"Sunflower" wrote in message ...
"Dan Gannon" wrote in message
om...
Hello, everyone!

You're invited to my new Yahoo Group, "Fragrant Miniature Roses." The
purpose of the group is identifying, discussing and sharing photos of
the fragrant miniatures.

[ link restored: ]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fragrant_mini_roses

How many times can you discuss the same dozen roses? Bor-ing.

I beg to differ on this point. I've already found more than a dozen,
I think about 4 dozen. And I've only reviewed about 700 or 800 in the
online literature, and smelled quite a few less, as I am a newbie. I
plan to smell a lot more this spring - hopefully more than 1,000. I
will definitely be making a list of the ones I find to be fragrant,
which I'll be more than happy to share on the Fragrant Miniature Roses
group.

Of those I've already smelled, I've discovered that some do have a
definite fragrance, even though there is no mention of fragrance in
their online descriptions.

It appears that sometimes, a miniature rose will have moderate or
light fragrance, but its fragrance won't be mentioned by the breeder
in the varietal description, possibly for fear of reactions such as,
"that's only a moderate fragrance, we want overpowering fragrance."
But in my mind, even a light fragrance is much better than no
fragrance, in a miniature rose.

Miniatures are overwhelmingly scentless, mostly because most breeders have
focused on the same high centered "exhibition" style form that wins shows
and not on growing good garden roses that can fill in around a mailbox and
that are worth bending over to sniff. Ralph Moore and now Paul Barden are
the only exceptions that come to mind in even trying something interesting
and non cookie cutter. If you could come up with a list of even two dozen
that you could smell at all, I'd be very surprised. Don't even get me
started on disease resistance, which is a total joke also.

I've read, and personally found, that many minis are remarkablly
disease-resistant. Part of that is said to be due to the fact that
most minis are grown on their own roots. But if disease-resistance is
a problem, that's an issue that hybridizers would do well to address.
I know I plan to do so, and I plan to hybridize fragrant roses, using
two fragrant parents in most cases. I do not hide the fact that I am
a newbie, but that is my plan. I believe I've read enough articles
from the "old timers" already, that I am ready to begin hybridizing
this year. I do already have experience with fish breeding, including
genetic tetraploids (fancy goldfish.) Compared to fancy goldfish,
roses should be easier in at least one regard - once you get a
desirable specimen, it can be propagated clonally via cuttings. With
goldfish, no such luck - you've got to try to "fix the strain" to get
any appreciable production, which is notoriously difficult with
tetraploids, especially goldfish, for reasons that I won't get into
here.

I've already set up a micro-greenhouse with misting system that was
very low-cost. If it works well, I'll share the details on the
Fragrant Miniature Roses group. If it doesn't work well, I'll modify
it, of course.

With the relatively rapid rate that new fragrant varieties have been
created in recent years, I'm surprised at the hardened attitude that
seems to exist among many long-time rosarians, regarding this topic.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, as the same thing happens again
and again in virtually every field or subject. It seems to be human
nature. In that case, people should be prepared to be surprised yet
again.

Give me a good polyantha anyday. If I could only grow a half dozen roses in
my dotage, 3 of them would be the polyanthas Perle d'Or, Clotilde Soupert,
and Marie Daly, which are mannerly pot acceptible constant blooming strong
scented beautiful shrubs. Add Belinda's Dream, Mrs. B.R. Cant and Blush
Noisette as the other 3, and although I might be missing out on some of my
favorite teas and noisettes in yellow, the beautiful shrubs and strong
scents would totally compensate me while I puttered and drooled away.

Each person will decide what he or she likes, and that can change over
time, of course. I enjoy many of the larger rose varieties, but I
don't have much space to grow them, as a renter. When my wife and I
move into a house, we plan to plant plenty of larger roses. We're
still constructing a long list of highly fragrant candidates.

Dan Gannon
everyone is welcome:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fragrant_mini_roses