When Sam McGredy, the NZ rose breeder, retired in 2002, he sprayed his left-over seedlings with a herbicide.
South Australian Rose Breeder, George Thomson believes that he has bred two commercial propositions for every 320,000 seeds he has sown. Work it out – he has registered 76 roses, including Crown Princess Mary and Howard Florey.
The first yellow Hybrid Tea was Gottfried Keller, bred by an amateur, Dr Muller of Germany, six years before Joseph Pernet-Ducher bred Soliel d’ Or.
The largest single repository of Heritage Roses in Australia is Rookwood Cemetery, near the Sydney Olympic site.
Brent Dickerson wrote that identification of roses old or new is an intricate and demanding affair, and one should begin any attempt with the clear understanding that success is unlikely.
On Identification of roses, there are around thirty points to be considered. These include the obvious, such as colour, number of petals, perfume and leaves, but then also to be considered are: Prickles – their size, shape, colour, location on the bush, their direction; Blooms – bloom shape, petal shape, size, habit (single, clusters). Do NOT bring me a flower and hope that I can identify it. Any identification would be a fluke.
It is my (Wal) belief that the Meilland line of roses require a strong need for solid winter dormancy. Because our climate in Werribee does not give them this dormancy they never have very attractive bushes and suffer badly from die-back. I include Mme A. Meilland (Peace); Papa Meilland; Chicago Peace; Spirit of Peace. A further possibility is that due to these lines being overbudded (i.e. taking budwood from bushes that have been taken from budwood, etc. ) they have lost their vigor, and need to be re-started from new stock. Other examples of probable overbudding are Friesia, Gold Bunny, Crimson Glory.
Wal J Apr 2018
