Hello Simon and Patricia. It is interesting. "Koolami" does seem to know a lot about this rose, except from which rose it sported. Perplexing for all of us, and yet possibly by design. It is likely that Patricia would have picked up the rose from NRSA Rose Annuals were it registered, but too many introducers have no interest in registering their roses for perpetuity, BTW, "4350" and "4352" are postcodes for Toowoomba and Highfields (Brindabella gardens territory) gratuitously appended as a suffix to pseudo breeders codenames may only be an attempt to infer some official status. Nothing of the sort, and you are right onto this little ploy Simon.

The facts are that Mr.Gray may not see it necessary to respect that Australia has a history of rose breeding that extends from 1880 until today. There is an Australian Rose Breeders Association that provides members with information about hybridisation and propagation, and is encouraging breeders to have their roses entered into trials conducted by National Rose Trial Garden of Australia located in Adelaide. Some people rather prefer to act independently and without regard to tradition, making outlandish claims as to the merits of their roses, and what buyers can expect.

Simon clearly shows that grandiose claims of Blackspot free roses just may not be entirely effective in that regard. It should be common knowledge that Blackspot is endemic in all Modern Roses, thanks to Gallicas being interbred with Chinas in early 19th Century, and from the Bourbons through to Hybrid Perpetuals, Hybrid Teas, and on through Floribundas. Miniatures, up to the present time. Blackspot can be controlled with careful use of Fungicides, especially Triforine. As clearly expressed by a panel of leading breeders including Thomas Proll (Kordes, Germany), Alain Meilland (Meillands, France), and Colin Horner (UK) last October at WFRS Convention, Johannesburg, there are no roses that are blackspot free. Some may be more resistant to it than others, and Australian rose breeders are hard at work producing roses with the intention of providing even greater resistance to Blackspot.

ARBA is an organisation that fosters exchange of information amongst its breeders with the intention of advancing the campaign to create roses that show greater resistance to this unsightly fungus.