Here are a couple of pics of a seedling that was part of a flat of open-pollinated seeds of Rugosa #3 that I had treated with triflurilan or oryzalin. I picked out seedlings that looked unusual to line out. I don’t have any reason to believe that the chromosomes were doubled on this plant, however, but it is interesting in that it appears to have been pollinated by the R. glauca that was growing nearby the mother.
Nice purple blossoms and bluish-grey foliage.
Although it is once-blooming, it’s tempting to consider that it might have some potential to give reblooming seedlings.
HI guys,
Joe, this cross rugosa x glauca is the reverse of the cross “Carmenetta” made by Isabella Preston. I’ve put Carmenetta
pollen on Canadian shrub roses and got fertile F2 seedlings. Is your hybrid seedling fertile?
chuckp
I wonder if R. fedtshenkoana derivatives could reinforce the foliar color, or if R. foliolosa derivatives might serve to reinforce flower color? Dunno if R. f. could, in and of itself, bring back some rebloom. I have not worked with any of those species yet, though they have long been on my wish-list.
Hi Joe,
I’d agree with your conclusion that your rugosa seedling came from glauca pollen.
I got identical looking seedlings when I did that cross intentionally. You can see some
old picture on HelpMeFind:
I tried growing out an F2 population but many of them were weak and sickly.
A backcross to rugosa was much better but I didn’t grow enough to see if any might rebloom.
I did have at least one that retained the beautiful blue foliage but was more rugosa-like in
appearance. Like glauca, these seedlings were very susceptible to RRD. I have a small
piece of one of the F1 and also one of the backcross seedlings still alive, but all the others
have disappeared.
I like Philip’s idea of using foliolosa and/or fedtschenkoana with it. That would be fun to see!
Good luck with wherever you take it! Tom
Very attractive Joe! I love the leaf color and the bloom color as well. I hope yours has some fertility. The leaves are similar to ‘Rugluaca’ = (Rugosa #3 × R. glauca) x Self. ‘Ruglauca’ is a diploid and sets OP hips but I’m not having much luck with it as a seed parent in planned crosses. I did do a ‘Metis’ x ‘Rugluaca’ cross last season and have some seedings from it where the leaves have some grey tone to them. They should be very hardy and so far are disease free. I have a bunch of OP hips on all three of my ‘Rugluaca’ clones. Keep us posted on this one!
My wife is not a fan of the rugosa ( they look too similar to one-another ) so we only have one rugosa Hansa in our breeding stock. Despite this we did one cross this year with Hansa x Glauca so we will see how that develops.
The pollen on glauca is easy to work with, but we have not had any success with it as a seed parent. The flowers and hips, being smaller are harder to work with and the short bloom season limits it’s utility. Never-the-less we love glauca enough that we continue to persist in our efforts.
Last year we had 28 seeds from R. Foliolosa x Hansa on one hip and three seedlings develop from those. They have yet to mature to be super interesting, but the reverse cross did not work for us.
So as Phillip says you may want to try R. Foliolosa x [ Hansa x Glauca ]
Rob and Tom, you guys give me too much credit! I really don’t know what I’m talking about. (I’ve never used any of those species – it’s all purely speculation.)
Standard disclaimer on my part there. I am very good about opining about things about which I know very little. Not that I want to dissuade anyone from proving me right or wrong. I’m quite curious.
Not that I want to dissuade anyone from proving me right or wrong. I’m quite curious.