Waiting a Long Time for Blooms...

One of the things that makes rose breeding so fun is that usually it is not a very long wait to see new blooms after the baby roses sprout.  In fact most seedling roses will bloom in only 8-10 weeks after germinating.  That is the kind of wait that I can manage.

It doesn't work out that way though when you work with species, or near species type roses.  Seedlings may not bloom for a year or more after germinating in species crosses.  The seedling in the photo above is finally developing buds in it's third year of growing. It first sprouted in the greenhouse in 2016.  It germinated from a batch of seeds from a seed parent that typically produces the modern types that bloom in just a few weeks after sprouting.  Usually, from modern rose crosses, I will not keep these types of seedlings that refuse to bloom in the first year.  This seedling was different however, in that it appeared extremely clean, it was very vigorous, and it seemed to produce little to no thorns.  I thought that it would certainly bloom in 2017, but it did not.  Now with lots of buds forming, the long wait is over!  I expect that it will produce simple, 5 petalled pink blooms that will not be very spectacular.  As long as the blooms are not ugly, I will keep the plant to see if I can make a hedge of it.  I will post photos of the blooms when they open.

Happy Easter! New life and new blooms...

The very first, brand new seedling bloom of the 2018 season, opened this morning. 

Some of the reasons why rose breeding has been so important to me is because it reminds me of God’s creative genius, of His beautiful earth and of the hope He provides for the future. I hope that you were able to have a wonderful day spent with family and friends!

Best of 2017 Seedlings

The 2018 rose seedlings are just beginning to show their first flower buds and should start blooming in 10-14 days (see second photo below).  In the meantime, here is a collage of some of the best from 2017.

2018 Seedlings Are Growing!

The new 2018 seedlings are continuing to sprout and the earliest ones to sprout are already putting out their 5th to 6th leaflets.  That means that it won't be long now until the first rose buds appear - probably by next week!

As with every year, I plant many open pollinated seeds from some of my seedlings that produce a lot of hips to see if they germinate well.  I have decided to bring T31-1 into the breeding program because it sets lots of hips and the germination rate is excellent (see photo below).  It is from a cross of ('Midnight Blue' X "Basye's Thornless") x 'Blue For You'.

'Honey Dijon' the Rose

When I first started breeding roses, I knew that as an amateur, I would have to focus on novel type roses to "get a foot in the door" since the major commercial rose breeders had their own well established breeding programs that produced the full range of classic rose types: hybrid teas, floribundas, climbers, shrubs and miniatures.  It was not hard for me to focus on novelty since my eye always seemed drawn to the unusual roses.  That being the case, my first real commercial rose variety was 'Honey Dijon'.  My objective in choosing the cross that led to 'Honey Dijon', was to develop a strong growing, golden brown rose.  I have found that rarely will I get the exact result that I am trying for in breeding roses, but was very lucky in choosing to cross the two roses 'Stainless Steel' and 'Singin' in the Rain' to get just what I was looking for.  'Honey Dijon' was released by Weeks Roses in 2005 and is still available in a couple of countries outside of the USA.  It may be making a comeback here in the USA since it's color is back in style.  The photo below is courtesy of Weeks Roses.

Although the plant below is not the original 'Honey Dijon' seedling (I lost that one several years ago), it is a first generation clone (meaning that the cutting was taken directly from the original seedling).  The poor old rose had probably not been pruned for 10 years or more.  This year I thought it was time to give the rose a good pruning and a chance to put on a nice spring show.  Something wonderful about roses is that the "old" can be made "new" again.  And in a way, if we are willing to grow, so can we!