parents that tend to pass on good shape

General Discussion
1

Hi all

I was wondering if there were any HBTs, Floribundas or miniatures that have the reputation of passing on good shape to a large number of their offspring.

2

Fred,

Please define “good shape”. There are a wide number of bloom shapes, so it would help to know which bloom form you are aiming for.

3

High spiraling centers that exhibitors seem to like in most modern roses.

4

Hi Fred:

For HT’s, ‘Gemini’ has been very good at producing spiral centers for me, so has ‘Lynn Anderson’ and ‘Stainless Steel’ (all above work well as seed parents). ‘Kardinal’ has been a good pollen parent, but tends to produce floribunda sized blooms.

For mini’s, I have enjoyed ‘Fairhope’ (seed or pollen parent) and ‘Michel Cholet’ (best as a pollen parent).

With any of the above parents, you will get a fair number of floribunda sized blooms. One floribunda rose that I like to use both ways is ‘Singin’ in the Rain’.

Jim Sproul

5

Thanks for your input of the cultivars that you mentioned the only one that I have grown is Kardinal and I must admit that even in the heat of the summer the blossoms although smaller maintained a nice spiraled shape. Many people in Florida overlook this plant because of the smaller sized blossom. Personally I think that is a shame as the plant is otherwise quite nice. I think both Gemini and ‘singin’ in the rain are growing in a friend

6

Hi Fred:

Unless you’re dealing with an unusual recessive trait, I wouldn’t go back more than 2 or 3 generations (except for the fun of it!) The accuracy of documentation is more suspect the further you go back. Also, roses seem to shift pretty quickly in their genetic makeup as you go more than 2 or 3 generations. For example, crossing “A” with “C”, you will get a population of seedlings that can have a very large range of various characteristics, these can be crossed among themselves to produce a 2nd generation. Depending on your crosses, you might emphasize large size or a particular color with one cross, while the other cross might be made to produce a miniature sized bloom/plant. Then crossing the next generations among themselves, you will find a great variability in the directions that you can go.

For practical purposes, it is the parents that you are using that is of most importance. Knowing the parents of these roses helps you to predict the variability that you might expect in the offspring of your selected crosses.

I agree that ‘Kardinal’ is a very good rose.

Jim Sproul