Hall of Fame Roses

Some roses should be in every rose garden because they are so beautiful, vigorous and versatile. Post your entries for roses that should be entered into the Australia Rose Hall of Fame After a while I'll put them together into a poll for voting. Just post one rose each and tell as a bit about why you put it up.

My entry into the Hame of Fame is Kardinal. It's only drawback (and it's a big one IMO) is that it has little scent. Kardinal with scent would be unbeatable. It's a strong bush, almost always in flower, large shapely flowers produced on long sturdy straight stems perfect for cutting and it is a very hardy plant down here in Tasmania.

Just One ????? Oh that's too hard !!
Oh, OK then............ummmmmmmmmm

Valencia, because it's healthy, vigorous, has huge blooms and a perfume as well.

I could add a few more of course.

Ahh yes... but this is the Hall of Fame... you can't hedge your bets for the Hall of Fame Val

Just Joey, still the best Rose I have seen, won first prize at the Rose Show many moons ago with it. Never lets you down, always has those big beautiful blooms and is trouble free. The colour is to die for.

I'll have to think about this one, as my favs do tend to change from week to week But I do love my Childrens Rose

Ahh yes, Childrens Rose, heavenly perfume, classy conservative soft pink, stately flower held proudly on a vigorous bush.
Pristine white and delicate pink. True to its name. Beautiful perfume, gorgeous shaped flower. Not a heavy flowerer but well worth waiting for. I'll put a pic in my gallery for Tas to shift!
Valencia. Gorgeous golden yellow huge blooms. Lots of them on a vigorous bush.
Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. Big flowers, lots of them and they last for ages.
Thats a start.

Now, now BD You can only post one... The hall of fame is for that one rose that if you were told you could only have one rose... that would be it. 'Kardinal' is my choice but it is not my favourite rose. My favourite rose is the 'Cherokee Rose' (Rosa laevigata) but it is not what I would call a 'Hall of Fame' contender. 'Kardinal' is not even my second favourite rose. This title goes to 'Peace' but 'Peace' needs some tender loving care to look good. No... 'Kardinal' is not even my third favourite rose! This title goes my miniature climber called 'Red Cascade'. BUT for all round drop-dead-gorgeous roses it is really hard to go past 'Kardinal' here. It is strong, floriferous, bomb-proof, pretty disease resistant, and its flowers are the epitome of what a rose should be to me, except for the scent. 'Kardinal' with a perfume would be bee's-knees. So choose your contender wisely! There can be only one! LOL

hehehehehe BD you been told I'll stick with the CR at this point of time , cut a few stalks and into a room, smellies are just devine

In a few words FIRE FIGHTER vigorous, healthy, perfect blooms, wonderful fragrance, blood red colour though my taste is towards two shades darker red. Vase life is very good and fragrance spreads through the entire room.

We have seen a lot of new HT's come onto the market claimed to be sensational but fall far short of the marketing hype. I have been looking at this rose for three years and believe its the best red bred to date, would give it a five star rating. It seems to have everything.
Kardinal, Mr Lincoln, Oklahoma, Papa Meillan, Camp David, Riverview and City of Newcastle all a mix of three to four stars for none have it all like FIRE FIGHTER.

Due for release by Swanes this winter bareroot for over $20. If you are impatient they have them in 18" pots for $69 95 each.

What's the bush like Bruce? I think Cree has corrupted me because I'm leaning towards the shrubby-to-the-ground type now instead of the normal HT type. What's iot classed as? An HT, shrub, or floribunda?

Firefighter an HT large and upright, flowers often stated to be like Mr. Lincoln only this rose is healthier. It has been on the market in the US for a few years. It is one of the roses named in honor of the Firefighters who lost their lives on 9-11.
There was an action where part of the price was donated to the families of the firefighters, but I don't see that mentioned any longer, I hope that is still happening.
It is also part of the Remember Me rose garden
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Hmmm.... sounds like there may be an excellent opportunity to assist local CFA organisations with some excellent charity work here in Australia now too. Let's hope they've already thought of that

Ahhh... that's right... I couldn't remember where I'd heard of 'Firefighter' before! DavidK was asking about it in the Rose Hunters Forum under '2009 Releases' and at the time I'd gone to the Swanes site to see what they said about it and checked it out on HMF to see what was behind it and read this, which I thought was very special:

Internal breeder code: 5863-92
Bred in 1999 according to the Roseraie Tete d'Or in Lyon.
This rose was named for the Firefighters who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. "Remember Me" Rose Gardens will be building 3 rose gardens near where the planes crashed that day and each garden will have one rose bush for each victim that day....nearly 3000 roses in each garden. They have been introducing roses every year named for different victim groups. Other roses include Soaring Spirits (Twin Tower victims), Forty Heroes (Flight 93), We Salute You (The Pentagon), and The Finest (NYC Police). Remember-me-rose.org

I have 'Soaring Spirits' and knew it was a mark of respect for the victims of the Twin Towers tragedy but didn't know there were a whole lot in a series. Sounds like a big rose... It's got nothing but HT in the background so it's good to hear it is a healthy rose.

