The clones are coming !

Yes they're coming (actually, just one so far), but they're (just one) arriving rather slowly.  These would be the GOOD kind of clones, the kind that when you take a cutting from a rose bush, it successfully roots and you get another copy of the rose bush.  I've so far been able to create one living clone of my registered rose creation which I named 'Red Galaxy'.  I've written about this rose in a few places throughout this blog, and have also posted several photos of it.  Today I took 2 more photos which are shown below.  The first photo shows the mother plant, a unique rose bush that has already had 2 flushes of blooms this year, and is now commencing some sporadic blooming that will very likely last until November (we'll see).  The mother 'Red Galaxy' was grown from seed.  It was born on February 23, 2009, and is now 3½ years old.  The second photo shows the cloned 'Red Galaxy', which grew from a cutting that I took in late November of 2011.  It's hard to tell when the clone came to life -- let's just say early 2012, and that the plant is now in its first growing season.  So, let's take a look at the mother 'Red Galaxy' (standing 2½ feet tall) and the baby clone 'Red Galaxy' (standing 10 inches tall) --

'Red Galaxy'
Photo taken:  August 26, 2012

cloned 'Red Galaxy'
Photo taken:  August 26, 2012

Update of December 1, 2012:   Well, it's now December, and a few blooms still linger on these rose bushes.  The colder temperatures and steady rain of November/December will probably prevent these blooms from opening completely.  But, they still add a spot of color to the rose bed --

'Red Galaxy'
Photo taken:  December 1, 2012

cloned 'Red Galaxy'
Photo taken:  December 1, 2012

Update of August 4, 2013:    Oftentimes I like to research the origin of words.  Today it was the word clone.  Was I using the word properly in describing the cloned 'Red Galaxy' plant?  In this modern day of intricate manipulation of cells, cloning is widely used in many applications.  Well, I stand completely vindicated, as clone is derived from the Greek word klōn, meaning "twig".

Through the Looking-Glass

Follow me as we journey to an alternative world where the rose seedlings don't grow too big -- we can get there "Through the Liverworts".  All of you gardeners out there should be familiar with liverworts by now; if not, check them out on Google Images.  I'm letting the floor of my rose bed "go natural" (with the exception of weeds), so the mosses and liverworts are having a grand time jockeying for growing space.

This morning while watering the roses, I noticed a "basal break" surfacing about 1½ inches away from one of my 'Queen Elizabeth' rose seedlings.  It was poking up right through the liverworts, as you see in the photo below -- it's directly south of the mother rose bush:

Curiously, the mother plant is a very slow growing seedling.  It was born on July 7, 2008, which means that it is now 49 months old.  It has a pink bloom that you see below sitting atop a bush that is just 20 inches tall.  The photo to the right shows one of its sister seedlings (also of 'Queen Elizabeth'), another slow growing rose bush that was born on April 23, 2008.  This 52 month old plant stands around 2½  feet tall, but it does have some good looking white blooms.  The blooms on both of these rose bushes are considered to be "very full".  It's only now in their FIFTH growing season that the blooms are able to open properly, and they really needed some Summer heat to do so.

REALITY CHECK:  Don't get the wrong impression from the small sample of seedlings above.  The overwhelming majority of my 'Queen Elizabeth' seedlings are substantial rose bushes, as you will see in the rest of this blog.

A garden surprise !

Back on July 2, I discovered an interesting growth coming up about 6 inches away from one of my 'Voodoo' rose seedlings.  After some thought, I concluded that it must be a sucker coming up from an underground runner.  So, it was time to do a little research.  'Voodoo' has both Rosa foetida bicolor (Austrian Copper) and Rosa foetida 'Persian Yellow' among its many ancestors; both of those roses are known to produce suckers.  Also, most of our modern hybrid roses undoubtedly have some untraceable Damask and Gallica ancestors -- these "old garden roses" also sucker freely.

There's a lesson in here somewhere.  It looks like modern roses grown on their own roots (as seedlings, or even from cuttings) can indeed produce runners and suckers.  In these cases, there would be NO alien root stock to blame.  In the end, it all depends on the ancestry of the rose bush.  So, be careful where you step and be observant out there in your rose garden !

Below are some photos of this "phenom".  Note that we have a fully open bloom roughly one month after I discovered the newly emerged sucker.  In the 3rd and 4th photos, I am using a 6 inch ruler to show the distance of the sucker from its parent plant as well as the height of this garden surprise.

July 2, 2012

July 14, 2012

August 3, 2012

August 3, 2012

The 'Voodoo'-seedling "parent" of this outgrowth was born on May 27, 2008.  Below is a photo of the rose bush in full bloom that I took on July 13th, about 3 weeks ago.  You will see 5 canes on this rose bush, and if you look closely between the 4th and 5th canes (and about 6 inches behind the canes -- click on the photo to enlarge it), you will see the sucker starting to establish itself.

July 13, 2012

Update of June 12, 2013:   It's time to check on the progress of our little runner, which isn't so little anymore.  It now stands 2½ feet tall, is developing its own basal breaks, and is carrying another nice bloom.  Not only that, but it now has a "brother", which came up about 2 inches from the main plant and is ready to open a similar bloom.

June 12, 2013

June 12, 2013