Not only does it not seem to set hips, but its pollen doesn't seem to be fertile either based on the crosses I tried to make with it which all failed to take.
In the recent heat we've experienced this rose emits a lovely lychee dominated fragrance. In fact yesterday when I smelt a bloom it was almost exactly the same as how I remember 'Tipsy Imperial Concubine' smelling. Which makes me wonder ... does 'St. Francis Xavier' inherit its lychee scent from its Tea Rose ancestry (and 'Papa Gontier' which I grow smells nothing like this), or perhaps is it passed down through its HT side through "Francis Dubreuil (in commerce as)"? And if it's from the HT side, is 'Tipsy Imperial Concubine' possibly a renamed European rose with HT blood?
'St. Francis Xavier' has one of the best and sweetest scents of any rose I know in any case.
Last winter I bought 'St Francis Xavier' to try out and so far I'm very pleased with it. Inspired by the photo here of its bushy habit, I planted it into a large decorative terracotta pot. It has done well and I feel it will only improve over time. This rose has a gorgeous strong rich damask scent and dark but bright red flowers with a black overlay. It seems to be very quick to repeat too.
It's worth growing for the fragrance only which is stronger than Muriel Linton (Hadley) but more complex too. It's hard to describe the components but I detect something like lychee in it as well as the classic old rose Damask scent. It doesn't seem to set hips (at least not for me) so doesn't really need deadheading either and keeps sending out new shoots. Since I'm virtually frost-free I'm looking forward to seeing how late into the colder months it will continue to flower. A medium-sized rather than large flower, it's worth trying out. Ross Roses seem to be the only supplier.
According to Ross Roses, the seed parent is the rose in commerce in Australia and elswhere as Francis Dubreuil ("Not Francis Dubreuil"), and the pollen parent is General Gallieni, not Papa Gontier as listed.
General Gallieni is a very distinctive rose and to the best of my knowledge it's true to name world-wide. Margaret may have more info from the breeder or introducer re the conflicting accounts of parentage.
No, as Billy says, General Gallieni is General Gallieni. It doesn't produce much pollen but George Thomson says it does have some. There were 4 seedlings from the crossing; two were very similar, very double, highly-scented dark reds, and the second had limited release as 'Annesley'. (Both roses were named for schools). The two pink seedlings were discarded. I was pointing out that the HMF listing of Papa Gontier as pollen parent of St Francis Xavier is incorrect; I have no idea where that came from.
Margaret and Patricia: I apologize that I slipped a change in the Note past you. Pleas see the Note on the main page.
The parentage shown on HMF is that listed by the ARS. The rose is a registered rose, and the parentage and breeder code name is that reported at the time of registration.
This does happen: whoever registers the rose doesn't keep a copy of the registration information and then later reports something different.
Breeder code names should be unique, but many roses labor under several code names that are essentially synonyms. It is not uncommon, for example for the really big rose producers (Like Kordes, Tantau, Meilland) to list different code names on different continents.
In this case, I have no specific information what's going on with the code name.
Different code names too. TOMtea and Tomxav. I am sure both were assigned to the same rose. (Doesn't a rose supposed to have just one breeder's code?) Refer references.
Personal correspondence to me from Ross Roses of July 8, 2009:
"TOMtea is George's Code. I have always thought it was General Gallieni and George said it was the same but his master book lists it as Papa Gontier so I feel we must go with the official record."
