almost 300 seedlings potted up. Many have bloomed but so far nothing stands out yet. As we all know though, first blooms are typically not very representative of later ones. The one I think so far that has the most potential is this one, an open pollinated seedling of a mystery rose! Isn’t that just dandy, lol! I like the way the petals are so neatly arranged. The bloom is prettier than the picture. It’s actually apricot, blushed pinkish, with a yellow center. Has some fragrance, too.
Thanks for posting the pics Paul. A few years ago I grew up a bunch of seedlings from Carefree Beauty x (Luis Desarmero x John Cabot), only kept the miniatures. Quite a few of them have flowers similar to picture 3. All of them were also quite lax. Most were pink. I also had quite a few from Alberta x (Luis Desarmero x John Cabot) with a similar type of flower.
I liked it also, it’s too bad I wasn’t able to keep that one. I like your mystery rose OP seedling, it has very nice color. Are the petals real thin? They almost look translucent. Is that a flower of another one of your seedlings behind it? I like the coloring of that as well.
I’ve noticed something about the tetraploid Rugosa OP seeds. I collected hips from it twice and so far only seeds from the first batch of hips are germinating. Even though there were more seeds in the second batch of hips. There is a color difference between the seeds as well. The seeds from the first batch are lighter in color while the seeds from the second batch are a dark brown. I don’t know if this is because of the maturity of the seeds or if it’s because of what they were pollinated with.
Paul and Judith, those shots are great. I love the way the petals are pointed. From which parent did this come. I think it is a wonderful trait.
Paul, your third shot of the pink is magnificient, did it die or was it discarded ?. I think it would also look great in yellow(happens to be the color of choice at present.), Regards David.
Paul, I think the seed color is determined not only by heredity, but also by the maturity of the seed - It seems to me, I’ve had the best germination from seeds that were medium brown, or red/brown, and worst germination from seeds that were beige in color - which I assume means they were not fully mature. Just my observations, not based on any scientific knowledge, but since I germinate my seeds in petri dishes it’s easy to watch which ones germinate best.
You are correct, the petals ARE delicate - that hopefully will change as the plant matures. It’s only 8 weeks old and this is it’s first bloom.
Yes, that is another bloom from a new seedling. The color is great - I love blue/pinks but so far on this first bloom, no form on that one.
Paul and Judith, those shots are great. I love the way the petals are pointed. From which parent did this come. I think it is a wonderful trait.
Paul, your third shot of the pink is magnificient, did it die or was it discarded ?. I think it would also look great in yellow(happens to be the color of choice at present.), Regards David
Paul and Judith, those shots are great. I love the way the petals are pointed. From which parent did this come. I think it is a wonderful trait.
Paul, your third shot of the pink is magnificient, did it die or was it discarded ?. I think it would also look great in yellow(happens to be the color of choice at present.), Regards David
Sorry for the mix-up, this post was to go at the end, not in the middle of posts, so forget the other 2 places, Regards David.
I’m not sure if it died or if it was culled. Looking at my records I planted 19 seedlings from that cross that summer but only 2 were left by fall. If you look closely at both of those seedlings you’ll notice powdery mildew on them. I made the mistake of wintering over several plants inside that I didn’t think would survive outside. They brought powdery mildew with them and it decimated my seedlings that year. Nothing I tried would take care of the problem and often the cure was worse than the disease. So quite a few of the seedlings either died from or were culled because of PM that year.
It’s fairly common for young seedlings to have pointed petals like that. They usually have normal looking petals when they mature.
Liz,
That’s interesting that even second generation offspring from John Cabot have lax growth. One of the reasons I crossed CB x JC with Belle de Crecy was to get more upright growth. But I also wanted to get double flowers in the offspring. In 2010 I crossed Frontenac with Belle de Crecy and most of the seedlings were very healthy. They haven’t bloomed yet, but I can’t wait to see what the blooms look like. Because like you mentioned they should have some very interesting colors from Belle de Crecy.
Things are really starting to pick up speed, germination wise. I’m going to be busy potting up seedlings tomorrow from the crosses that started coming up a few days ago and 4 more crosses have started coming up. Yipeee! I love this time of the year.
Prairie Harvest x Julia Child
Carefree Beauty x Midnight Blue
Earthsong x John Cabot
Alberta x Pretty Lady
Paul, I was surprised by the laxness coming through in the John Cabot grandkids too. What was most surprising was that the Luis D. x John Cabot pollen parent does not exhibit this trait. It is an upright shrublet. Alberta has a tendency to throw offspring that are more low growing, and Alberta itself is low growing. Perhaps Carefree Beauty, which is the seed parent of Alberta is contributing something to the mix.
David, the pointed petals that I observed on the John Cabot grandkids were present on 2-year old plants.
How was Purple Splash for you? I got one last year and I wasn’t all that impressed. It got BS fairly bad and I don’t remember any hips on it. Maybe it’ll get better with age.
Paul, I too like that third one, nice soft pink and lots of petals. And I love pointed petal tips! Shame it didn’t make it.
Judy, those are both yummy colors. The one in the back looks like the petals are more substantial. I hope the bloom forms continue to improve on them both for you.
Rob, nice cluster on yours and the colors is very delicate. I’ve yet to have anything give my a nice spray like that.
I don’t grow Purple Splash as I don’t have room for climbers. I found OP hips on a plant while walking through a nursery at the end of the season. Considering it was the end of the season and it was in a pot it seemed to do fairly well as far as BS goes. Many plants around it were defoliated but PS seemed to tolerate BS ok.
Seil,
Thank you. Strawberry Cream is a nice plant with nicely fragrant blooms that do cluster well at times. I’m rooting new plants that I can make available this coming season for a few people who are working with miniatures and/or stripes.
In my wildest dreams I can not believe that I am about to say this… I wish that a couple of my seedlots would stop germinating! I’m a bit stunned by the effect of the pollen parent on germination rates. I made a nearly identical series of crosses with Alberta and Carefree Beauty as the seed parents. Using Midnight Blue as a pollen parent - I have upwards of 60 seedlings from each seed parent. The seedlots using Home Run have not resulted in a single seedling, yet. The Home Run pollinations were made about the same time as the Midnight Blue pollinations.
Liz, I know exactly how you feel. I have over (haven’t added in this weeks numbers) 90 germinations from two hips that gave me 120 seeds, and they keep germinating. This is one that I am parking in the area for the birds to exercise their peculiar little rights in. But this takes up a lot of soil, space and pots, and they all look so healthy! It is a bit difficult for me to just dump that batch, I do want to know the final germination #'s, and once they germinate I feel like they should have a chance.