has anyone used Red Dawn x Suzanne as a seed parent?
When I checked a bud it seemed like it was releasing its pollen super early, so I didn’t really try.
Another question, if we planted tons of OP (likely self-pollinated) seed from RD x S, would there be a tiny chance of recovering rebloom while maintaining hardiness?
Adam,
I’ve only had Red Dawn x Suzanne for two years and the first year I had it I pollinated a couple flowers of it. I was told right after I did them that they probably wouldn’t take and they didn’t. I only used one pollen and I only fertilized two flowers so it was a small trial, but maybe using more and different pollens and making many pollinations will increase the odds of the pollinations taking. I’m definitely planning on using RDxS pollen this year but I may also try a number of pollens on it as well. I have several plants that have R.spinosissima in them and I’ll probably give their pollen a try.
Joe,
If we assume that RDxS has (2) alleles for repeat bloom and (2) for once bloom then the number of selfed seedlings having (4) alleles for repeat bloom will only be 1 in 16 or around 3%. So you’d need to grow lots and lots of seedlings to get a decent sampling of repeat blooming seedlings. But on the other hand 75% of the seedlings will be as hardy as or hardier than RDxS is. Suzanne has R.spinosissima in it and it is known to occasionally have a second flush in the fall. I wasn’t expecting it to, but my RDxS repeat bloomed last year. Last year was an unusual year in that three plants repeat bloomed that hadn’t before and I wasn’t expecting them to, the other two have R.arkansana in them.
I forgot to mention that I have had at least one pollinated hip set on RD x S, although I kinda assumed the resultant seedlings might be selfs.
This is the first year it will bloom for me. I planted it as a small sucker two years ago. It spent all last year growing into a well established plant. I did not realize it is thornless or nearly so when I planted it but that is becoming more and more is a nice trait. Especially after being ripped apart by certain species roses in the same bed.
I had a few OP hips last year as well but I didn’t do anything with them. I wish I had now to see how many seeds per hip there were and how well the seeds germinated.
I should mention that since RDxS does have occasional repeat bloom that the number of selfed offspring that will have repeat bloom will probably be higher than I mentioned.
I am planing to cross it with some Rise N Shine x L83 seedlings. I got three nice healthy plants from this cross. Based on the limited crosses I done with these repeat bloom will probably not happen. But I would love to reinforce the health. Since the three seedlings show no sign of even wanting to put on a hip I was wishing that Red Dawn x Suzanne would be somewhat fertile in that direction.