Portland roses as mothers

Unfortunatly not repeat and not scented

Wow how could they lose both!

The first seedling have a light scent

A five week old seedling of ā€˜Indigo’ x ā€˜Pike’s Peak’. This cross was made 2024. The ungerminated seeds underwent a second stratification at the end of 2025. Particularly striking on this seedling are the slightly red coloration of the main shoot and the needle-like spines. Of the 11 seedlings from the two germination cycles, only the two youngest show these traits, although the second one has a very fragile structure. It is possible that Rosa acicularis Lindl. may have a slight influence.

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I had never heard of the pollen parent before. What made you decide to do the cross?

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I would like to mix wild rose blood into the Portland roses. So far, I have not succeeded. ā€˜Rose de Rescht’ does not respond to this method in any way, and ā€˜Indigo’ produced only a few, very weak offspring. ā€˜Pike’s Peak’ was another attempt to get closer to this goal. I hoped that this hybrid, since it carries both wild and Chinese blood, is a better genetic choice and could serve as a bridge

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My de rescht accepts absolutely nothing! Indigo as you told me 3 years ago is a lot more happy to give things a try

Yeah Portland’s are the basis of my breeding. Probably why it hasn’t gone that well so far! I have also been making ramblers. Too early to tell if they are any good!

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I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Has anyone used the rose Miranda, helpmefind shows a hip can form? Additionally Bouquet delivered la Marie… helpmefind says it’s a hybrid perpetual/noisette but a rose nursery I trust in the UK thinks it’s closer to damask perpetual/Portland roses… any used it?

Try Basye’s Blueberry. It’s got about 1/3+ R. virginiana/carolina (can’t remember which at the moment and HelopMeFind’s renewals page is broken at the moment). I did Indigo x Baye’s Blueberry and got some good seedlings. And the rabbits got those… Bummer. Going to try the cross again this year.

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There’s a reason there aren’t more Portland (perpetuals) than there are. They are difficult to produce. (few seedlings repeat, and the vast majority are unhealthy and weak)

Yeah but I love them, they smell and look great. I imagine it’s possible to get some more healthy ones

I’m glad to hear that you were able to produce good offspring with Indigo and Basye’s Blueberry. Regrettably, I have no way of getting Basye’s Blueberry here in Europe. So far, I haven’t had any success crossing Indigo with R. carolina, R. virginiana, or a pollen mixture of both. It is therefore likely that Basye’s Blueberry brought, either directly or through Commander Gillette, exactly the right ā€œChina Bloodā€ component in the gene mix to produce a desirable result.

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I’m just getting my program going this summer and my plants are all very young but one of the crosses I’d like to try this year or next is to cross Indigo with Rouletii. I believe Indigo is triploid and Rouletii diploid but I’m happy to give anything a shot.

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I thought indigo was a Tetraploid?

@James_D My info can certainly be wrong, I am just going off Helpmefind. If an expert here said something else that would be a better source.

@fiskrose Peter, that will be an interesting experiment. I don’t know the ploidy of ā€˜Indigo’ and I don’t know where HMF got its info, but I would be a bit surprised if it was a triploid. (Not that that’s important) But be ready to be ruthless in culling seedlings that Blackspot easily, which is likely something ā€˜Roulettii’ offspring are going to suffer from. But hey, you only need ONE good hybrid to call it a success, so…

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Thanks Paul. I also breed aquarium fish which have to be culled sometimes (deformities usually). So compared to having to do that I’m hoping I’ll have little hesitation with plants. I am also limited for space unfortunately.

Thank you James for welcome me . I did this breeding of rose as hobby when I came here to Latvia rural wilds . The rose here is treated as an annual or a cover up in blankets . I started with Frau Dagma and crossed with John Davis gave me a sturdy rose that laughs at zone 4 minus 32c .It is short on scent as a good all rounder in general .Have sent 6 plants to Wisley GHQ RHS and more to Amsterdam nursery . I hope to go pro just to get plant passports that make life easier . I have 170 roses in my 5acre English Manor gardens around the house . Yours Kevin Lord Parr alias Cromwell

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