My wife picked up a “Valentine Grow Kit” for me as a gift. When I first saw it, I had visions of bareroot roses waiting to be potted up and dry as dry can be. I opened up the “pail” and found out that these weren’t bareroot roses, but rose seeds instead.
The kit is made by a company called Buzzy. The packaging around the pail reads:
Valentine
Grow Kit
Mini Rose
Rosa Chinensis
Easy to Grow
Ready to Plant
Guaranteed to Bloom
Kit Includes
Painted Pail
Potting Soil
Mini Rose Angel Wings 0.05 gr.
Growing Instructions
Add the soil to the pail, sprinkle the seeds on top of the soil, water and place in a sunny location.
Easy
and Fun…
Sell by 12/31/07
Packaged for 2007
Lot# 21-01-77
I do have to admit that my wife has got me figured out, but it does seem strange to me that anyone would sell roses this way, and can guarantee them to bloom.
I did some research and looked up ‘Angel Wings’ and it is a Hybrid Tea not a mini. I don’t know if they used Rosa Chinensis Minima (Rouletii) or Rosa Semperflorens Minima
I haven’t seen the kit but my sister did get a seed packet of the Angel Wings the year before last and grew 8 of them. They did all bloom, the were all very similiar looking (and tiny!) and to my knowledge she eventually killed all of them through neglect. You see, she likes plants better in theory, and really only waters her vegetables because she eats them. Hopefully, yours will do much better! They had pale pink single blooms if I am recalling correctly. Oh, and lucky you for having such a good wife!
Hiya!
Today I just picked up this Mini Rose Grow kit. The Valentine edition by Buzzy.
My directions however are very different than yours.
Quoted from my instructions:
Valentine Mini Rose Grow Kit
Follow these easy instructions for growing your Mini Roses:
Place the soil pellets in a seperate bowl and add one cup warm water. Wait Five minutes while the soil absorbs the water. Fluff the soil with a fork. Add 3/4 of the soil to the container. Sprinkle your seeds evenly onto the soil. Cover with the remainder of the soil. Place kit in a sunny location and keep soil moist. Fertilize plants as needed. Transplant seedlings into a larger container or garden once they reach 4" in height. For more information, log onto our website at www.buzzyseeds.com
Warning: do not eat seeds.
I have visted the website but it’s not very helpful.
I have also purchased their lavender and burning love kits.
Maybe we can do this together if your seeds are not too damaged by all the water. Good luck. Feel free to email me or drop by my blog anytime.
-Mayren
Link: mayren.blogspot.com
Addendum:
I have also cross-referenced this to “Angel Wings” which are another name for Rosa Chinensis and found the below to be close to what I was given before.
Planting from seed: Feb to April - Full sun -
Plant in depth of 1/4 inch - space seeds 2 inches -
days to germinate 4 to 6 weeks - mature height 1 1/2 to 2 feet.
Perennial Summer/fall bloom - very frost hardy
Best to Start Early Indoors
In spring, 6 weeks before last expected frost date, sow seeds 2 in apart in a container of seed starting mix and over 1/4 in deep. Keep cool and moist amd provide a strong light source until ready to plant out. Rose seeds may germinate slowly, so be patient. Once seedlings are large enough to handle, transplant into individual pots. Feed seedlings every 2 weeks with half-strength fertilizer. When 3 to 4 inches tall, gradually acclimate seedlings to outdoor conitions and plant out in full sun.
The webpage claims that these roses can also “make sweet container plants.”
Info came from : https://www.reneesgarden.com/seeds/packpg/flowers/rose-p.htm
There are more seedling and growing notes there.
Although it is listed as R. chinensis minima in modern roses, I don’t think these roses have much or anything to do with R. chinensis. The flower structure and morphology suggest the Synstylae section of the genus rosa and due to their ease in controlled crosses to cross with and also look like R. multiflora, I suspect they are just repeat flowering variants of R. multiflora. Just because the seeds float, don’t give up. Let them soak a day or so and them plant them. I used these roses as the foundation for the chromosome doubling study I reported on in the journal Euphytic using colchicine and trifluralin. These roses are diploid. Through careful selection in zone 3 over generations I have populations of them that are hardy in zone 3, some that are thornless, some that are double/single, some that approach red now. My ‘HoneybeeTM’ pictured in the image gallary here is a cross of 'Rise ‘N Shine’ x one of the chromosome doubled seedlings from this background.
Whatever the genetic background of these seed propagated roses, nice ones can be selected and used in breeding. I consider them polyanthas.
Thanks, David
Could it be R. multiflora nana?
I suspect they have the same background and would intermate easily producing fertile offspring. This seed strain just has been selected I think for variability for color, double / single flowers, and thornless /thorny stems. What do others think? David
A few people I know grow them for their hardiness, and (no fuss) disease resistance. In Canada, r. chinensis minima are sold as ‘Baby Angel Roses’. Thanks for explaining this, David. I couldn’t make sense of their hardiness with the name chinensis attached.
And why are they classified as r. chinensis anyways?
There are two forms of the Angel, Baby or Fairy Rose. One is seeds of Rosa chinensis minima. There other is seeds of Rosa x Rehderana which is reportly,“Rosa chinensis x R. multiflora Thunb. ex Murray).” Maybe theyre just seedlings passed on by nursery trade from Mignonette? I don tknow.
I did look at these roses.
Historically I have seen from old books that there were ancient seed grown strains some two century old that obviously stem from early China derivatives miniatures (Leonard Lille seedhouse at Lyon sold them as lawrencianas) and dwarf multifloras. The later being most probably recurrent segregates from mutiflora x china. You can see from the fruits and seed that they are not pure multiflora.
They were selected for as double as possible flower and probably even more for good germination and high seed production.
By the way Correvon roulettii rediscovery of miniature roses is a myth. He collected a Swiss pot grown plant of most probable such seed origin. This is rather close to the town of Lyon. I did see some 25 years ago an horticulturist still producing these roses as flowering potted plants. Quite easy.
It’d be cool to have Roulettii tested to see if anything interesting shows up. Also, I find it interesting that a lot of the microminis are often mini x polyantha.
I registered what I consider to be a miniature polyantha recently.
It produces an amazing amount of pollen and is completely smooth.
Link: www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=49237
Looks nice. Ive always wanted to try Rosa rugosa alba x Cinderella but I dont have the patience for micromini pollen hunting, lol.
It is tedious! I happen to have Perle D’or and Cinderella growing adjacent so it was no big deal. This was the only germination from the cross.
I found the angel wings kit about 9 years ago and they all sprouted and grew quite well though they all did eventually die from neglect. But not before surviving being dug up by a cat, rescued and replanted. Stupid cat. But they were all tiny and pretty much the same. This was my first experience growing roses from seed and I’ve been hooked ever since. Though now my seedlings get considerably better care. I have always kept an eye out for the kit again but have never seen it again. I’d love to try it again. Glad to know its still out there.