It’s a bad sign in life when a rose named Hope for Humanity has bad babies, lol.
Liz, I recommend that you try carrying your interesting crosses through at least 1 more generation as sometimes (often?) the good genes are there but not expressed in the first generation. In northern Ohio, if an interesting cross survives our winter and my no spray program, it stays for several seasons to show what it can produce as a parent.
Stating this another way, there may be other (possibly many) hybridizers using, say Quada, but the chances of there being hybridizers using (Hope for Humanity X Quadra) are quite small. I recommend that you look at what properties your cross is deficient in and then try to select mates that have the potential to eliminate those deficiencies. If no particular parent seems like an obvious choice, then I recommend mixed pollen. Let Nature decide which genes will produce healthy offspring.
In the most recent newsletter I mentioned the good and bad luck I’ve had with New Dawn. And yes, it has a lot of descendents. I got my 1/1000 in the 1st year and have been trying ever since to repeat. Just starting with Carefree Sunshine as pollen donor last year.
Hi Henry, the cross of Hope for Humanity X Quadra was done on a whim for furture work with resulting seedlings, as I presumed plant habit would be lanky, though maybe I’d get blooms with very good subtance inherited from HFH, though the problem was mostly with extreme mildew and blackspot. Where as Winnipeg Parks and Quadra have given some very healthy and attractive offspring.
Terry,
I have to agree with you about Hope for Humanity. I stopped using it several years ago but did use it as both a seed and pollen parent for at least three or four years, primarily in crosses with other Canadian roses. I never got one single seedling that showed any promise–the growth forms tended to favor lanky growth with very sparse foliage and the seedlings were also very prone to disease–they were, in general, just plain awful looking. I have to say that this surprised me more than a bit. I grew HFH in the yard of my former home for several years. The foliage was not as thick and lush as that of most of the other Canadians and it was at least mildly to moderately susceptible to both powdery mildew and blackspot–usually late summer to early fall, but it came back reliably each season and I loved the bloom. I crossed it with more disease resistant (for me) Canadian roses and expected great things. I’ve never had such a landslide of complete failure–it was like the other parent in the cross had no influence what-so-ever.
I don’t disagree with Henry that sometimes another generation can produce some surprising results. I know I have bred together seedlings that looked promising only to discard them a year later for disease issues–and then find out that they have produced some outstanding F2’s after the F1’s are long gone. I guess your decisions depend on how much space and time you have to devote to another generation.
Julie, regarding HFH, I could have written the identical paragraph to yours … “the growth forms tended to favor lanky growth with very sparse foliage and the seedlings were also very prone to disease–they were, in general, just plain awful looking. I have to say that this surprised me more than a bit … I’ve never had such a landslide of complete failure–it was like the other parent in the cross had no influence what-so-ever.” Julie, with these resulting seedling, I had seen no promise for any possible good traits being passed on, as there were none! I think I’m gonna focus more upon Winnipeg Parks and give Emily Carr a try.
Terry
Since Hope For Humanity has been brought up, can anyone comment on the following questions?
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Does to show any tendency to self-pollinate, even with normal emasculation (the way R. rugosa and some species hybrids can do)?
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However miserable they may be, do its hybrids tend to be fragrant, even if the other parent is not?
The reason I ask is that I have a recurrent seedling that is very interesting IF it is not the result of accidental self-pollination. IF I made the pollination correctly the seedling is:
Roger, I have not noticed HFH self-pollinating itself, after normal emasculation. As for the offspring being fragrant? … the seedlings I grew were either so lanky or unhealthy that no flowers had ever developed, maybe if I had grown on a very large population, I may have gotten one or two worth keeping.
“The only trait the seedling has that it seems unlikely to me that HFH could have contributed is a strong Damask/spice fragrance, like the alleged pollen parent.” … I would tend to agree with this.
Terry