I really LOVE this rose for its changing colour, sweet & powerful fragrance, overall health, and excellent plant architecture. It performs beautifully here in my climate, and I had some decent germination from it this spring. Here are the first two:
The colour of both excites me, though I will probably let the single go…
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A third seedling, in a brighter, redder colour, with a yellow centre. It faded out to cooler, pink/magenta.
I used pollen from ‘OtB’ on ‘Night Owl’ & ‘Benjamin Britten’, to promote better plant-structure and purple colours w ‘NO’, and as a “Why NOT?!”, w ‘BB’ because of the colouration of this third seedling, hoping for good plants and vivid colour from both parents!
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Another seedling opened up today, and the full-double is still looking nice. Shape of the new one is a bit messy, but I like the colour and picotee. The plant beneath the flower is beautifully healthy too.
“Outta the Blue” is working for me!!
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It sure has lasting-power! Hard, almost-plastic petals last AND hold their colour. I do rather like the colour; that picotee edging charms me.
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This seedling got its first bud knocked off by a wild animal. It was me.
Two basal-branches launched immediately and today, this double deepness is the result. The buds were an insanely dark purple, so I was a bit more exited than this particular result should suggest perhaps, when taken as a whole-but-small-sample, I’m confident that ‘Outta the Blue’ can produce the rich colours AND fuller flowers I’ll be aiming for.
The overall health of the OP’OtB’ seedling line was okay to good. A few weak seedlings were culled early on in the season, but those that made it stayed remarkably healthy compared to other populations of my seedlings this year, even in the same box!
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Flowers are scented, finish on the purple side of red, AND new basal growths are shooting out all around the stem. Foliage clean all the way down to the base too, is super nice!
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So that last pictured plant above had such a well-branched and long, strong root-system that it went right into a 3gal pot. (Most seedlings got into 4” or maybe a 1gallon.) They’re drooping a bit from the trauma of getting lifted and potted, but I have no doubt they will all bounce back quickly.
8 seedlings in total kept so far, and I think I’ve seen the first flowers on all but 2. With one exception that’s got a bit of PM, they are glossy and spotless!!
HIGHLY RECOMMEND it as a parent for “cooler” coastal climates. I’m in z7b, in Nanaimo, BC on Vancouver Island.
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That third seedling has bloomed again, but semi double this time! Same bright red with the yellow bases to the petals. AND a nice sweet n spicy fragrance.
Added some shots of the siblings to show the clean foliage. HIGHLY recommend ‘Outta the Blue’ as a parent.
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The very-double purple-magenta seedling has flowered again, now in a 1g pot. Good scent. Not great on the vigour. A Red Tag “Maybe”, and see if there’s any improvement next year.
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This second-season OP ‘Outta the Blue’ seedling. Added a few petals, still sweetly scented, nearly spotless, and has vigorous upright new growth. I like it. Very much!
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Today, opened a bit more. Semidouble at best, but the colour here is accurate. And James, yup! I have been very impressed with the disease-resistance of ‘Outta the Blue’ and its seedlings; I ended up keeping five(?) seedlings from last year to observe further.
The semidouble red with a yellow center that fades out to a purple-magenta is healthy, and has a good scent too, but I’m giving it away. It gave me the idea to cross OtB and Benjamin Britten, which I think has great potential for healthy, fragrant shrubs.
And obviously I can get good purples from OtB, so I’ll try a few of those crosses. Nice to get fragrance combined with health!
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Here is a very-double purple/magenta (practically fluorescent) sibling from OP ‘Outta the Blue’, showing much more vigour in its second year. This one is also nicely scented, but the shape is a rather flat cup, though the petals are placed with a geometric precision, almost like a camellia. I peeled a flower apart (scores upon scores of petals) and found a few each of the relevant sexy-bits. Might see if it can carry a hip.
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