Simon, Cree has described it well, so won't duplicate her description.

Cree has also corrupted me

with growth to the ground shrub roses. They make the HT's look like crap garden roses. The best rose I have seen to date is Jean Ducher at Cree's Garden and in my new to Tea's garden Mrs B R Cant. Evergreen Tea's will be the roses of the future once the public become aware of their beauty as a garden shrub.

You seem to be fasinated with Ebb Tide, there is a full page pix on Swanes new catalogue. If you can't get one sent let me know and I will send you a copy.

Billndee wrote:Ahh yes, Childrens Rose, heavenly perfume, classy conservative soft pink, stately flower held proudly on a vigorous bush.
Pristine white and delicate pink. True to its name. Beautiful perfume, gorgeous shaped flower. Not a heavy flowerer but well worth waiting for. I'll put a pic in my gallery for Tas to shift!
Valencia. Gorgeous golden yellow huge blooms. Lots of them on a vigorous bush.
Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. Big flowers, lots of them and they last for ages.
Thats a start.

I just came across this thread again tonight to find that I have had my wrist slapped!! No winder I am in the dog box.
Aww well, if I have to choose one I'll go with O40's choice, VALENCIA.
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You seem to be fasinated with Ebb Tide, there is a full page pix on Swanes new catalogue. If you can't get one sent let me know and I will send you a copy.

Yeah.. not so much the plant but the colour I really like the deep dark purples and have been collecting a few in this colour range (I find it hard to place it in the garden though.... had most luck near white... don't much like it near pink and looks terrible near reds... not bad near yellows and oranges...). The guys in the U.S. are raving about this rose called 'Midnight Blue' because it is a lovely deep purple, is a good seed parent and pollen parent, and it seems to pass on that rich dark purple colour with some reliability. It was also bred by Carruth and its breeding is identical to that of 'Ebb Tide'. I would not be surprised if they both came out of the same pollination. So... I'm in love with its picture because I love the colour... This is why I am so interested in Burgundy Iceberg... not a big fan of the plant but I really love the colour. I'd really love a nice shrubby evergreen though as nails tea-like plant with this colour... don't think it is a very realistic goal though.. everyone I have spoken to so far has said there is something about Tea genetics that seems to wash the colour out. That's part of their appeal for me... but I do love this strong dark colour. There are strongly coloured Teas though so I guess it might just be a matter of trying it with different ones and seeing how it goes...

So far I've got Violette (as a cutting), Veilchenblau, Rhapsody in Blue, Baby Faraux, Tuscany Superb (as a cutting), Sweet Chariot (on it's way as a cutting), and Wild Rover... and there are a few other old once bloomers that I'd like to try and chase down later too to add to the range. Wild Rover looks like it could be a doer... It's got lovely dark purple flowers with a hint of yellow in the centre and the bush is meant to turn into a large shrub (mine is only young so far) but every one of its flowers set OP hips so maybe it will be useful in the future too. I'd like to wait and see how it does in the garden over a few years first... to see it's mature form. I nearly bought Ebb Tide last year from Swanes but they wanted something ridiculous like $40-$41 to send a single plant down here so I decided against it.

Holy WOW!!! All this talk about Ebb Tide made me go back to the Swanes website and run through a 'mock purchase' again to see what their shipping was like this year... $65!!!! for ONE rose ... to TAS... Think I'll make do with the ones I've got instead

Have any of you got Mrs. Reynolds Hole for your breeding programs?
This rose might save you several steps.
As far as meeting your breeding goals.
1. It is listed as a tea rose.
2. It has strong pigment, bold colour and in the red purple range.
3. It has (not sure as I have never smelt it) a damask fragrance.
4. I would guess if this rose is crossed to other strong pigmented classes of roses it would not wash out.
5. It is available from several growers.

I think it is on HMF.

thanks Deb... That is a beautiful rose and I will look around for it. I have Monsieur Tillier that I was thinking of too as it seems to be a good breeder and also has excellent colour. If the Rosette Delizy and Hugo Roller cuttings I have take then they are candidates too as they also have nice colour and a yellow/purple blend would be interesting. I don't know if there is anything in this.. but it seems that there is more than one type of purple in roses too... one that starts of red and then changes to purple in the heat and as the flower ages and then there is purple that starts out purple and gets more purple as it ages... that's the kind of purple I like... Black Jade is a mini that starts out almost black (see my photos of it on [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]) and it would be nice to try and get this blackness into the purple... a bit like Tuscany. Cardinal de Richelieu (the Gallica) is another I'd like to put in and maybe Wlliam Lobb to get some mossing. I think the shape and habit and disease resistance of the shrub will be the most important. I'm tired of flowers on sticks

Bruce have you been surprised by the resistance of any of the HT/English group since you stopped spraying. Like you I haven't sprayed this year and a few have stepped forward as being quite good. The best ones are Altissimo, Kardinal, Pierre de Ronsard, Heritage, and Maurice Utrillo. The others range from terrible to ok. Altissimo also sets loads of hips.

