I have had R. blanda for several years in my garden and it has never been vigorous. It doesn’t like the warmer weather.
However, it seemed to enjoy California’s recent cold weather. Because it’s given several flowers already.
I’ve pollinated it with pollen of Baby Love today, the only thing that I had that was fresh.
When I bought it, I was envisioning hybrids that were thornless.
Is anyone else working with it? I heard that thornlessness is hard to capture with Blanda unless you inbreed 3rd or 4th generation seedlings together. Something about re-combination of genes…
I’m not sure if I want to carry on work with R. blanda if it had been this difficult for me to grow.
If it does for hips, I may just give it to someone. It seems like a good cross and it may create a very hardy yellow rose. It’s worth a try, I think.
I have done several more pollinations of R. blanda X Baby Love. Who knows if they will take.
I have tinkered with the idea of creating a blanda X mutabilis cross-- but mutabilis pollen is becoming scarce and I need the rest for Tigris.
If this is a successful cross with a lot of seeds, I might as well give them out. Blanda doesn’t work to well in California so I imagine it won’t do well else where.
Heck-- it maybe a lucky cross for people living in the cold areas of the states. It could create a yellow Blanda hybrid that is very hardy.
I am not familiar with Baby Love. HMF notes that it is very disease resistant. But in the comments, one person says that it drops its petals rapidly. R.blanda being a species will drop its petals quickly also. One thing that R.blanda needs is more disease resistance. The petal drop can be worked out in latter generations. Is Baby Love thornless? Some minis are. Do you know the ploidy of it?
R.blanda might not do well for you in California, but Baby Love seams to. Maybe the offspring of the two will do well there. Or do well enough to work with for future generations. I
Good luck with Topaz Jewel, it’s quite unfertile. But I know there are two successes. Ralph Moore introduced Peach Candy, and I remember Bob mentioned on his website on Overbrooks Garden that he had a seedling too.
I think that people should attempt to try to make into a tetraploid rose with chemicals. My plants are still small, but I tried each other without any success.
Who knows…
people often breed Topaz Jewel with tetraploid roses, so maybe it makes more sense to work it with diploid rugosa roses since it’s a diploid.
I recently got a seedling of Livin’ Easy X Robusta. It’s not too bad. Struggling little thing. It has many faults, especially the color. It’s an orangey red color (like Ole) but it fades very badly to a rugosa mauve tone. Neither of its parents apperently had this fault. It’s semi-double. But it will take a few years until I find out if it’s fertile or not. Its leaves don’t look anything like rugosa.
But I still hope that this seedling could be a usesful seed or pollen parent. Especially with Topaz Jewel. But as far as I can see, the only fertile rugosa hybrid right now is mentioned on Paul’s website. Magseed. A sister seedling to the infertile Linda Campbell.
Topaz Jewel has a mini seedling on HFM.
Personally, I dont like anything about Topaz Jewel though.
Linda Campbell, on the other hand, is stellar in the garden. It looks so nice as a backdrop in perennial beds.
I tried LC, but with zero luck as anyone would assume. But I wouldnt even bother with Topaz Jewel personally. I dont see the point.
Linda Campbell does set very rare OP seeds. I always collect them way too late when the hips is dry, but I have collect four seeds in the past after I had plucked several dozens of dried dead heads. It is very most likely that if it sets a hip than it is easy to overlook them because they don’t stand out very well. More so when there dried flowers are hiding it.
I still have them. I think that had I collected them when they were fresh instead of dry, I could have gotten something.
I remember Paul said that it’s sister seedling, Magseed, is very fertile as a pollen parent. I just did a search and it’s seems to be sold in Europe under the name of Red Rugostar.
It looks as pretty and cheerful as Linda Campbell.
Good to know that Topaz Jewel has been mostly infertile. Ralph Moore did have success with it as a pollen parent on a mini. Being a mini x rugosa cross I was hoping it would work with a rugosa as well. The reason I wanted to use it is purely for the color. I don
Paul, I would contact Sequoia. Mr. Moore might give you permission to use it as a breeder.
I remember “Magseed”. It does set an amazing amount of seed. I was never particularly interested in Rugosas.
They seem to transmit a proclivity for rust on the West coast, though I don’t remember that being a problem with ‘Linda Campbell’.
I just saw a spectacular specimen in full bloom at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden. It’s quite beautiful.
Robert that is a good idea. I contacted Sequoia and they are not releasing any of their unnamed varieties because UC-Davis is taking over proprietorship of them. It may be released in the future. But it was worth a try.
Thanks,
Paul
I like some rugosas. Rosa rugosa alba is beautiful if grafted (suckers badly…), and I like some of the compact rugosas. Im just not so wild with them if theyre A) murder on your body to prune, or weed around or B) eat your yard up or C) look like a sickly mass of thorny twigs.
So, which is Topaz Jewel; A, B, C or D all of the above. I think you have described most of the Rugosas out there. Actually A and C are two reasons why I would cross it with my thornless R.blanda. Though it wouldn
A & C here for Topaz Jewel.
re: yellow rugosas. There are a lot of yellow diploid roses out there. Rosa primula, Rosa ecae and it’s hybrids and Sunshine are some examples. I am not sure if Danae is diploid, but it throws yellow and “seems” diploid.
Also, there is nothing wrong with triploid rugosas except that theyre not very likely to have the fall hip display.
I love reading these old articles 
I like reading those old articles also. Percy Wright wrote quite a few good articles. This is one that I hadn
Sorry I ment to say I’ll look into Danae not Dianne.
I love rugosas, their leaves are interesting to me.
Betty Bland is a R. blanda hybrid…it might be easier to work with than the species. Just a suggestion, I don’t know how well it does in breeding except that it was the pollen parent for the rugosa Th
I just recieved my Topaz Jewel today. Those aren’t thorns, those are small daggers. I could see them ripping a pound of flesh off your body just by brushing up next to them.
Correction: I have My Hero which has Lillian Gibson as the pollen parent.
Paul