Serious rose breeding is not a hit or miss affair, rather, it is a directed quest toward a desired or hoped for result.
I worked with a surprising number of the roses listed in these lineages including William Lobb, 12-59-10, Fashion, Magic Wand, 1-72-1 and Joycie.
Of these Joycie was my favorite but in the four or five years I managed to keep it alive I think I counted only a dozen or so blooms. It was enough to get a single F1 hybrid with R. moyesii which has finally given me a few seeds of its own.
The one that I could never find was Lemon Delight which I was hoping to use for fragrance breeding. I tried to get copies from both TAMU and Burling Leong but neither source has it any more. I think it is likely to be extinct. In fact, I wonder how many of the roses on these lineages are now extinct?
Unfortunately, it appears MANY of them are gone. I’ve sought quite a few recently and discovering the number of gardens listed on Help Me Find which either no longer exist or no longer contain the rose in question is quite distressing. Would you believe Sheri Anne is gone? It isn’t out there. Avandel also appears extinct. Paul Barden has been looking for Avandel. Joycie is still listed in some gardens but not from any commercial source. I lost Kim Rupert to crown gall and only RVR lists it, IF they ever propagate it again and IF they send the correct rose…
Would you believe Sheri Anne is gone?
Wow. This reminds me of Happiness and of Baby Chateau.
I stumbled on a nursery in Georgia that offered ‘Happiness’ about ten or eleven years or so ago after searching for it for about as long. The nursery owner was clueless about the significance and unable to tell me the provenance beyond a vague reference to a public park. After some back-and-forth with her I decided it was worth having a look so I dispatched my son to bring it to Connecticut. I was never certain about it but I’m pretty sure it was the real McCoy.
Baby Chateau turned up at one point in a public garden in Prague but I couldn’t afford to fetch that one. I posted about finding that, iirc.
Paul Barden just posted to Houzz his photos of 12-59-10 indicating he still grows it.
I do indeed, as well as “OM” (Orange Moss, from the same era) and one of my favorite Moore Mosses, “7-62-9”
Last spring I sent Burling cuttings of 12-59-10. I have no idea what her plan is (distribute, or archive, or ?) but I expect she will have a few plants of it in her stable by now.
Wonderful! If Burling doesn’t propagate it, perhaps these and any other oddballs still hanging around might be worth propagating and selling directly? I’m sure they will sell at least in small quantities.
Perhaps, but I have never had anyone (except Burling) request any of these three roses.
I visited San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, and found Avandel. See pic
I know that Jill Perry said she’d located the marker for ‘Avandel’ but wasn’t sure about the ID of the plant. That bloom looks approximately correct for the variety, I must say.
She reported the plant she found is too small to take cuttings from but she will check again in spring.