I’m counting on its being invasive. I planted three of them from Cliff down the hill to keep the troll in the hole on his side of the wall. I also have the “runt of the litter” Clinophylla X Bracteata cross from Viru’s seeds. I know from experience that the Clino-Bract tip roots easily and both of them exhibit the “Bracteata curse”. ANY atom of root left in the ground regenerates the plant in no time. Both are horriffically prickly and completely clean here. Peter would have a much better idea of cold hardiness than I do. I can supply cuttings of both, maybe a rooted piece of the Clino-Bract. I found one and sent it to Philip recently and I’ve dug out regenerated plants from the roots I tried to dig fully out when I moved the can it grew in.
As for being difficult to work with, this is from notes I took on visits with Ralph and posted to HMF on the Muriel page (which I also have if you’re interested).
"Ralph Moore stated he created 700 seeds from the cross of Bracteata X Guinee. Only 7 seedlings germinated. Only two he felt were actual hybrids. Muriel was the only one of the 2 he kept for further work. He stated Muriel passes on good foliage and that in the first generation, all seedlings will be climbers.
He also stated this is best used as a pollen parent."
I can tell you it breeds pastel, washed out colors much like Wichurana does. MANY of his Bracteata seedlings were enormous, terribly thorny, once (if at all) flowering, rampant climbers. MANY of them suffered from rust problems, not so much in his climate, but definitely in mine. The two best of the repeat flowering seedlings he raised for rust resistance are Out of the Night and Out of Yesteryear. I’ve only maintained Muriel, and the two I’ve just mentioned. The only other one with any real rust resistance here was Star Dust.
I was pleased to find that TAMU has Huntington Red Bracteata, the Gruss an Teplitz X Muriel climber Ralph donated to The Huntington for fund raising. Perhaps, if it seems interesting to you, Natalie might be coaxed into sharing cuttings of it. it is darkly colored and marvelously fragrant. However, in the intense, high heat here, we used to call it “Old Liver” due to the faded flower color. It is the darkest colored Bracteata hybrid I ever saw at Sequoia.
I don’t think I would try Alba Odorata. Tea crosses tend to come with their own sets of problems, infertility being one. If you’re going to engineer a line, don’t base it on things which may dilute the hardiness, reduce the fertility and potentially increase disease issues. What to use instead? I dunno. I do have seeds under soil of Blue for You which should have been pollinated by the Clino-Bract seedling. We shall see.
