In my summer long hot and dry climate with alcaline if deep soil; nitida nor its progeny are happy while virginiana & p are at home and never chlorotic when so many are.
Thanks, Pierre and Peter. Perhaps I won’t give up, but will go ahead and try to germinate the things then. Based on what I read, I wouldn’t expect R.n. to be at all heat and drought-tolerant, but roses, in my experience, don’t pay much head to the literature.
It’s rather bizarre the things that are thriving in my yard and the ones that aren’t. R. californica is looking very unhappy (and chlorotic) while the chinas and teas in its vicinity are incredibly lush, and going to town. (I’m guessing R.cal. is less xeric than I thought?)
Rob, Bella nitida looks to be rather attractive… I’m guessing the HMF photo is a little dark, but would like to think it might have foliage that color. (Would the most likely parentage maybe have rugosa in the mix?) Surely much hardier than the default given on HMF.
I’ll give the presumed R.n. a go and see if anything comes of it. It really was an attractive plant. I’m not sure what route I would take to try and give it’s offspring good resistance and rebloom – necessities for a southern garden rose.