Can anyone suggest good parents that pass on vigorous root systems and easy rooting qualities? I am looking for one(s) that “root like a weed”, grow very well on their own roots, are tetraploid and repeat bloom. I am particularly interested in seed parents, but pollen parents are welcome too. Any suggestions would be very appreciated!
Thanks,
Shane
Any first generation R. wichuraiana hybrid should do the trick. I would also suggest Sean McCann’s ‘Little White Lies’, since it sets seed like mad and cuttings root very VERY easily.
Paul
Thank you Paul!
My ‘Rubies’n’Pearls’ and it sets seeds well. It is available soon from “Two Sisters Roses” in Oklahoma.
Another one is ‘Amber Sunset’.
‘Glowing Amber’ roots extremely well, but does not set seeds very well.
The same goes for ‘Amber Star’ the sport of ‘Glowing Amber’.
Shane, I have been very impressed with ‘Chipmunk’ a mini. It is a great seed parent, hips ripen early, it germinates very well and early compared to other seed parents. It roots well and so do many of it’s offspring.
In fact, I have a seedling of it from 2005 that surprised me at how well it rooted. In order to get a photo of it, I cut off 3 small branches and stuck them straight in the seedling bench soil to hold them in place for the photo. I left them there and forgot about them. They were never misted and didn’t receive any rooting hormone. I noticed them a couple weeks later and they were still alive and rooted! I have never had cuttings do this without misting or some other way to increase humidity.
Jim Sproul
George Mander is correct, and I should have mentioned ‘Glowing Amber’ myself. It is a very willing pollen parent and capable of producing some nice offspring. It also breeds a percentage of red-yellow bicolors. As George says, it roots like a weed, and it seems that its progeny root just as easily, based on my (so far) limited experience.
Paul
Thanks everyone! You have given me some excellent ideas. Ease of propagation never really crossed my mind until after trying hopelessly to propagate two of my best roses last summer.
Thanks again for all your help.
Shane
One of the critera for selecting Explorer Rosa kordesii and Parkland seedlings for introduction is their ability to root easily from softwood cuttings. This is because for cold climates, relatively cold hardy cultivars survive better when they are grown on their own roots. One of the easiest Parkland cultivars to propagate by softwood cuttings is ‘Morden Centennial’. It is also fertile both ways and the seeds germinate easily. It’s replacement ‘Morden Belle’ also propagates easily from softwood cuttings. But how fertile it is as a pistillate or staminate parent I don’t know yet.
Paul, how does Morden Centennial hold up to blackspot for you? I have heard mixed reviews.
Shane, good question. In the cold climate (Zone 3) of the Canadian Prairies where I live, ‘Morden Centennial’ is resistant to blackspot. But keep in mind that the Parkland cultivars are developed for the climate of the Northern Great Plains. They generally are disease resistant in this geographical region. But in warmer and more humid climates, these cultivars often have disease problems. As an alternative to ‘Morden Centennial’, you might want to try ‘Prairie Princess’ developed by Dr. Griffith Buck for growing in the U.S. Mid-West. It’s one of the parents of ‘Morden Centennial’. ‘Prairie Princess’ is quite fertile as a pistillate parent.
I made some crosses onto ‘Morden Belle’ this year in my greenhouse. They took and made seed very well. I haven’t started the seed yet, and I didn’t try its pollen. I didn’t try any difficult pollens, so I can’t say if it is as cooperative as ‘Morden Centennial’ in that regard. ‘Morden Bell’ has an interesting parentage. Here I am relying on my memory from my trip to Morden last summer, but I would be forever trying to dig up my notes. If I remember correctly, one parent was ‘Scarlet Meidiland,’ and the other was a full-sibling to ‘Morden Blush.’
‘Morden Centennial’ is one of the few roses that will cross with almost anything, although it will make empty hips from late-season pollinations. In my garden, ‘Morden Centennial’ does get some black spot, but not as bad as most modern roses. At one point, I wondered if this plant was correctly labeled, because it was not recurrent during its first year. Still, it is a perfect match for my second plant, which is in my greenhouse. It may not have bloomed again during its first season because I didn’t deadhead it, and it makes so many seeds. It is more cane hardy than some other Morden roses.
The pedigree of ‘Morden Belle’ is I3 x ‘Scarlet Meidiland’. I3 is a more double sister seedling oof ‘Morden Centennial’. ‘Morden Belle’ and ‘Prairie Celebration’ (‘Orangeade’ x L83), the last two Parkland cultivars introduced, are apparently going to be eventually written up in HortScience.