Wednesday, June 24, 2015

More Random 2015 Seedlings

A handful of seedlings are starting to show themselves as being different from most of the other seedlings.  These 3 will be among the 2015 survivors.

The first seen below is a seedling coming from a cross of 'Singin' in the Rain' X [('Marmalade Skies' X 'Baby Love') X 'Julia Child'].  It has good color and nice fragrance.



The next seedling has the same pollen parent, but a different seed parent.  The cross was:   (<{'Halo Today' X ['Geisha' X ('Tobo' X 'Singin' in the Rain')]} X 'First Impression'> X "Basye's Thornless") X [('Marmalade Skies' X 'Baby Love') X 'Julia Child'].  The petals are almost translucent, but with reasonable substance, so I am interested to see how it does outside the greenhouse.  I hope that it gets a few more petals as it matures.


The last seedling in this post is from a complex Hulthemia cross and has "Basye's Thornless" as one of the grandparents.  The blotch is taking on a more circular appearance.  It is nearly thornless.  Again, I will be interested to see how it performs outdoors since typically the blotches get larger as the seedlings mature.  God willing, I will post photos of these next year as more mature seedlings when they are growing outside of the greenhouse, so stay tuned!




Saturday, June 20, 2015

Rose Test Gardens - Parc de la Tête d'Or

Our trip to France this past May to the World Federation of Rose Society's meeting in Lyon, was in a word amazing!  I'm not sure how much of the experience I will get to blog about, but I wanted to at least post something of the rose test garden located within the Parc de la Tête d'Or, in Lyon.  It was unlike any other test garden that I have visited.  Instead of being plain and utilitarian like many test gardens, it was incredibly beautiful with a flowing design.










 There were many very beautiful unnamed test roses, but a few of my favorites are shown below.




A Hulthemia, #166 was one of the winners.  It was very floriferous with clean shiny foliage.  I do not know whose entry it was, but it was quite nice.


Though I don't know when, I know that I will have to go back one day.  My hat is off to the keeper of these gardens for the superb shape that all of the grounds were in - Magnifique!