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| Final verdict (for my little test). I usually try 25-35 new seed types (not roses) each year. And tested many, many varieties of roses. Last growing season I tested Rosa Mutiflora Nana Perpetua - Garden Party and concluded that for me these are keepers. (It a rarity for me to find something I want to keep or repeat, maybe 1 or 2 things a year). Because rose seed genes are so scrambled I did not expect to get consistent plants, and did not. But that was a good thing because a couple of the plants are very special (I have 6 plants) and I can continue them through cuttings. The other 4 are nice, I will keep them, but I will not multiple them. They are fun to grow! Pro and cons: Pros: Black spot resistant in my black spot infested gardens. Two are very fragrant. Blooms vary from small very full to small singles, like minatures. One produces beautiful plentiful small hips. Not bothered by high heat or cold. Nice bushes after one year. Con: And OF COURSE these are NOT the hybrid tea Garden Party by Swim (1959). These are a very recent German introduction specially developed for the home gardeners to play with growing roses from seed easily). For pictures google Incidentally these were grown in pots. Will do cuttings in ground to test nematode resistance and not risk the mother plants. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| If they're doing well for you where you are, that's great. Perhaps you can revisit hybridizing and make yourself some interesting "Florida-hardy" roses using your seed-grown roses, perhaps bred with other cultivars which do well (I'm thinking Chinas, Teas, Noisettes, etc.). Last Spring, I received a rose labeled 'Sweet Chariot' which grew very well, bloomed, and revealed itself to NOT be 'Sweet Chariot'. Interestingly, it appears very much to be some sort of Multiflora-derived cultivar (I still haven't been able to match it up conclusively with something at the nursery's inventory), and the flowers it produced looked like the just-more-than-single flowers within your seed strain variations. I wasn't sure what to do with this "mystery" rose, but being as it's been so healthy, I might just close my eyes and use it as "something Multiflora" in breeding. I'm not sure how big it will get, or if it will repeat, but it's nice to have a rose that shrugs off disease in your own environment while others sniffle and sneeze through the blackspot season. It's even nicer when it's somewhat along the lines of something you'd like to breed yourself, if, perhaps, in a bit of an "unpolished" form. After all, only one seedling needs to be promising for a cross to be a success. :-) ~Christopher |
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| Christopher, I appreciate your thoughtful response. That was a very interesting bit of information about your mystery rose. Very intriguing. Like to know how it turns out. Thirty years ago I did a lot of rose hybridizing...lots. It was fun and I always have that desire to do it again. But I just can't focus like that anymore. I move from one garden project to another from year to year. (As crazy as it sounds, I have 4 jars of hips I gathered, currently in the frig from last year. which I never focused long enough to take them out, clean them and plant them). This rose from seed is the short cut way of hybridizing. No work. Just plant like the rest of my seeds. Instant rose. And the great thing about it is that it is a hybridized rose. I mean these folks took years of development on these, but you still really never know what you will get. So that's getting the fun of hybridizing roses with little to no work. Incidentally my project for this year is the new "Sparkle guara" of which I have about 150 plants (seeds planted in Sept) and a petunia (nearly 200 plants) which are all self seeded. Amazing for me.. I usually have to jump through hoops to get a few petunias from seed. |
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