Rose BReedeRs FoRuM. Volume 1 Number 1 Summer 2016/17

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Rose BReedeRs FoRuM Volume 1 Number 1 Summer 2016/17 Editor: Richard Walsh You Need an Aim I am sure you have heard the many sayings associated with having an aim.

1 Rose BReedeRs FoRuM Volume 1 Number 1 Summer 2016/17 Editor: Richard Walsh You Need an Aim I am sure you have heard the many sayings associated with having an aim. If you don t have an aim, you just might reach it. Or, better to aim at 110% and achieve 80 than aim at 60% and reach it. I started with aims and have modified them several times as they are achieved or become unachievable. My first aims were: 1. To raise a rose from seed; 2. To raise a rose from seed pollinated by myself; 3. To raise a rose from one of my seedlings; 4. To raise a commercially viable rose. I made my first crosses in 1980 and they all failed to take, BUT I saved some open pollinated hips from Charleston and achieved the first aim. Perhaps the 1

failure was due to spreading it all too thinly. I was only pollen dobbing, throwing a little here and a little there in the hope something took. It didn t.

They might be veggie crosses, that is, simple crosses made from two of someone else s roses, but they were a start (and of course that is the only way to start) and the passion was established.

The second aim was achieved in the Mini Magic second year.

2 failure was due to spreading it all too thinly. I was only pollen dobbing, throwing a little here and a little there in the hope something took. It didn t. The next year I focussed on two roses, performing several crosses both ways, Masquerade x Pink Parfait and Pink Parfait x Masquerade. They might be veggie crosses, that is, simple crosses made from two of someone else s roses, but they were a start (and of course that is the only way to start) and the passion was established. I also made a cross of Eddie Living x Uwe Seeler in that 1981 year and still grow that first of my own pollinated roses now registered as Eddie. I still believe it is worthy. The second aim was achieved in the Mini Magic second year. The Lifeline Rose One of my 1985 crosses was Avandel x (Masquerade x Pink Parfait) and the ensuing Miniature was registered and sold as Mini Magic aim 3 achieved although the registration details have only recently been given. It is a long story, but is now rectified. I made a cross in 1987 of Samourai x Old Master. It was pretty but seemed a bit puny. I budded it and it grew well. After further testing, it was submitted for trial in 1997 and won a Certificate of Merit and best Australian bred rose in the NRTGA in It was subsequently registered and sold as The Lifeline Rose. That was aim number 4. I am not sure how exactly to define commercially viable. It is difficult. A rose can be considered commercially viable by its breeder, but if he/she can t interest someone in buying or selling it, it goes nowhere, so was it truly 2

commercially viable? Marketability is a hard thing to judge and opportunities are few, especially for the Australian amateur breeder. Anyway, my goals are now different: 1.

I want to breed something commercially viable with a new species rose in its background. What are the aims of other breeders and what type(s) of roses would you like to breed?

3 commercially viable? Marketability is a hard thing to judge and opportunities are few, especially for the Australian amateur breeder. Anyway, my goals are now different: 1. I want a good, exhibition quality HT; 2. I want a rose with a blotch (persica); 3. I want a trial ground gold medal (already achieved in Toowoomba but I want the elusive Adelaide one); 4. I want to breed something commercially viable with a new species rose in its background. What are the aims of other breeders and what type(s) of roses would you like to breed? Please write back so your views and goals can be shared in the next edition. Getting Started seasonal notes You can start with open pollinated hips or you can set out to make your own crosses this season. In our mild climates, the end of January is not too late. Start by exercising your imagination, which roses in the garden do you imagine will best produce your ideal rose, and remember, you do not need to use two miniatures to produce a miniature etc. I would also suggest that at the beginning you select parents that will not be too difficult to cross. Remember which ones have readily set hips in the past when left to their own devices (or the bees), and that keeps it simple. Mixing the genes is a good plan. Compassion Rise n Shine We crossed Compassion (a vigorous large flowered climber) and Rise n Shine (a miniature) a few years ago, the largest and smallest in the garden. The results were interesting; a shrub (discarded) a floribunda (still looking good, very heat tolerant but does not like wet weather) and two miniature roses. One died and the other is marketable, now registered as Star Rising. 3

Shrub Floribunda Miniature Select the parents (female

morning (it must be dry, no dew or rain) and before the

removed (and the stamens also) from the mother before

and the stigma will become sticky also after ripening.

