(2006)  Page(s) 16-17, vol. 37, no. 1.  Includes photo(s).
 
Bicolors in my Hardy Crosses
Peter Harris
In 1997 I put R15 pollen on the red Meilland grandiflora 'Scarlet Knight' (in Europe, 'Samourai') simply because 'Scarlet Knight' is highly fertile as a seed parent. Believe it or not, I was hoping to get some yellow seedlings. "Hope" is probably the right way to think about it since 'Scarlet Knight' has a very heavy dose of red in its background and when left to pollinate itself will generally produce (in my experience) about 85 per cent red seedlings (and a few red/white bicolors). But I got lucky. I got ONE (only one) seedling with some yellow: a lot of yellow on the petal face and yellow on the reverse. At the time I had not identified the rose as 'Scarlet Knight' and was using it under the study name of Bookstore Red (BR for short) since I'd found it near the bookstore at WVU Tech. My code for the cross of Bookstore Red x R15 was BR5, and the improbably-yellow seedling was BR5-04 since it was the fourth seedling kept from that group.

BR5-04 repeats well, and has a pleasing fragrance. It is upright in habit and has needle-like prickles on its canes. The flowers have 10-20 petals of a good width and substance. The center of the blossom is a bright yellow, and the upper surface of the petal seems to have a base of yellow with an overlay of rose red. The reverse of the petal is bright yellow. The leaves are glossy and attractive, with a reasonable level of disease resistance. The bush grows to a height of about four feet. [See Picture C on page 20]

Since 1999 I have tried to use BR5-04 as a seed parent, but it does not set many seeds, and even when it sets seeds the hips usually drop off before 8 weeks. As a pollen parent, it does better. Although it does not produce a lot of pollen, the pollen is good, and I have been able to get a fair number of seedlings with BR5-04 as the pollen parent. The seedlings are typically tall and very upright in habit, with attractive, dark, glossy leaves like those of the parent. The canes are well armed with needle-like prickles inherited from R15. The seedlings are also, more often than not, bicolors. So far this year I've had 4 seedlings bloom from the cross 'Cal Poly' x BR5-04. All have been bicolors, with the top of the petal either light pink, light red, or medium red, and the reverse a shade of yellow, usually light yellow or pale yellow. This cross, coded C4, has yielded a high percentage of bicolors in the past, and I will repeat it this year. My objective is not to get bicolors (although they are welcome) but to get yellows (which would be more welcome), with the hope that these yellows are hardier than average and can be used as parents in further crosses to create hardy yellow roses.