I love the name Ragged Robin! There are quite a few roses which were once used for rootstock which are very good roses themselves. When I first got into roses, I was told that:

"A rose may have a sucker which comes up from the base and always has red blooms. These are EVIL and must be gotten rid of as soon as possible. The always have 7 leaflets - that's how you tell they are suckers, along with the color of the blooms" I walked away thinking that a "sucker" was some sort of disease!

All, all, wrong, of course. Yet I was told this by several people. As I learned more about roses (and what a sucker was actually, as well as what rootstock was) I was amazed at the ignorance of most people who thought they knew a lot about roses. Canard is a good word to describe these sorts of statements - I like that word. No bad intentions on anyones part - they were just parroting something they had been told, but got offended when I doubted it. Also, of course, all sorts of other "rules" about what must be done, what should never be done, etc. My most unfavorite statement is along the lines of "all old roses only bloom once", which I am still also seeing in articles (and even some speeches) by people who should know better. I even I still see some of this in some articles in the ARS magazine - it is so amazing to me.

End of rant, and I apologize that my comments have nothing to do with Ragged Robin, which is a lovely re-blooming old rose which was once used for rootstock, and luckily was thus spread all around, and discovered all over, as it was healthier and more persistent than whatever scions it was grafted to.

Jackie

Jeri,

Your Gloire des Rosomanes is lovely.

Lux.

I don't mind people taking info from old books which turns out to be wrong, but the ARS should not be allowing actual new articles to appear in their magazine which contain statements which are just not true - they say a lot about how they are very very careful what articles they allow to appear, but in reality no one who is actually a rose expert (and they do have many people associated with the ARS who are) seems to be reading the articles before they appear. It is not just them, either. I attended a lecture near here last year at a lovely & wonderful nursery, by a supposed rose expert, and she actually repeated some of the worst old canards. Sigh. To protect my blood pressure, and not add more stress to the amazing number of unavoidable stress causing issues already happening, I should just ignore all such occurrences, and "bless them, and let it go", as my mother used to tell me. Good advice, I guess.

Jackie

It would be nice if such editorial efforts could be accomplished, but I doubt there are sufficient people to actually read and research those issues, not to mention the constant need for new material from a dwindling membership, many of whom are also guilty of repeating the worn, old wives' tales which were quite suitable for Nineteenth Century London, but very few other situations and conditions. Heaven only knows how many of the "editorial people" are also guilty of retaining such wives' tale information. It has constantly passed from the early rose books into most books and newsletters for over a century, usually without question or updates. Yes, just "bless their hearts" and turn your attention to other things which bring you joy.