I snapped this photo today of, “BOB”.
Parentage is, R. wichurana ‘Poteriifolia’, x self.
It’s a day or two past it’s prime, little to no fragrance. Will root in water. Blossoms about an inch across often come in small clusters. Excellent repeat. No mildew.
Oops!
Bob parentage is R. wichurana ‘Poteriifolia’ x ‘Old Blush’ x self.
Robert,
My friend Duane Coyier stated when he gave it to me that he believed it was a selfing of ‘Poker Chip’, yes. As with so many roses of this sort, the blooms are quite lovely, but the plant leaves a lot to be desired. It has “less than pretty” architecture. In other words, it is bolt upright, branches awkwardly and rarely displays the blooms ideally, not to mention the fact that it could benefit from twice as much foliage to hide its unattractive architecture.
Still, it was a case of “I use what I have on hand” and it ended up playing a role in the breeding of some of my things. I still use “Penny-trad” when I need a bridge with “difficult” roses that won’t play nice with any other breeder. “Penny-trad” will take pollen from anything, literally anything. I am evaluating several seedlings from a cross of ‘Souvenir de Claudius Denoyel’ on “Penny-trad” which are quite pretty; very Austin-esque and with great fragrances. Some have even shown good Blackspot resistance.
Take a look at Fresh Pink. 'Fresh Pink' Rose
The mother plant at Sequoia was easily five by five feet and Ralph used to comment that at one time, he counted over 500 buds and blooms on that one plant. In Visalia and Los Angeles, it is continuous blooming, even into the winter months, here. Imagine a larger Flower Carpet in an easier color to live with and without the crown gall problems Flower Carpet is demonstrating in LA. Resistance to everything has been quite good here.
Kim, the Streepers have a Fresh Pink plant that they use to cover a chain link fence at the back of their property in El Cajon (east of San Diego), which they say is disease free and more or less care free. I agree it puts on a very nice display (but I’ve only seen it in the spring there). But it’s easily 20 feet across that fence, so I considered it a climber, and a big one at that.
I was sufficiently impressed to get a plant from Nor’East just before they shut down retail, but mine’s still a babe.
Kathy
I’m glad you got it Kathy. For years I’ve been impressed with that rose and believe if it had been promoted properly, it could have superceded Flower Carpet to market and probably made those concerned quite a bit of money. I’ve planted it in my own gardens as well as clients’ gardens to cover uneven ground and hide ugly spots. In the usual SoCal climate, it doesn’t stop blooming. I believe it to be largely unexplored for breeding. As Ralph always said, “How many balls can YOU juggle at once?!”