So you means collect pollen in autumn, freeze them and use them in next spring? Because the spring flowers are too double so difficult to collect pollen? Or you live in south hemisphere? I found that the first bloom of The Fairy in spring is very double, button eyed with almost no stamens (even some styles could be distorted), but later blooms in early summer generally have fewer petals, no button eyes, with numerous stamens and normal carpels. So I plan to collect some TF pollen and freeze them this autumn (The other reason is TF blooms very late),
It bloomed very heavily in the northern hemisphere (UK) and I would harvest 6 flowers at a time to collect enough stamens to get a good amount. I did this throughout the summer. I have 10ish small make up containers full of their pollen. I found 6 typically had what I would consider enough to be useful.
Hi James, yes I got a repeat flowering seedling by crossing one of my once flowering crosses with Comte de Chambord. I believe David Austin got Gertrude Jekyll, via a similar route.
2 Likes
Well thatās exciting! I have 3 rose babies from Charles de Mills with a Portland as a the father! Out of 114 seeds I have 3!
2 Likes
Iāve had a few seedlings from rose de rescht, but so far they are disappointing. My rdr very rarely has anthers other than the odd vestigial straggler, so using it as a pollen parent is unlikely.
Thatās interesting! I crossed Charles de mills with a red HT rose and got a good once flowering shrub, I then got an inferior but repeat flowering seedling by crossing this with Comte de Chambered.
I used Rose de Rescht several times back in the early 2000s, and every single seedling (of which there were few) was a mess: sickly growth, small blooms, and if the mildew didnāt kill it, the blackspot did.
I gave up on it without hesitation.
1 Like
How disappointing. I tried it because in my garden in SE England Rose de Rescht is always covered in healthy luxuriant foliage and the scent is one of my favourites.
1 Like
Location, location, location. I never considered using it because in the Southern California areas itās unaffectionately called āRose de Wretchā. Itās THAT bad unless mercilessly sprayed against every ailment known to man.
1 Like
Yeah Iām in the south central west of England and is not been ideal so farā¦ Hopefully that changes as I love it!
1 Like
Iām in the Pacific Northwest of Oregon, and our climate is very āEnglishā for all but the summer months, which tend to be hotter, and rain is rare between June and October.
I have two specimens of Rose de Rescht: one is planted in full sun in an open acre rose āpreserveā, and the other is in an open shade location that gets some direct sun for a few hours from late morning to just around 2PM. The full sun specimen struggles in that location and suffers from significant blackspot (and occasionally rust). The one that lives in a semi-shade location grows 3X larger and rarely has any foliar disease.
But I still wonāt use it for breeding purposes, given the dreadful few seedlings I got from it. I honestly donāt think it has much to offer, unless youāre willing to stick to crosses with Gallicas, which will tend to be healthier, but will not rebloom. Maybe species crosses would yield something of merit? If I were to approach it again today, Iād mate it with something like R. foliolosa (or one of my foliolosa hybrids, like this one: '107-09-10' Rose). It still might produce junk, but it might be worth a go.
3 Likes
Interesting that it does better in partial shade! I will try it with some Gallicas and see how it goes!
Yes my rose de rescht is in a semi shaded position. Interesting and perhaps surprising that a full sun location produces a more disease prone specimen.
1 Like
Thatās probably not that surprising. Remember, many of the original āroses need full sunā quotes originated in Victorian and Edwardian England. Thatās a significantly different set of conditions from many of the rose growing areas of the rest of Europe and the US. Move toward the Equator or higher elevations and the light intensities greatly increase as often do temperatures. Water stress, even for short periods of weather extremes, can greatly affect the immune systems of plants and animals. Iād read in old rose books how water stressing roses could force even resistant types to mildew. I didnāt believe it until I did it. Water stressing a rose can also force it to rust and likely spot. Iāve previously related how I grew a R. Arkansana in a pot in the old hotter climate. It was fully leafed out in gorgeous new spring growth then rusted from the top to bottom. Iād missed watering it and it dried out. I began copiously watering it and it leafed out again in gorgeous new foliage. I dried it out again and it rusted top to bottom. It makes sense. Where indigenous, Arkansana is healthy and very cold hardy. Spring rains force new growth, flowering and hip/seed set. As summer wears on and ground water decreases, water stresses increase and the foliage rusts, interrupting the growth and causing the plant to shed foliage, shut down and go dormant for the cold period.
Is it any wonder any rose could perform better, even remain healthier where it receives at least the threshold of light it requires but is protected from the extremes in light and temperatures?
4 Likes
Exactly, Kim.
Light requirements may be met more easily than weāve been led to believe, and reducing stressors is just common sense for establishing healthy plants.
I have a 25 year old specimen of āTiffanyā a few feet away from RdR, and it gets only a few hours of direct sun and dappled shade (and complete shade) for most of the day, and yet it performs very well. I get three flushes of bloom per year, which isnāt much less than it can do under ideal conditions. āTiffanyā isnāt known for being especially Blackspot resistant, and yet this plant rarely gets any disease. I think that supports this āmeet minimum requirements and reduce stressorsā concept.
3 Likes