4 Shrub Floribunda Miniature Select the parents (female seed, male pollen) and prepare them, preferably in the morning (it must be dry, no dew or rain) and before the bloom is open and contaminated by visiting bees or wind-born pollen. All but 1 petal (as a flag to find it easily later) is removed (and the stamens also) from the mother before opening fully and store them in a small jar to ripen for another variety. The pollen will release in the jar usually overnight and the stigma will become sticky also after ripening. Take the pollen of the male parent on your finger or a brush and deposit it on the stigma. Label it with the father s name and watch the hips fatten. Correct stage for preparation All but one petal removed Stamens removed Pollinated. labelled, ripening 4

Our equipment: a tray to carry pollen bottles (all labelled) a pair of fine scissors to remove stamens (they can also be done

5 Pollen usually remains viable for a couple of days. Keep it in a cool place. Crosses can be made both ways, but the larger flowers often produce more seeds. Our equipment: a tray to carry pollen bottles (all labelled) a pair of fine scissors to remove stamens (they can also be done using a finger nail), a stapler to attach the label, a brush (or a finger can be used) to apply the pollen, labels (plastic strips that will not collapse in light before harvest) and fine point permanent marker to write the labels. 5

6 Marketability Part of our own assessment scheme for our roses is what we call marketability. It is an opinion on whether or not the rose is saleable in our view and that is based on the kind of roses we believe the public wants and is prepared to buy. That is not to say a nursery will take it on! There are many factors. Fragrance? Not sure. People do say they want fragrance, but are they willing to have it at the expense of other characteristics? In my experience the very fragrant roses are not heat tolerant (they are the first to collapse when the temperatures are extreme). On average (and there are exceptions) they are less disease resistant. Tahlia Their x vase-life About Face is generally shorter. Novelty? Would people really buy a pink rose? The chances of producing a new colour, different flower form, new type of plant, new fragrance etc. is minimal and we don t want it to be totally bizarre. It is hard for a red or pink to score novelty points. What about a fashionable colour or form? Is old fashioned now fashionable as in the David Austin roses. Which colours are fashionable? Yellows, apricots, mauves? Are more compact plants, Miniature, Miniflora or shorter growing Floribundas and Hybrid Teas what most people want? Probably! How disappointing it is for us then when the early blooms of a rose are so promising and then the growth or disease resistance let it down. We have at least 8 roses which have interesting or attractive blooms, but the growth has become a little rampant. Tahlia x About Face The question is whether or not to keep them, cross them with something shorter in the hope of toning down the vigour or just to discard them. We have to keep our age in mind and the time it may take to tame something overly vigorous when we make such considerations. Let me give some examples: Tahlia x About Face 1. We crossed Tahlia (a tall growing floribunda) with About Face (a tall growing grandiflora. There are two we kept. The first, a yellow, pink and red blend rose that flowered in clusters. I have budded it as well and both plants are doing well, but are becoming more vigorous as they 6

Tahlia x About Face mature and are exhibiting the characteristics of a climbing floribunda. The second is a pink blend and did likewise. space they occupy.

7 Tahlia x About Face mature and are exhibiting the characteristics of a climbing floribunda. The second is a pink blend and did likewise. space they occupy. I love them, but because of their habit of growth, I doubt if they are really marketable. Would you discard them? I could grow several in the 2. The second rose I would refer to is probably a patio climber or miniflora shrub not quite long enough to be a climber but has lovely flowers in clusters. Is healthy, vigorous and repeats well. It was bred from the floribunda, Little Darling, which has a habit of throwing a lot of shrubby type offspring probably because of its climbing parent, and one of those frustratingly unnamed patio hits from Bunnings, to which we have given a working name of Gold Coast. Little Darling We have the same dilemma. I think it is worthwhile, but is it worth keeping given the marketability of such a space-hungry plant with its 2m arching canes? Would you keep it? In all of the above cases, we have hips ripening on each of these plants as I write in the hope that next year s seedlings will tame this unruly growth. I hate to throw away what I consider to be good roses, but where are they going? And we have more of them! The following will be discussed in future editions. To Stratify or Not to Stratify Gold Coast Sharing Your Roses Testing Your Roses Propagating Your Roses 7

8 Roses of Note Breeders of Note What Does the Public Want? Fragrance Novelty More Marketability Next Time discussion of testing how you assess your own roses Little Darling X Gold Coast = Little Gold 8

A final note on recording crosses The usual method of recording crosses is as follows: A simple cross names the mother or seed parent first and the father or pollen parent second e.g. Amelia = Pink Parfait x Harmonie.

9 A final note on recording crosses The usual method of recording crosses is as follows: A simple cross names the mother or seed parent first and the father or pollen parent second e.g. Amelia = Pink Parfait x Harmonie. This means pollen of Harmonie was placed on the stigma of Pink Parfait and one of the ensuing seeds resulted in this rose. Harmonie x Pink Parfait is a different cross even though it involves the same two parents. For more than one simple parent, brackets etc. need to be used to determine the order e.g. Tahlia = Nana Mouskouri x (Old Master x Angel Face). This means a seeding was grown when seed from Old Master was pollinated by Angel Face and pollen from this seedling was used to fertilise Nana Mouskouri. It could have been recorded as Nana Mouskouri x seedling, but that does not help the researchers much. Without the parentheses, the order in which the two crosses were made cannot be determined. In more complex crosses involving multiple parents or seedling x seedling, multiple brackets may be used, such as in La Fillette. The cross is [Little Darling x (Samourai x Perfume Delight)] x [Fourth of July x {Ginger Meggs x (Masquerade x Pink Parfait)}]. A family tree would perhaps be simpler to understand: Samourai Perfume Delight Masquerade Pink Parfait Little Darling Ginger Meggs Fourth of July La Fillette La Fillette 9

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