Young shoot

My, not large, hand for scale

The HT can be seen on the left side of this pic

It may be Fun Won Lo that was used as an understock long ago. I enjoy its Spring visit each year. Best, Nick

Hi NIck,
I cannot find a rose named Fun Won Lo in HMF but Fun Jwan Lo is listed as a synonym of R. indica Major I was referring to, so we may be talking about the same or very similar roses.
Nik

mmmm, looks like an old Bengale d'Automne in my college greenhouse....deffo a china, I would say.
Lovely thing!

Nik I think you and ogrose are talking about the same rose and I agree with the ID.

Wow - what a gorgeous rose! Some of my favorite roses have appeared in my garden because they were root stocks. We inherited a very boring yellow HT, which I didn't really like. One year it finally died and I dug up the stump. Low and behold, the next Spring up came way different canes - long ones! I decided to leave them, to see who they were. After three years they were still proliferating, and had turned into a large bush, but no blooms. I told that bush that it was going to be shovel pruned the next year if it still was not blooming. Voila! That worked. The next Spring it set huge fat buds all over itself, and they bloomed into the most amazingly gorgeous dark dark pink very double blooms. It was identified eventually as "de la Grifferaie". I liked it so much better than that yellow HT! It is still in my garden - we got a large metal obelisk for it to grow on - it is setting buds right now - it is one of the great joys of my garden when it booms. My next door neighbor has one too (both of our homes are old) - I convinced her to tell her landlord to stop weed whacking it down to 18 inches all of the time, and she let it grow and bought it an arbor to grow on. I can see it well right outside of my kitchen window, so I have two to admire now!

Jackie

I love de la Grifferaie. I have one that was a tiny cutting from Spain that now grows up to the shop roof another I bought.

"I cannot find a rose named Fun Won Lo in HMF but Fun Jwan Lo is listed as a synonym of R. indica Major I was referring to, so we may be talking about the same or very similar roses."

Two names for the same rose, and yes -- I believe that is what you are looking at.

Ok then, R. indica 'Major' is the concensus. I understand this is a very good rootstock for dry - arid and warm conditions, it is compatible with most roses which take easily to it and does not readily sucker. I wonder why it fell out of favour in California. It is also very tolerant of alkaline, calcareous and shallow soils which are predominant where I live. It is not very cold hardy though, so it cannot be used in cold climes, I think zone 7 would be its limit.
Nik

This post was edited by nikthegreek on Mon, Mar 24, 14 at 2:17

This was the one and only found rose in my isolated neighborhood. I found it on a friends property neglected for probably many years. Someone had built a shack and planted a pear tree and a rose. The shack was tumbled down and the pear tree dead on the ground but R. indica Major was in fine shape.

it is so beautiful! But on HMF, the photos all show a flower of a much lighter pink...is this a chancw sport, do you all think, or what? bart

This looks to me very close to the colour I saw.
Nik

Here is a link that might be useful: Pic in HMF

Beautiful rose and interesting conversation. I've been following the unfolding of the ID of Rosa Indica Maj. Thank you, Nik. I'll have to check out de la Grifferaie, too. It sounds delightful and is totally unamiliar to me. Carol

Say, I know where there is a bush of Fun Jwan Lo (which I took for a hybrid bourbon) on my way to work... Might have to take a cutting or two... And to think I almost bought this one a few years ago!