Rosa davidii

Roses for Hybridizing
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1

Is anyone working with Rosa davidii. My plant is blooming for the first time this season. Since it’s supposed to be a tetraploid, I’ve applied pollen from Rosa spinosissima ‘Double White’ and pollen from ‘Carefree Sunshine’, so far. I’ve also used its pollen on ‘Golden Showers’ and ‘Tiffany’. We’ll see if any seeds form. Aside from ploidy and that it comes from Asia, does anyone have other information?

The reason I’ve included the link below is so that you can see this interesting species. Notice the color; I’m thinking that this might be a novel source of genes for moving toward the greyed-pinks or purples.

Link: www.geocities.com/tesilvers/rosa_davidii.html

2

Len Scrivens has used to breed a couple of roses:

Baby Love - Sweet Magic X (Seedling x R. davidii elongata)

Pretty Lady -(seedling X (R. davidii elongata X seedling)) X ((Troika X Alpine Sunset) X Freedom)

3

Baby Love also has two offspring–

Rabble Rouser and Baby Girl.

Rabble Rouser is one of my current favorite roses. Baby Girl wasnt my thing. I thought it was pretty much a Baby Love clone that faded badly. Tried Rabble Rouser pollen on different things last year and got seeds but none of them germinated. Trying again this year.

4

Jadae, did you get offspring from ‘Rabble Rouser’? Do we know the parentage? Thanks, Robert

5

http://www.weeksroses.com/rabblerouser.php

I had all failures. I still have the plant, though. I think I made poor choices but I sorta gave up when I got nice Baby Love seedlings to play with.

Link: www.weeksroses.com/rabblerouser.php

6

I lost my original plant of Baby Love due to neglect. I’m trying to decide whether to get another. The only thing I have out of this lineage is Jim’s ‘Geisha’ x ‘Baby Love’.

I used ‘Geisha’ x ‘Baby Love’ last season and have a few crosses chilling now. I love the red stamens. It does not set hips and the pollen seems to be a bit hard to use. I’ll be curious to see what comes of it.

Jim have you used your seedling?

I used Geisha pollen on another test seedling of mine last year. Both had red stamens. So far the seedlings do not.

Thanks, Robert

7

I’d get another. The trait I noticed about it that I liked was that it seemed good at deplacing red but keeping orange in some seedlings. For this reason I want to further experiment with it in mauves/purples/etc.

Also, yellow is a hard to color to get in healthy.

8

Thanks Jadae. I’m grudgingly looking at acquiring my new yellows. I have little space to spare for anything that won’t pull it’s weight.

9

Robert, no I haven’t used that ‘Geisha’ X ‘Baby Love’ seedling that you are talking about. I ended up getting 4 selections of ‘Marmalade Skies’ X ‘Baby Love’ that I have concentrated on using and in fact crossed one of them with ‘Geisha’ to get some interesting shrub type seedlings. One of the ‘Marmalade Skies’ X ‘Baby Love’ seedlings seems to have good blackspot resistance. I crossed it with ‘Home Run’ and got what I think to be my best shrub type seedling to date.

I would definitely get ‘Baby Love’ again to develop some of your own seedlings for further use. I am not using ‘Baby Love’ any longer, but it is in nearly all of my current breeding stock. It is absolutely excellent for giving powdery mildew resistance, and somewhat good for blackspot - definitely a good source of R. davidii genes.

Jim Sproul

10

Thanks Jim, I still want to make it by your place. I have a couple of things here with your name on them waiting to head that way.

I’ll let you know if anything comes of ‘Geisha’ X ‘Baby Love’ pollen. I’d like to give you credit.

I used ‘Home Run’ pollen on several different seed parents last year. It will be interesting to see what comes of it.

‘Home Run’ sure is a stumpy little thing. What does it tend to produce? Thanks, Robert

11

Robert, have you tried Abraham Darby?

I’ve noticed that even though it’s an apricot, it will pass on yellow more better than yellow roses.

Basye’s Legacy seedlings have that rugosa pinky muave color that I don’t enjoy. Even two seedlings that are really good, the Pacific Serenade X Bayse’s Legacy cross, they still have that magenta hue that I dislike.

However a seedling of Abraham Darby showed a bud with yellowish hues. Bloomed once this year… no it was about to bloom before it fell off.

Then I have Abraham Darby X Basye’s Amphidiploid, which is a weak yellow in color. (Overlaid with deep pink.) This rose will benefit other breeders in the future because it has the disease resistance of the amphidiploid, but the color is greatly improved and has genes for repeat bloom, fragrance, and ability to root easily.

Perhaps Abe Darby maybe your canidate of getting a yellow coloring in your banksia hybrids?

Then there’s Golden Angel. Paul has spoke about its ability of producing roses of yellow colors.

12

Hi Enrique, Yes, I’ve tried ‘Abraham Darby’. I have one registered descendant already. It does set hips very easily and I have a few seed chilling now using ‘Riverbanks’ as seed parent from early this season. I’ll be interested to see if I get anything worthwhile.

Early this season I concentrated less on yellow and more on incorporating other species. Next season yellow is more of a priority. ‘Golden Angel’ is one I’ve been dragging my feet on getting. Kim has mentioned it many times.

I agree that it is hard to get other colors out of Legacy. I’ve got several different crosses involving yellow out of it and nothing vaguely yellow yet.

13

Robert, I have three selections using ‘Home Run’ as the pollen parent this year that I am liking. All of the rest are gone. The two seed parents used are both more vigorous than HR so maybe that is why I am seeing good vigor in these three.

Jim Sproul

14

I was shocked by how fertile ‘Home Run’ pollen is because I remember Tom saying it was triploid. It set on nearly everything I put it on this season. Yes, it needs to be married to something with some vigor.

Did you you get all red? Thanks, Robert

15

Since this thread has resurfaced, I figured I’d let you guys know the current status of my attempts with Rosa davidii.

So far, although neither is blooming sized yet, I’ve gotten two fairly certain (from foliage appearance) species hybrids using Rosa davidii:

  1. A small bunch of slower-growing Rosa rugosa X davidii seedlings – definitely not just rugosa – so most likely they are the intended hybrid. I expect these to be triploid and most likely, not very fertile. You never know, though.

  2. One, more vigorous seedling that is a cross between Rosa virginiana ‘V3’ and Rosa davidii. Offhand, I can’t remember the direction of the cross – I’ll have to look at my notes for that one. But, the foliage is very much intermediate between these two. This one is still building up size but could possibly bloom next season. It should be a very interesting breeder, since it should be carrying lots of disease resistance genes.

16

Robert, I have gotten light pinks through dark red from ‘Home Run’. The seed parents were orangish sister seedlings from ‘Marmalade Skies’ X ‘Baby Love’

Jim Sproul

17

Thanks Jim. I’ll let you know what I get. I put Home Run on all kinds of things. Hopefully I’ll get some variety in seedlings.