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'Black Boy' rose Reviews & Comments
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Following on from a discussion started under a photo posted by Pauline M (id 376193 15 Oct 21):
A couple of days ago I saw potted Black Boys in a local nursery in Sydney. Only one flower was out at the time, a large, somewhat loose, red bloom with black shadings. Knowing that there have been some impostors offered as 'Black Boy' over time I was hesitant to buy one before I looked closely at the file photos here again. I admit I became a bit confused since there seems to be quite a difference in the appearance of the flowers. So I went back today planning to buy one and try it out and observe it over time.
The same plant with the one large flower was still there but another bud on that same plant, that hadn't opened the other day when I saw it, was now fully open. What amazed me though was how small it was in comparison to the other older flower! I estimate the first flower was about 4 1/2"/12cm, but this newly opened flower was at best only about 2"/5cm. It was also quite different in form too being flatter and more rounded. Maybe it will expand more but I doubt it will get to the size of the first flower.
I then reckoned that if the flower appearance can vary so much on the same small specimen at the one time it must vary considerably more on larger plants at different times of the year, and in different growing conditions, hence a lot of variability in the photos here. Therefore, being a bit more reassured, I bought one to try out.
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I recently saw 'Black Boy' from Swane's Nursery at a local Bunnings store in Sydney and the blooms at the time did look like the early catalogue photos, so I thought it might be the correct variety. I would have considered buying one to try out but unfortunately all the specimens of it were very obviously affected by mosaic virus, which was a pity.
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Since you saw it, may I suggest that you notify Swane's about the mosaic? Presumably they did the propagating. However, I have seen mosaic on a Bunning's rose, which I guess was from a backyard propagator - it was on R Indica major, which most nurseries in Australia haven't used for decades.
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#2 of 4 posted
1 DEC 23 by
 HubertG
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Margaret, I never thought to do that; it's a good idea. I will let them know and keep you updated.
Edit: I just sent them an email. The automatic reply was that they'll respond to me soon.
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Just fyi, there are quite a few older varieties in the US available only infected. This happened decades ago when one of the larger California vendors had infected Dr Huey rootstock and then widely distributed these plants on an effectively exclusive basis. All currently known specimens of many roses introduced after this pre 1980 bugaboo trace back to these plants. So now all of these varieties are infected in all known sources. Shit happens. This is why the University of California at Davis keeps a library of older variety plants for virus free budwood that can be accessed by rose vendors to get clean stock, both as to varietal cultivars and rootstock varieties.
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#4 of 4 posted
5 DEC 23 by
HubertG
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I received a reply yesterday from Swane's wholesale thanking me for my feedback and saying they'll inspect the stock.
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Available from - Vivaio S’orrosa
https://www.saorrosa.it/grandi-ibridatori/le-rose-di-alister-clark/black-boy/
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It would be interesting to see photos of the rose sold by this nursery, to see if it is a correct Black Boy.
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#2 of 3 posted
23 OCT 23 by
Johno
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Probably more likely to be the 1958 Kordes' Black Boy which is still sold in Europe. A photo of a bud would be useful as the Kordes rose would show moss.
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#3 of 3 posted
23 OCT 23 by
jedmar
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It is on an Alister Clark listing, but not on sale
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I'm told that, according to Alister Clark's notes, it was named after a horse - probably a racehorse, given Clark's interest in that area.
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