Can anyone hazard a guess as to the ploidy of Simplex & whether it breeds as a diploid or tetraploid, if it is a trip?
My personal assumption is triploid due to its descendants and its color when the petals are new. I grew it for years. I used to winter prune it with the lawn mower lol.
An OP of Simplex was our first…
Unfortunately when it bloomed - almost - the color was muddy, it had mildew and the whole plant didn’t survive beyond the first bloom.
In talking with Ralph Moore and telling him about our ‘first’ he was so interested and supportive. Looking back it really was funny that we had had such an awful failure, but he encouraged us to try other parents and not give up on our breeding efforts.
He told us that most likely the OP inherited all the bad features of the parent plant which was likely to happen in cases like this.
In later efforts we lost a tray of 48 seedlings when our daughter forgot to water them while we were attending a rose convention. Kind of makes you wonder why we keep trying this crazy hobby!
No, Meg, it doesn’t make you wonder at all. “What if…?” has bitten all of us here! It’s what kept Ralph mentally young for a century and it’s what will keep most of us here mentally young far longer than many others who don’t wonder the question. Kim
I appreciate simple pruning. I noticed that it’s scent is similar to that of Paintbrush, somewhat undefinable.
Very true Kim; it is important for all of us to hold on to the inner child; the sense of wonder, the “what if…”, looking at things and the world as if we are seeing them for the very first time… Sometimes I think the “wonder” of the garden is what keeps me going.
Jim