I can’t recall if this has been brought up on here before; did a search and didn’t come up with anything. LeGrice in his book on roses in the hybridizing chapter mentions that in hybridizing yellow roses, if the filaments and all the sex organs are yellow, the rose does not carry the red/blue gene as he terms it. If they show red, then the yellow rose carries the red/blue gene.
I went out and countered the winter blues by buying 3 grocery store minis-they are all smoothies though a pink one shows one cane on one of the four cuttings with some prickles. They are a pink Kordana, and a coral and yellow Parade. The yellow Parade has yellow filaments and I am just curious if this would signify that this would theoretically produce more and purer yellows than if it had red filaments. The pink rose has yellow filaments also. Would there be any significance to that? I have seen white roses with yellow and also red filaments. These are blooming lustily and putting out more buds.
Would appreciate your thoughts and experiences on the significance of stamen filament colors.
Hey Jim I was reading that part in LeGrice’s book then flew outside to check all the yellows that I had bred, I came back inside smiling. Stamens get converted to petals and petaloids so you have to wonder, or is it a hidden trait that will express itself in the next generation. Bred these two roses, the first one is a cross of ( Changing Times X Unknown Dark red David Austin) , what I got was a light pink with yellow stamens.
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The other was a cross of (Graham Thomas X Mme Caroline Testou), white with red stamens.
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It would be interesting to see if the first one crossed with a yellow with yellow stamens would produce mainly yellow offspring and the second one crossed with a white that has red stamens would produce other warmer colours in greater numbers. Its so long to Spring.
Jim, I think yourself and Warren could be onto something, along with Mr LeGrice of course. Can you tell me the name of the book please. Yellow is the colour I would like to work with when breeding starts.
Ralph repeatedly said you could tell what pigments were possible in the petals by what the rest of the plant demonstrated. If you wanted an unstained mauve, use roses which don’t “burn” red in heat. If you want a pure yellow, use only breeders with no red in any plant parts, including new foliage, canes and stamen.
You are going to love it, David. Of all the rosemen who authored great books, Edward LeGrice, Jack Harkness and Dr. J.H. Nicholas are the three whom I would have loved to have known. All three were also wonderfully spoken of as true gentlemen after their passing.
These links should help get you started searching for him David. If you can find any of his books there, get them. A Rose Odyssey is a wonderful chronical of his world trip just at the outbreak of WWII throughout Europe. A great chapter at the end deals with “horrible rose names”, such as the completely unprounouncable Dutch womens names so often encountered in the period. VERY enjoyable and educational.