Thanks for the recommendations!
I have each of those except Charles Austin: I was trying to find it.
I’ll have to try the pollen route for Ab.Darb. & Gold. Celeb. I tried the seed this year. Some results, but no telling what they are yet and far fewer than I would have hoped. So I’ll try switching them to pollen parent.
I tested with James Gallway and A Shropshire Lad and got seed from both that is germinating. James Gallway looks like close to 50%, we’ll see how they look in a while.
Have a few from Lilian Austin, but not many.
I hadn’t tried Charlotte at all, maybe I’ll give it a go.
Thanks again!
Duane
Duane, Mike and others on this forum will have much more experience than I, so heed their observations and take my comments with a grain of salt. I have only recently begun working with the Kordes and do not have all the ones on the list of suggestions I gave. Those that I do have have given pretty hefty heps with plump seeds thus far, though not with as much consistency as some of my other breeders. And to be fair, following some other posts I did a little research, and I will concede that Austins with which I have played predated any of my Kordes roses by more than a decade, so my generalizations probably do not hold for newer roses.
Teasing Georgia was one of the healthier ones I grew, but in my climate, she wanted to be an 8 foot monster before she would even think about blooming, and I never got any offspring from her. Some of the Kordes cultivars have similar monstrous habits, but those in the sunbelt line, for instance, have thus far bloomed as smaller shrubs for me.
Mike: thanks for the thoughts. I have Graham Thomas, Golden Celebration & Lilian Austin, among others: haven’t found Charles Austin.
I keep hoping to find information on some of the newer varieties. I know the parentage is usually listed as seedling X seedling. So I’m hoping to hear how the health has been on some of the newer varieties. Also, are they good for breeding, esp. seed parents vs. pollen.
Thanks again!
Duane