Hi, everyone,
I have a rose here, an OP offspring of ‘La Belle Sultane’ that I was originally thinking of shovel-pruning but the rose is trying its best to make me change my mind. Here’s a picture:
[attachment 808 neonRainbow.JPG]
No moss, no spots, but the flowers are 8.5 or 9 cm in diameter. They bloom the same color as the calistephin sample – only fluorescent – on “Don’s Handy Dandy Do-It-Yourself Rose Pigment Color Chart,” and after a day or two fade to the more magenta color in the flower at left. The flowers are relatively long-lasting, have a nice Old Rose fragrance, have plenty of pollen and set hips readily. Shrub is about a meter tall and winter-hardy. Drawbacks: well, nothing specifically, except that I think there are probably plenty of other roses of much this same color, though the ones I’ve seen are not particularly winter hardy at this altitude. My garden is, alas, not a large one, though I’m becoming convinced it’s too large for me to keep up with, and I could always use the space.
But… really, a rose you don’t need to fuss over, water a lot, cover over the winter, and after you stare at it for a while, the rest of the world is bright green…
[attachment 809 neonrainbow2.JPG]
One thing I have noticed about this rose is that bees love it. There are always bees on the flowers.
To keep, or not to keep… help!
Since it has most things or going for it. Maybe the solution is to keep it until you absolutley need the room. Maybe at least until you find out if it sets hips and if the seeds grow well.
Or you could just line the outside of your horse fence with some of your better unwanted roses.
Propagate it or share cuttings so it isn’t lost, use the room for spots and should you ever want it back, you know where to go!
I recall a conversation with Sean McCann some years ago when he mentioned that he always had a soft spot for one of his “babies”. He would take them out in the country and plant them along a fence. One year he happpened down one of the roads and saw a lovely orange (if I recall the color) floribunda that he rescued and brought back home. I believe he did tell me that it eventually did get registered and into some commerce. So just like Adam wrote above, put it out to pasture if you don’t have room and let Mother Nature decide.
Now there is an appropriate euphemism is I have ever heard one.
Sets hips, a no fuss rose in a lovely colour… sounds to me like a breeder! I would keep it and put it to work with woodsii or other tetraploid species roses.
I have a theory about roses and bees too! A bee-keeping friend of mine once told me that bees will only go after pollen that has a high protein content. I have always noticed that the roses that bees frequent are the ones that are the most productive hip setters too. I think that there might be a link between the protein content of the pollen and its fertility. So I keep an eye on the roses that the bees love and if they have other good redeeming features I use them in my breeding to try and ensure that fertility is passed on because the bees know good pollen when they see it 
My rose that I call “Rugosity” (OP ‘Ann Endt’) is the same. Not much to look at but has all the qualities of a breeder in that it is healthy and strong as an ox, it sets hips with lots of seed from most pollens, is probably diploid (which is a big plus in my books), it flowers its head off all season, has a good autumn foliage display and the seeds germinate easily… and the bees love it! My ‘Sweetflora’ (‘Sweet Chariot’ x “Poynton’s Multiflora”) is also the same… not much to look at but will hopefully be a valueable breeder in the future. I’ve never understood why so many people have ‘favourited’ this rose on HMF shrugs
@Jon, Putting it out to pasture… hmmm… nah, won’t do. My pasture is full of the Three Mares of the Apocalypse, who are convinced that anything that doesn’t eat them is food.
@Simon, very interesting information about the bees.
A couple of years ago, I had a rose more or less the same color as this one that I was going to call “Neon Rainbow” after one of my favorite songs. Maybe I’ll call this one that. Of all the roses I’ve bred, it certainly has the largest flowers.
I guess I’ll keep this rose where it is. It’s amazing, I can just stare at that color all day.
I would LOVE the ability to “put them out to pasture”. There is room on this hill, just no way to protect and maintain them. Too little rainfall, too deep ground water and the SoCal version of “The Three Mares of the Apocalypse”!
I happen to be very partial to LOUD brightly colored roses so I think it’s beautiful, lol! I would keep it.
There used to be Four Mares of the Apocalypse but alas (or maybe not) one died. She was a walking Bad Mood.
@Seil, Yes, I think I will keep it. If nothing else, it is definitely LOUD!
Fa,
Here’s my take on it: I have seen a number of ‘La Belle Sultane’ seedlings over the years and certain “fatal flaws” crop up among them, namely petal distortions/ill-formed blooms. I would make the decision to keep or discard the plant based on evidence of such flaws, and barring those, whether or not the plant was at least as tidy and compact as its parent (which tends NOT to be either) and whether it remained disease free in the garden or not.
/me places a rose on the grave of Bad Mood Walking.
The flower form is very nice, and the plant over the years has kept to its own little corner of the bed, a nice bush though I don’t know if I’d call it “compact.” It certainly hasn’t tried to take over the garden the way ‘La Belle Sultane’ has. As far as diseases, it’s so dry here that except in very unusual circumstances, disease is not a problem. Rose weevils, now that’s a different story…
The very first flower had petals with frilly edges like ‘Fimbriata,’ but alas it was only that one and I suspect insect damage.
I have to say, all my ‘La Belle Sultane’ offspring so far have been beauties. The ones I’ve kept, though, have been stunners. Petal distortions , except as above, haven’t been a problem. I wonder if it has to do with the climate. We don’t do humidity here.
We definetly don’t have humidity here. I remeber recently someone posting pollen takes a average of two or three days to dry out. My tends to dry in a day or less. That is why I always leave petals on the roses I pollinate. It much to dry to leave them naked. Plus they might get bashful with all their parts hanging out.
It really is a nice vibrate color Fara.