Identity Crisis for Abracadabra.

Abracadabra is known for being a bit of a gaudy showpony [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
But with this flush of flowers ,[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
it can't make up it's mind who/what it wants to be.

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cheers. Rosalie

This is why I don't like this rose... it's a very unstable sport... I would feel dupped if I bought a striped rose that did that to me Great photos Rosalie... the yellow is so intense!

Rosalie, I think it's charming, and provides lots of fun. But in the striped world, I still prefer Scentimental of them all.

As much as I love the 'WEE' sweet buds It is a waste of space IMHO, I have 1 in a pot and in the ground , shame because nit is such a nice mini flower, reminds my of my fav Champagner

'Champagner' is somewhat of a giant for me here TheE. It's a most wonderful rose. I'm going to use it in breeding this year because it is such a thing of beauty and health down here

Oh Simon I await for further reports

The yellow is the colour of the original bush "Frisco" apparently but reading through the lineage there are sports of sports all over the place.
How far back in a pedigree do you go to find the origins of this instability of colour ?
What I do like about it is how long the blooms stay on the bush and even when they are fully open they keep their shape and don't fade and look tatty.
I posted a photo of one last month , I took the pic on 5/10 and it had been opening for a couple of days then .
I took other photo's of it during the course of the month of Octoberand it finally dropped it's petals during the last day or so of the month.

I hear what you are saying too Simon . If you buy it because it's a novelty striped rose , that's what you want it to produce - novelty striped flowers.

It was released over here in W.A around 2005 , I think it's official release was at the W.A Garden Week Expo actually and it just so happened I went that year with my MIL
We were sitting resting our feet when we saw all this commotion around one of the stands and went over for a squiz.
They had just set up a big display of all these potted flowering Abracadabra bushes and people were just raving.
[Knowing what I know now about them , I wonder how much time was spent nipping off any rogue flower that wasn't striped ?] The atmosphere was just buzzing ; they had no price on them , upon first enquiry we were told that they were for display only and later in the day the story was they's be around $49.95 .
Well I wasn't paying 50 bucks for a rose bush , but I bet there were plenty of cashed up punters there who would have . And how many of those have got plain coloured flowers on a bush when they were expecting stripes .
There's a young fella in Adelaide who posts on another forum I belong to , and he'd been disappointed with the flowers the second year because the percentage of striped flowers had dropped off and he was getting more solid colours .
Must remember to ask him what are they doing now .

I actually don't mind having the three different colours on the plant , makes for a good conversation piece.
The red is stunning , a deep velvety black red , much darker than in my pic and the vibrancy of the gold is eye popping. One curious thing though ; the red and the striped flowers have a lot more petals than the gold flowers.

cheers. Rosalie

I enjoy Abracadabra. Ut's interesting to see what color the next buds will open. So far this year mine have all been striped, and I didn't get many sports last year. It's true, the blooms last and last.

Not sure if I can reply to such an old post, but, does anyone still have 'Abracadabra'?

I have two now and neither of them seem to want to grow much taller than foot high. One has reverted back and one has teeny tiny scrawny flowers.

One lady told me that they need temperature control so I have put them under some shadecloth in pots.

Any advice wouild be appreciated! I know they are not a favourite of some rose growers as they have no scent but I adore them.

I have one that is in full sun and is happy to be there and yes they don't grow that tall at all.At the moment mine is about 600mm tall, but hope for a bit taller once summer starts to set in

Do you have any photos at all? And thank you

of the bush or the flower?

Oh anything

at this stage there is only minimal leaves on there after the prune and the heat hasn't started up here, but I will oblige you as soon as it is possible....

Thank you

RosyTeesh wrote:Not sure if I can reply to such an old post, but, does anyone still have 'Abracadabra'?

I have two now and neither of them seem to want to grow much taller than foot high. One has reverted back and one has teeny tiny scrawny flowers.

One lady told me that they need temperature control so I have put them under some shadecloth in pots.

Any advice wouild be appreciated! I know they are not a favourite of some rose growers as they have no scent but I adore them.

i have one .. but yet to flower, looking forward to it actually.

Would be interested to know how it goes Jordan71

yeah hopefuly it will be a good rose .. not a big fan of striped roses .. but when i saw it the first time .. i loved it

now bit worried about the sports

Mine just won't grow so I have sent them to pots and taken them out of full all day sun. They are doing better but still slow growing

it is a slow growing rose tho .. not sure if melbourne weather has anything to do with it

It's slow in Brisbane too One is a year old and looks bare rooted. Lol

lol gee that is slow

Here are a couple from last April before they slowed down for winter.....

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Oh Neptune that is beautiful. I am so jealous!!