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Memorial Day Rose--any idea?

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Posted by prickles Los Angeles, CA (My Page) on
Sun, Oct 27, 13 at 2:00

This year I notice some interesting finds every time i compare flowers from Memorial Day Rose: two flowers from two plants--one plant being a sucker offspring of the other (yes, MD suckers like mad)--show slightly different phenotype in coloration, bloom size and shape, and fragrance. One receives morning light, about 4 hrs, while the other gets a daylong worth of full sun. One plant produces fuller, bigger, more scrumptious flowers than the other; one produces flowers with a richer shade of pink than the other; one has a super sweet fragrance that lasts well into the night; one makes a terrible cut flower because it never fully opens and the petals would mold. So which is which? And what are the possible explanations to account for these variations? I would love to hear what you think.

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RE: Memorial Day Rose--any idea?

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Because you are in my area and I know how awful the heat and sun can be in the more inland type climates, and presuming you are in one of those types of situations, I would guess the one with the larger flowers of better color and scent are from the plant receiving four hours of morning sun. I would also suspect the bad cut flower might be from the four hour sun plant, also. Perhaps because the oils and alcohols producing the scent don't evaporate out, they are causing the petals to rot faster. Florist roses are traditionally unscented because of the waxy "substance" or skin to the petals. It reduces or even eliminates the chemicals which produce scent. These chemicals heat the petal tissues as they are expressed and cause the petals to deteriorate faster than unscented petals in the same conditions.

I would guess the one which is a lighter color with smaller flower and less scent would be due to the heat/light stress of the all day sun position. Because the scent chemicals are bleached out, burned out, evaporated from the petals, that smaller flower should open better indoors when cut, and last longer.

Of course, I could be completely wrong, but those are my guesses and why. Kim

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RE: Memorial Day Rose--any idea?

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Well, my Memorial Day grows in a spot of part shade all day long coming from different directions due to several trees blocking the sun at different times during the day. That certainly doesn't produce larger flowers of better color from from this plant. It has ugly, medium sized flowers with no scent when it deigns to bloom. MD is always crisped up from our nasty hot dry summers, or brown edged from thrips. Anyway, I would guess the plant with the least sun has the smaller, inferior blooms and no scent. Frankly, I have a hard time believing all these gorgeous photos of so called Memorial Day blooms are really MDS. They don't seem to have any resemblance to mine. My sun deprived Evelyns right next to MD produce beautiful, scent filled blooms, and this rose is supposed to be such a prima donna-ha! Diane

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RE: Memorial Day Rose--any idea?

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I was just looking at what I wrote earlier in the day, and my feeble attempts at a joke (how gorgeous all the pics of MD on the forum and HMF are compared the blooms on my poor plant). I know many of you on this Forum love MD and I was way too harsh about it. I apologize--it's getting a another year reprieve. Diane

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RE: Memorial Day Rose--any idea?

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Diane please try one in a pot in the sun and maybe what it needs is a warmer situation once the weather gets cooler. Mine is always best spring and fall and the summer blooms are smaller. They don't like shade. I'm sorry yours is misbehaving because it is a tall sturdy plant that holds up to wind here.

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RE: Memorial Day Rose--any idea?

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Thanks for your suggestion, kitty. I may try it this spring (already starting to get cold here). One problem I have, and have hence avoided pots, is that the back deck and patio are shady, and the front porch is nothing short of an oven. Diane

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RE: Memorial Day Rose--any idea?

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Kim,
You are absolutely right as usual in your educated guess. I'm so amazed by the size and the fragrance of the plant which receives less hours of sunlight: its flowers are bigger, with more petals (or so I think), and extremely sweet smelling and always always fragrant, even throughout the night when I can smell it wafting still, but the color of course is a sad, washed out, pale pink--with faint pink on the reverse of light pink--and the petals are softer compared to the other flower. And the plant which gets more sunlight produces smaller sized flowers but with richer colors of pink, and makes a better cut flower that opens fully, without rotting.

Diane,
the plant with less light--about 4hrs of direct morning sun--has been giving me big, super sweet smelling flowers of pale (inferior?) pink that won't open fully as a cut flower and will rot or mold after a week. I find the fragrance better than the plant getting a full day of sun.

Kitty,
I'm glad Memory Day has been good to you. Mine are in my pot ghetto. But--as an own root MD suckers terribly--I'm considering putting 2 or 3 MD together in the ground and just let them do their thing and go crazy with their sucker offsprings.

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RE: Memorial Day Rose--any idea?

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This is the best my naughty Memorial Day will do in too much shade. There maybe three of these all summer. Diane

I wonder whose ancient hand that is???

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RE: Memorial Day Rose--any idea?

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OK, I'm trying again. Diane

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RE: Memorial Day Rose--any idea?

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This was my last group from my own root plant

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RE: Memorial Day Rose--any idea?

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Are you guys trying to make me feel bad? Notice the inferior color and fewer petals on my MD bloom. Dratted plant. Diane

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RE: Memorial Day Rose--any idea?

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That's how mine look in the hot part of summer.

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