(2006)  Page(s) 16-17, vol. 37, no. 1.  Includes photo(s).
 
Bicolors in my Hardy Crosses
Peter Harris
In the spring of 2000, I put pollen of R15 on seedlings grown from open-pollinated seeds gathered from 'Ross Rambler'. The seedlings, both once-bloomers, were quite similar, with one white and the other slightly pinkish. Germination of the resulting seeds was fairly good, but most of the seedlings looked like seed parents, with bluish or grayish leaves. Two looked different, having glossier leaves and a thicker cane. In the spring of 2002, the more attractive of these had a single large bud on it. This seedling, given the name RC-01 (Ross seedling by the Creek—a lot of thought goes into these names), is a bicolor, with a silver reverse and a fluorescent red upper petal surface. The filaments and anthers show considerable influence from 'Ross Rambler'. [See Picture D on page 20]

RC-01 is a once-bloomer, but since it has a repeat-blooming climber ('Golden Showers') as a grandparent and since 'Ross Rambler' often repeats late in the season, I think that RC-01 has a good chance of bringing hardiness into a repeat-blooming line. Accordingly, last year when I had 5 blossoms on my RC-01, I took all the pollen and used it on 'Cal Poly' (a mini which is yellow and fertile, and will, I hope, help moderate the height of seedlings derived from R15 and RC-01). The pollinations yielded 86 seeds, and already I've had 9 germinations. I'm pretty interested in this cross. Check that—I'm excited about it. Be expecting a follow-up report on the seedlings by this time next year. And, yes, I will repeat the cross this year. No, I'm not looking for bicolors, but I'll bet I get some.