Nice story, good for you!

Is there any indication on the tags of who produced the roses? Does anybody recognize this as the type of tag formerly used by ARE, Chamblee's, etc.? If the tag was made locally by whoever organized the test garden, maybe he dictated the names and somebody misheard 'Prairie Princess' as "Prairie Incense" and then misspelled that. But I guess not, since PP is pink.

OK, I got it: 'Prairie Insect.' That guy Buck had a way with names, didn't he?

Could it be 'Prairie Sunset', red with a yellow reverse?

Here is a link that might be useful: HMF

Looking at the spacing of the letters, I'd put my money on 'Prairie Sunset -- with what looks like an "i" being in fact the right-hand leg of the "U" in Sunset.

Striking rose!

And what an adventure! Please tell me that you had a camera along, and took photos!

Jeri

Ok you guys are right! I just went and scrubbed the tag as best I could without damaging the letters further and I can indeed make out the S and U. It was right in front of my face the whole time, now I feel like an idiot lol! Jeri, I do take pictures with me wherever I go. I'll see if I can find pics of the field and post them. It was quite the adventure, and I got some great finds!

No, your guesswork was fine. It wasn't obvious at all from the tag. I started with the list of Buck roses and worked backwards from there.

By the way, a lot of Buck roses have strange and possibly unpleasant or chemically scents, but usually they are mild enough that you don't have to notice. I wonder where in his breeding sources that came from. 'Winter Sunset' has a dark musky scent that I think of as "meaty." 'Hawkeye Belle' reminds me of beer. The scent you describe sounds interesting.

Thank you! Michaelg, would you mind taking a look at another post I made today? It's under Rose ID section. I figured since you got this one you might be able to identify the rose in my other post.

Many of the Buck roses whose fragrances I have found "odd", trace their roots back to R. Laxa. Suzanne's and Isabella Skinner's scents have those odd elements about them to my nose, too. Prairie Princess' scent wasn't too strange to me, but Prairie Star impresses me as grapefruit rind. Kim

I think those who believe the rose to be 'Prairie Sunset' are correct. The color blend Andrew describes, "Russet with an Ochre reverse (almost like a muddied out play off of Ketchup and Mustard)", sure sounds like 'Prairie Sunset' to me.

That was fun. Glad that you found the name at last. The only other word in the dictionary that was close was insensate ( fond of, or infatuated ) Not as good as Prairie Sunset but I kind of like Prairie Incense too as that would make people want to smell it. I'm glad you could save them.

Put up pictures of the thornless pink pom pom. That sounds like a rose I'd like to have. Anything flowering in those temps would be a good rose.

Andrew, please DO put up your pictures. We all had fun sharing in the identification -- now give us a taste of your adventure.

Jeri

Kim, always interesting to find out the ancestry of a rose. I wonder what R. laxa itself smells like as I didn't see a fragrance listed on HMF.

Ok so here are some pics of the other mystery rose, another identification challenge! It appears to be diploid with very thin small foliage, a moderate or mild sweet or classic rose fragrance and it's best trait, its thornlessness as you know! I would like to point out that this is the most thornless rose I have EVER SEEN! Even some "thornless" roses like Zephirine Drouhin sometime have small thorns (prickles) on the undersides of the leaves, go and check. This rose does not. On a side note, I noticed today that you will find the occasional average thorny rose with all of the undersides of the leaves thornless. Thinking logically I have a new hypothesis "Prickle count of stem and prickle count of the underside of leaves are controlled by two totally different sets of genes." This could be very useful in future breeding I think.

Blooms on the plant:

Close up of a single bloom and buds. By the way, for the purposes of identification, this rose is very remontant!

I've read reports that Laxa has a scent similar to Foetida, which means it smells like Fedtschenkoana, or "Linseed Oil". But, never having stuffed my nose in it, I couldn't verify that.

I'll bet you dollars to donuts your thornless rose is, at least, related to Renae. I'm not sure how, but everything about it speaks "Renae", except for the flower shape in the photos, but that is sufficiently variable to not rule it out. Many of the photos of Renae's flowers come from hot, arid, drought stressed areas. Where you took those photos is hot, but far from "arid and drought stressed." Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Renae

Michael, you are so funny.

I am really enjoying this thread. I always wonder how many lost roses are lurking out there somewhere.
In 1998 I was doing educational programs at a wetland south of Calgary, Alberta. It was Ducks Unlimited land, but somebody put in a big test plot of roses right in the middle of the baldass prairie. I never had time to investigate it. A few weeks ago I finally got back to the spot and there was not a trace of it. I was secretly hoping to find some undiscovered Explorers or some such.

What a great story! I have Prairie Star and Dorcas - Dorcas is one of my favorite Bucks - hybrid tea form, tough, healthy bush. I like Prairie Star alot too. Your tag also looks to me like Prairie Sunset - have that one too.

While poking around in the sales area of Chamblees last spring, I came across a Buck I'd never heard of - it was the only one there, I grabbed it. Its name is SUMMER MELODY. I have it planted in an excellent area and hope I can keep it going - apparently its one not easy to find. The blooms are very pretty - a pale yellow/cream. I am pinching the buds off to get the plant to put out more roots. Hoping it will take off when the hot weather is gone. I have photos but cant figure out Photobucket.

Congratulations on your nice roses, good luck with them!
Judith

Kim, today I read your entire article on HMF "I am NOT an expert" but I have to disagree, you really are!! After reading up on Renae I'm convinced that's what this rose is like you said, except it doesn't seem to have a strong desire to climb. Of course that's just for me, in my climate with my horticultural practices. Southern Louisiana is a very specific climate to grow in. I do think it's a great place for me to carry out my lifelong breeding goals since if a seedling can survive Louisiana's black spot infested humidity and heat it'll be off to a good start!

Thanks for the good luck Judith! Also to anyone interested and curious, I have ripening hips on a couple of roses with this rose, 'Renae' as the pollen parent: a few of (Smooth Ballerina x Renae) and a lot of (Thomas Affleck x Renae). I bet those seedlings will be smooth as silk! I can't wait to one day share my creations with everyone!

Thank you, Andrew. I'm glad you enjoyed the article. You'll find many "climbers" don't seem to want to climb, unless provided support. If left free standing, many will bulk up their canes, thicken them to become self supporting at the expense of lengthening them. Tie it to some supports so they can elongate instead of supporting themselves and it might surprise you. In my old Newhall garden, I grew Sally Holmes, Altissimo and several other "climbers" as large, free standing shrubs quite easily. Kim

We have even grown the Cl. "Sombreuil" freestanding. If you have the space for it, it is spectacular that way. If I were to do it again, I think I would give it a "corral," to push it up more, before it arches out.

And John Walden told me years ago that the most spectacular 'Fourth Of July' he'd ever seen was one grown as a freestanding "fountain." If I had the space, I'd do that in a heartbeat.

Jeri

I like the freestanding look as well. It's nice to think that you can grow some of these wonderful roses without the usual supports.

Andrew:

The tag you found is for Dr. Buck's Prairie Princess. This was one of the most popular breeding parents used by Dr. Buck in his hybridizing program (the other was Carefree Beauty). It is a large-flowered climber with blooms similar to Carefree Beauty.

The tag that is in your photo is one from Chamblee's Rose Nursery in Tyler, Texas. Mark Chamblee provided roses to several places in Louisiana that evaluated roses.