I bought R. roxburghii this spring, never having seen this rose in person. Now that it has bloomed I’m really taken by the hips. I’ve looked through HMF and havn’t seen R. Rox used much. I have Floradora and to me it looks suspiciously like the seed parent Baby Château and is possibly a self. A couple of others in the F1 groups also look very much like the seed parent and not R,Rox. Is this rose hard to deal with? I saw some crosses with Rugosa, but I have enough issues with thorns as it is. It would be nice to have the bristled buds without all the thorns. It’s a little late in the year to make crosses, but I’m looking forward to spring.
I wish you could have seen Floradora at Sequoia, Jeff. Ralph had several huge bushes of it in the jungle with enormous foliage, thick canes and large blooms. The color isn’t particularly attractive (at least to my eye) but the quality of that hard, thick, dense foliage was quite impressive. I was struck by how it performed there with nothing but water, compared to the “official” descriptions. The plant photos on HMF don’t resemble what his looked like at all.
Jeff, do you have the single (normalis or simplex) version or the double? IIRC Tantau used the double.
I think it may be that the three Tantau roxie f1’s ( Floradora, Kathe Duvigneau and Cinnabar) are actually dihaploids, and that Roxie is a magic bullet for inducing dihaploids.
Testing this hypothesis would be a good project for our members who work in gene labs but I use it as often as possible based on this assumption. I have two distinct cultivars of normalis that I’ve been using for three years and my experience is that they are fertile both ways although it is tough to get viable seedlings.
Also, it is very tender so don’t let it freeze.
Don: I have the double. I’ll see if I can get a few pictures uploaded of what I have. I ordered it from Vintage before they closed and this is the link.
Kim: I have five 0-47-19 plants from the cuttings that you sent. I need to get them in the ground this week along with a couple of other monsters that you sent. R. poteriifolia X Old Blush is turning out to be a “take over” monster. Fortunately I have about 100 feet of field fencing that is begging to be covered with something.
Congratulations, Jeff!
Don: Here’s a couple of pictures of the Roxburghii that I have.