I would think that fixing the colour would be one of the goals with a purple rose. Many change colour and often loose the purple tones altogether. For example Veilchenblau this year was pink, last year very dusky purple.
I would think the changeability in the colours of tea roses would not make them a good candidate for fixing purple. Take RD for example, it can be cream, yellow, apricot, tangerine, soft pink, dark pink, raspberry, red..(I am sure I have left out a colour or two), and it can have all or any combination of these colours depending on it's mood that day. Even those that are more or less one colour, can change from cream to yellow to peach to pink at different times of year. Gen G one of the darkest teas which can be very red at times can also be pink and cream, sometimes even showing yellow tints. I would think that this would be a bad trait to find in a rose you want use to be make a consistent purple or any consistent colour.

BTW RD sets large attractive green hips with no seeds, few filaments with even fewer anthers. HR does not set hips, also with few stamens. Neither have any listed descendents. Not sure if they can be used for breeding. But both, although opposite ends of the spectrum, are very garden worthy shrubs. All this information is in the Tea book, which would prove very helpful to someone who has decided to breed tea roses, even more so when they have never grown them before.

Wow... RD doesn't form seeds in the hips??? That's different Might have to try it as a pollen parent instead with a reliable seed parent. hmmm

I haven't decided to breed Teas... I have decided to try and breed with Teas.. there's a difference. I think someone who has the book and knows more about them and who has been growing them for longer should take up the challenge of breeding Teas because they have a better idea of what a Tea really is... I'm after Shrub roses in the true sense of the word shrub... i.e. shrubby.

What I know about flower sex you can write on the head of a pin. But don't then need pollen to be a pollen parent?
I can think of a couple of a teas that set hips with no seeds in my garden, and a pretty good number that set no hips at all and from my general lack on understadning seem to also be lacking the other bits too.

yep - you need pollen but not a lot... a little pollen goes a long way. I was complaining to someone I have met through RHA that I have lots of little native bees here (shouldn't really complain... it's great to see so many of them) that seem to delight in following me around as I pollinate so they can scrape pollen from the flowers and take off with it. One flower I did I loaded with pollen so it was quite thick on the flower then went to get a tag to ID the cross, came back 20min later and there wasn't a scrap of pollen left on the emasculated flower. There were tiny native bees crawling all over it loaded up with pollen on their back legs. I loaded it up again and covered it with a paper bag. I now put small draw-string bags made of organsa over the pollinated flowers to keep them away. This person said to me that it only takes a few grains of pollen to achieve a successful pollination so why not spread it more thinly so they can't see it so easily because they were probably honing in on the big bright yellow spot on the flowers. It was one of those slap myself on the forehead moments because I knew that but didn't think of it. I think I still put too much pollen on, because I apply it with my fingers and it's hard to judge how much pollen you are using, but have cut it right back so that even very stingy pollen producers can be used now. Green Ice was TERRIBLE and produces maybe 2 or 3 anthers per flower. I just harvested about 50 flowers and spent ages pulling anthers out of all the petals and got a useable amount of pollen for one or two pollinations (that didn't take anyway but was worth a shot). Another trick I tried was to take those few anthers and sit them on the stigmas inside the little drawstring bag so that the pollen burst onto the stigmas. It worked great for 'Scabrosa' x 'Black Jade'... from which I now have about 50 seeds to play with from both methods (bit different though because BJ produces loads of pollen).

Those ones ones that have few anthers.. do they have lots of those little curled mini petals (there is a name for them that I can't remember...) around the middle and are very double flowers with LOTS of petals? It didn't click with me for a long time what someone on RHA was talking about when they said that with any luck the flowers on my little 'Kindred Ice' seedling weren't too double so I might get a little fertility from it. Then I read that those small petals around the anthers in the centre of a flower in very double flowers are actually modified anthers and this accounts for their low pollen count. You can even see it on some when you pull the petals off.. you can see some parts of the petal that actually seems to be making pollen... never been able to get it off and use it though...

Setting no hips isn't too uncommon.. you sometimes here about breeders selecting for self-cleaning roses... those never form hips because they all drop... and some are just plain infertile. Never seen a swollen and seemingly fully developed hip with no seeds though... that's quite special really... you get a nice display without the taxing job of making and maturing seeds. Pretty cool actually

Fantastic photo Billndee. I espeacially like the one with the mountains and the rainy looking clouds. I ended up trying grafting again with the buds left from your cuttings that I reckoned were not going to callouse. I really hope I can get them to grow.