sounds like you inadvertently took root cuttings!

John,

I hope you get this message and have time to respond. I recently moved up near Santa Rosa from SoCal. Aafter the move I've been rebuilding my collection of motherplants and breeding stock up here in NorCal. I had to leave all my established roses behind in Orange County due to Rose Mosaic Virus, and make a clean start. Who knew all our important rose vendors like Vintage Gardens, Pickering, Sequoia, etc. would go out of business? It's been a struggle finding replacements for some of my favorite roses. I have been working with Burling to track down some of the rarer ones. Do you know anyone who has 'Super Star Supreme' and 'Summer Song', and is willing to help? Any information would be much appreciated. Thank you!

~Benaminh

Hi Benaminh,

I grew up in SoCal/Orange County (Costa Mesa) but moved to northern California after completing graduate school at UC Davis. Santa Rosa is a beautiful area and a great area to grow roses. Sorry you had so many problems with RMV in your previous garden.

I am also frustrated with the loss of so many rose vendors like the ones you mentioned; it is such a great loss for all of us. I was never aware that Tropicana/Superstar had a color sport. I have grown the original Tropicana in gardens of other houses that I have owned (I am now on number 5). I do not grow Tropicana in my present home, as I have found other roses in a similar color range, that perform better, such as Artistry (Zary), Liverpool Remembers (Fry), Remember Me (Cocker), Christopher Columbus (Meilland), Sundowner (McGredy), Adobe Sunrise (Meilland), Vavoom (Carruth), Gingersnap (Delbard) and Outrageous (Zary). My wife and I are fond of roses in the apricot to true orange to red orange range. The color all of these roses can vary with time of year and with degree of flower maturity-we like them best when they are closer to a true orange color, but they can vary into shades of coral/pink/orange or golden orange. The ones that for us produce more of the true orange color are: LR, AS, and G. If I could only grow one of these roses for its orange color, it would be LR. As has been discussed many times on these forums, Gingersnap produces flowers of a very appealing shade of orange but is not a very vigorous grower and is among the most susceptible of all our roses to foliar diseases. Vavoom is also very disease susceptible for us

Like you, I have searched for some of the roses that I really valued and sometimes have been frustrated in not being able to find them. One of my favorite Austins, Cressida, is teetering on the brink of commercial extinction. After searching for 5 years, I finally able to find this rose at Hortico around a year ago and it is doing quite well in my garden. Summer Song was only sold for a brief time by several Canadian rose companies. For reasons no one understands, it does not perform well in North America although it apparently does quite well in Europe and the UK. And so David Austin Roses, Ltd. made the decision to pull this rose for sale by all of their propagators, as they did not want this weak performer to damage the reputation of their company. Another fine rose company, Kordes, did the same thing with a rose called Pompom Veranda. See this thread:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3010902/looking-for-pompom-veranda-pompon-flower-circus-rootings-or-cuttings?n=21

I have grown both Summer Song and Pompom Veranda and both do not perform as well as other roses that these 2 companies have released. Summer Song has a very appealing burnt orange color but the plant lacks vigor, even when grafted to R. multiflora. It does not repeat very much. It might be fun trying to graft it on to other root stock such as Dr. Huey or others, to see if the performance can be improved.

Thank for the in depth response. Of that color range I presently grow Remember Me, Octoberfest, Veldfire, Dolly Parton, Kanegem, and adding Wildfire & Salita later this year. I also like Adobe Sunrise, reminds me of powdered Tang. However, there's nothing quite like a well grown, deep colored Tropicana, such a unique shade.

Yes, possibly Dr. Huey, Fortuniata, IXL, or others might be an interesting experiment. John, I have a question for you, please send me a private message, I feel bad hijacking this thread.

Hi Ben,

I am presently visiting my sister in Kona, HI, returning tomorrow. You can send me a private email at tomatobreeder@hotmail.com.

Aloha,

John

Anyone has James Galway cuttings for trade or postage?

Thanks!

jenlee_49@yahoo.com