I like all of those crossing ideas, with RDS and A&B seeming like good bets for getting some seedlings that could hit close to a real target in one step… hope you were able to grab some anthers from the open blooms, too. While its flowers aren’t the most perfectly formed, its seedlings’ blooms can be much better. Its more graceful growth should be just what some of the stiffer hardy climbers need. Reading your previous post, I had a flashback of trying DFLS back in MN; it didn’t survive very long, but I’m not sure that it was its fault (deer, insects, probably less sunlight than it wanted, etc.) It certainly never looked anything like that during its short life!
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Hi Stefan,
There are other hardies l could have tried, but none are as quickly recurrent/new off shots to bloom, after the solstice like RDxS.
And fedtschenkoniana was successful with one hardy cross with a tender gallica. Same with JC but not true hardy in my garden as my Merveille crosses showed.They growing well after flattened by cold like parents (JC a herbaceous rosaxrosa perennial)
Do not have enough experience with A&B to say it is recurrent for me.
But second year blooms were “very very large” on the full sun, short plant (that is good in my oil province where we think big n tall) and were early enough not to aggravate.
Size might be the minnow size that photos as a muskie that comes from scale reference (old trick for pictures of your catch of the day - hold it way out in front of you and away, but don’t show ur fingers).
The slightly shaded one behind Grannie’s blew out new “tallish cane to get more sun” … so all in all l like its quick sun self tuning ability.
All this chatter about A&B is because l counted one more Lykkefund cluster this morning (5). So easement is free and clear to train some bees to focus on A&B nectar and bring along pollen hitchhikers to Lykkefund (pat 2014) ….
… and after l submitted reply “Thor” struck a small sharp warning bellow … bee training on hold ….
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At least it’s small hail! Still, probably enough to bring you some PTSD.
For what it’s worth, A&B has (so far) only been once-blooming here, too. However, it can produce seedlings with reliable repeat at a low frequency (1 in 6) when crossed with a repeat bloomer, according to David Zlesak. That will probably work out to 1 in 12 with a once-bloomer that is recessive for everblooming, like ‘Lykkefund’, although that is begging to be tested. I was lucky to get a hole in one once with an A&B cross with a repeat blooming modern seed parent, although tons of seedlings from a cross with Westerland as seed parent all refused to flower in their first year and most were insufficiently disease resistant to coddle. Of course, Westerland didn’t exactly fit the everblooming mold here, either. I suspect that diploid ‘Lykkefund’ will make a better match despite being only recessive for the everblooming trait. Odds should be better with RDS.