Starting a photo thread on this found rose...

[Admin]

This is going to be something like a photo diary of this found old rose so that we might be able to work towards an ID. So far it looks gallica or damask-like. I found it on the side of the road under the hwy bridge at Don, Tasmania, this year so I'll call it "Don Road Gallica" so far... kind of like a study name I guess.

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On the side of the road it is low growing, and spreads madly by suckers. From memory it has a purple flower but will add more photos to this thread as they become available. It will be kept in a pot long enough to get budding material from to avoid suckering in the garden.

[Abbi]

Did you get photos of it in flower last spring, Simon?

[Admin]

Nope... the ones above are still the best I have of it. It's been put in the ground and mulched deeply with pea straw so with ay luck next year will be its year. Interestingly, I have been keeping an eye on the parent plant growing on the fence and side of the road in Devonport (Don Rd) and it too hasn't flowered this year. You know how wet our winter was... well it can't be that it doesn't have enough water in the ground. I think because it didn't get quite as cold as it normally does (here) that it may have put off flowering. I have a feeling in me bones, though, that this winter is going to be much much colder!

[Admin]

Buds on it today:

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[Admin]

Has flowered now... weeds and all :

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[The Lazy Rosarian]

Simon, what a wonderful flower, can you give us a bit more info, how big is it a, any smell, what size do you think it might grow to, as an after thought, how would it cross with Ebb Tide or your Kindred line of roses. Hope you keep this one as a cutting might look good at my place

[Admin]

So far it is about 50cm tall and wide. It suckers freely so suckers wil be available in the winter. I've looked for pollen there isn't much, whixh is understandeable given it is so double. I'll know whether it forms hips by winter but I won't get too excited just yet. It seems quite healthy with little or no disease so far. It will need a good cold winter to encourage flowering. It looks to be some kind of Gallica or Damask. I haven't checked scent yet. It is once flowereing and the plant is quite lax. This is the first time it has flowered for me and it hasn't been overly floriferous yet. Maybe this will improve as time goes on.

[Guest]

Charles de Mills; good photo! It's not easy to get the colour right. Yes, it needs winter chill to flower well - OK in the Adelaide Hills but not on the plains - and definitely not one to let loose on its own roots.

[Admin]

Thanks Margaret This is the one I was referring to here previously [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This one of mine is growing in an area where it can spread in as much as it wants. For others wondering about Margaret's warning the parent plant stretches some 30-40ft along a fence to a depth of 15ft along its length. Suckers don't seem to appear very far from the parent plant so far so maybe it would a good proposition for a lawn bed that was frequently mown around to prevent its spread. This would fill in andgive the impression of a mass-planting but any suckers would be kept in check by being frequently beheaded.

Next to mine is Tuscany and Tuscany Superb. Tuscany is on its own roots and suckering freely and Tuscany Superb is a plant I grafted from buds Karen sent me a few years back and it is so far behaving well and has a better shape. It doesn't seem to 'flop' as much as the own-root plants around it. I get the feeling that the own-root gallica get their vertical support from forming a thicket, which will look good where I have it but is hardly suitable for the standard garden.

[IanM]

Ahhh, this looks like the same rose that I found in the old Toowoomba Cemetery. Leaves look the same, flower the same. Do you find you get lots of really long, spindly canes without any thorns, but some thorns are nearly always present just under the leaves? Then occasionally you might get one cane with a few thorns or even one that is quite thorny?

Suckers not really a problem at the cemetery despite deep red soil. Seems to be restricted to a hollow in an old pine tree and is growing up through this to a height of about 5-6 feet. Some new plants have even formed in hollows higher up. Growing like an epiphyte!

I grew it for a while in a garden bed in Toowoomba and although it did sucker, it was never so much as to pose a problem.

I only got that really deep purple flower after a really cold, dry winter. Some years it forms plain pink, very loose flowers that fall apart before they mature properly.

[Admin]

This is the first year it has flowered for me and I can't really comment on the thorniness... its canes are pretty short so far and they seem to have more bristles than thorns... they rub off easily. Has no anthers but will set hips if cross pollinated.

[IanM]

If I remember, I'll post a photo when mine flowers next Spring.

[The Lazy Rosarian]

I have read this post and has it been decided that it is 'CdM' or does it's real name still ilve in the unknown basket.

[Admin]

I reckon it's pretty much 'Charles de Mills' is probably exactly what it is I'll have suckers of it to give away over winter too

[IanM]

Hoping mine will flower this season so I can compare flowers, although I'm fairly certain mine is the same rose. It has obvious strong Gallica and China influences and from memory the flower was identical. This one suckers like a champion, but even in the fluffy volcanic soils of Toowoomba it doesn't seem to spread far. It loves growing in a long upright hollow stump and will send out new canes from every crack it finds.

[IanM]

Starting to think mine may not be the same rose afterall. Several reasons: mine grows very tall and lanky, stems are mostly thornless, leaves don't look quite the same as on Simon's rose. Anyway it is in bud now, so I will start to take some photos of it and will put it on another thread so as to avoid confusion.

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