Article (misc)  (1943)  Page(s) 141-142, 150.  Includes photo(s).
 
For many years I have worked with Rosa blanda as found native in South Dakota and western Minnesota north into Manitoba, hoping to get rid of its thorns. The work began in 1895, my first year in South Dakota....When the first double thornless roses appeared, three were named and distributed in spring of 1938: Pax Amanda, Pax Apollo, Pax Iola. All are Blanda hybrids, and all pink. The lavender-pink or mauve of the wild Blanda persisted. But, as in the poem by Robert Burns, "a red, red, rose" was highly desireable. Finally in 1941 among a lot of seedlings blooming for the first time, Zitkala appeared. It was introduced in the 1942 spring list as Zitkala: A double thornless red rose, now offered for the first time. The wood is smooth except for some weak bristles and a very few small thorns near the base of the main shoots. (Not quite a Pax rose, as the Pax roses should be quite thornless.)...Flowers a brillian velvety red, nearly 3 inches across, with 25 petals. A typical Rosa bland plant, of strong upright habit, with red bark. After many years this is the first "break" away from the light lavender-pink of the wild rose, to get the blue out of the red. Zitkala is the Teton Sious Indian word for "bird."...
Pedigree: Rosa blanda (from Bonanza Springs, western minnesotra, on the est shore of Bigstone Lake) X pollen of the Amadis (or Crimson Boursault), an old English rose with deep crimson-purple flowers. In juen 1942 the original plant of Zitkala bloomed in profusion, with over 250 flowers. No seed-hips resulted, so far.