Any experiences willing to share?
Some on here have noted that ‘The Fairy’ and its descendants are prone to crown gall and would not use it for that reason (and its thorny disposition). I’ve never seen crown gall here in Australia on anything so I can’t comment on that. It appears to be a good breeding propsition for me here. It is a difficult rose to work with IMO as it seems that no two plants behave the same way and even small differences in location/climate seem to have a big effect on how they behave. Most of the time the flowers are so double that they produce little or no pollen. This year, however, one of mine decided it was going to produce fewer petals and more pollen. I collected anthers from these flowers and it released very large amounts of pollen. My other plant growing not more than 10m away (but in more shade) continued to produce very double flowers and no pollen. The plant in more sun also developed more OP hips this year as well. The diploid pollen worked on everything I put it on from ‘Softee’ to ‘Mutabilis’ and I have a lot of seed this season from using ‘The Fairy’ as a pollen parent. The more double flowered plant has been called into service in the past as a seed parent. Having little or no pollen and being relatively self-sterile makes it a good seed parent here though its tiny hips and flowers are not very productive and difficult to work with. You will get, at most, 4-5 seeds per hip using it as a Mum. OP seedlings tend to vary greatly in vigour and I have never germinated anything worth keeping from it. My feeling is that it is most useful used in conjunction with other wichurana hybrids and I am inspired by the crosses done by Reimer Kordes to make ‘Immensee’ using ‘The Fairy’ as a seed parent as it has gone on to be such a valuable and fertile parent to many excellent landscaping roses like Flower Carpet Pink. ‘Immensee’ has been a far better breeder for me (it even accepted Rosa bracteata pollen) but ‘The Fairy’ played a big role in taming wichurana down to a more mangeable size. I’ll let you know in a few months how well the seeds germinate 
TF has worked as a mom rose for me in my location.
Here is one out of a total of two maturing hips out of my TF X OP R.Foliolosa cross taken a few minutes ago (end of Fall here now). To spot the small hip, go to centre of pic, and look at the lower margin of the pot’s rim…there is also a ribbon not too far away from it to mark it easily come harvest time. The one in the pic must be close to 3 months on the bush (I never bother to date these things), but on taking this pic I have also now noticed its stem is yellowing off… it looks like its gonna drop off…wateverrrr:
[attachment 742 1.JPG]
Using it as dad rose means ya have to be prepared to hit ur head against the wall to find the one flower out of MANY MANY which has the anthers, and when they are present there are several anthers per flower…soooo I quickly gave up on that idea.
Ohhhh I forgot to tell you, be prepared to be ripped apart by THOSE NASTY LITTLE AND VERY CATCHY PRICKERS!
Thanks guys! I agree TF is not easy to work with. I think I will try using/collecting pollen - even that is a trying task.
Even if The Fairy wasn’t so suceptible to gall, those nasty, God forsaken prickles prevent me from doing anything more than a hack and slash attack against it, picking up any removed material with long handled pruners. I HATE those nasty little, demonic, Chuhuahua teeth prickles! I hate them on Natchez and Flower Carpets, too.
I think the crown gall is the primary issue becuase I have noted that TF can also throw thornless seedlings (OP). Regardless…
I HATE those nasty little, demonic, Chuhuahua teeth prickles! I hate them on Natchez and Flower Carpets, too.
enter Basye’s thornless wich, hey, Kim!!! Time to go smooth!
Side note… seeing as we are talking about ‘teeth’… anyone thinking of using the Flower Carpets mention by Kim, should note that when put with moderns those Chihuahua teeth turn into Doberman teeth in equal numbers… I have one I should call ‘Cujo’.
Then you have to grow Echinopsis or worse Opuntias for a change.
Opuntia spines when entering your flesh continue to go deeper the more you try to get rid of.
Breeding them is easy as parts are big and flowers magnificent.
Working with The Fairy is easy: it is very self sterile and every OP hip is from a bee cross. Just grow it close to a good pollen provider and you get finger in the nose hybrid seeds.
Its progenies health is wonderfull.
I regret I did not more when looking at a group I grew one year ago with all surviving plants of surprising quality.
Red probable triploid (The Fairy x (bracteata x Orleans Rose) x red sib
I agree TF is not easy to work with
Nooooooo, it is easy to work with as a female rose (at least in my location, if that matters any…).
…just remember to use wire mesh gloves LOL
LOL,
The hip in the picture with the yellowing stem had no seed in it, which prompted me to then pull off and check out the second (unripe) hip of the same cross on this bush…it too was a dud… Oh well, nothin’ ventured, nothin’ gained.
To be fair, these 2 hips were The Fairy X OP R. foliolosa (i.e. a fairly wide cross) so this lack of result is not unexpected.
:O)
Worth the try for sure.