Philip: Don’t know if you got my direct e-mail, but thanks for info. Just finished our post-Katrina work last week. I hope that your note above does not mean that you are still dealing with post-Katrina home repairs. I hope to be able to make more direct contact with you at some point for blackspot and germination advice as well as recommendations of choice of cultivars best suited for this climate. So much has changed since I was last active. In what way does the single flowered lutescens differ from other banksiae that makes it so much more attractive for hybridizing purposes. Is it the only form that you feel is reasonably feritle and are there other reasons as well. I do not know what type my great grandfather had as it has been 30 years since I fetilized it to death. Feel free to use my direct e-mail: bw@la4th.org or office phone 412-6032. I grew up in the sliver at 1322 First St. between Chestnut and Coliseum, but sold it to move to build an architectually undistinguished house on a large lot by the lake that had few shade trees to interfere with my roses – and then I traded roses for parenthood and marathon running – that was back in the day when I spent many hours a week spraying for blackspot and there wasn’t time for everything. Now my daughter has moved away and I am concentrating on low maintenance roses. Regards, Bob
Jadea–
About Harrison’s Yellow. It looks good-- I have an openly pollinated seedling that I’ve just put out in the ground because the foilage looks pretty-- even its thorns. I won’t see it bloom for a few years, but it looks good for now.
Hi Robert.
Lutescens differs from Lutea in that the single blossoms have pollen. (In the double form, the “anthers” become the inner petals and little to no pollen exists.) Also, the double yellow has no fragrance, whereas the single form is reportedly very fragrant. That said, the double form is much more popular for garden usage due to its showier and more formal blossom.
I did get your personal email (and hopefully you have a response from me!) You will be very disappointed with the limited advice I would be able to give you re: BS, germination and cultivars! I talk it up, but don’t have much hands-on experience! LOL.
Philip: Many thanks for above explanation and personal e-mail as well. Will settle for nothing less than lutescens for Adair, if she opts for a banksiae next season. I am having trouble believing that anyone who can talk as good a game as you do is just bluffing – I don’t beleive that you are just good at throwing around the buzz words, as you definitly are, and no more. How late in the season is it safe to order new roses in this heat based on your experience – I think I recall pushing the envelope pretty late towards June years ago when I would see a “must have” picture of a new rose in a catalogue – I was ideal sucker bait for the marketing people who composed those rhapsodic catalogue rose descriptions I find the descriptions from most nurseries today are much more realistic and much less reliant on glowing euphemisms than in my day. Regards, Bob.
Hi Enrique. Close Rosa foetida relations literally “melt” here. The foliage literally backspots and rots off right as it begins to bloom. It’s rather fascinating to see.
However, a dry/arid climate can get away with this. But I was advising in a universal sense.