I am planning on starting to try to breed some cold hardy roses once the ones I am planting now become established. I figure that will take about 3 years.
I am wondering if there is a better way of doing it them planting them by what I think would be most pleasing together. I am trying a wide variety of roses right now and hope to get some of the ones I love the looks of to survive and become the parents of my roses.
With Spring finally starting to look like it might be coming I am getting excited about planting my first rose gardens. I am already doing raised beds and other things I have read about for cold climates but am wondering if the hybridisers have found things that work for them that they want to pass on to me…
Also, I read on the GardenWeb forums that I think it was Carefree Beauty (will have to go back and check) passes on the damask fragrance. Has anyne had good success with this one? It is not one of the ones I have on order so if it is a good one then I will go ahead and get it.
Thanks for all your help!
Maria
Carefree Beauty is a good seed parent, but doesn’t seem to have much fragrance for me. Its seedlings in MR 11 are all listed as having slight to moderate fragrance. It may take a few years to decide which roses do best in your climate, but you can start hybridizing the first year. It will be good practice for when you have a clearer idea of what roses you want to cross, and will give you an idea of how fertile each variety is.
Hi Maria
I made the comment about the fragrance of the seedlings from Carefree Beauty. The two op seedlings I referred to bloomed one after the other and it surprised me that they both had the same strong complex scent and that it lasted until the blooms were spent. The mother plant has only a slight damask scent to my nose.
I pay particular attention to the fragrance of seedlings because its much of what makes roses appealing. In many cases the most fragrant seedlings are the most ordinary and strangely, some unscented roses have scented progeny. So when you get a pretty flower and its scented, that’s special. An advantage with Carefree Beauty for a beginner is that it produces many seeds and they keep germinating over a long period. And with that many germinations, you can practise deleting the less attractive plants without guilt.
Other roses I like for scent are Big Purple, Compassion, Liebeszauber and Warm Wishes. I’m in zone 5 with very erratic conditions from year to year and poor soil, and these have done okay so far. The rose with the strongest Damask scent ever, for me, is Crimson Glory. I keep it around for sentimental reasons. Liebeszauber has it in its ancestry, and in a vase, the two roses are identical. The difference is in the perfume. Good luck. There’s nothing as exciting has having your own little roses bloom.
I have added a few to my list of ones to get after I get these planted. I love the look of Liebeszauber but I think it is sold out at Edmunds right now. Carefree Beauty and Crimson Glory are on the list.
Does anyone know of a mini that has the damask scent?
thanks,
Maria