I still have ’Bit ’o’ Sunshine’ for sure. i might still have ’Trinket’ but wont know for sure till the garden wakes up in spring. ’Easter Morning’ may still be out there too.

Thanks, Paul! I sincerely appreciate it! I should have added Kayla to that list. Sheri Anne X Violette....I'd think that may be a triploid and possibly fertile. I hope some of these early diploid minis turn out to be triploids. They can open so many doors.

This is totally off topic, Kim, but didn't Tom Carruth hybridize a rose called Lemon Drop? My neighbor grows it, and it's almost a mini. Very cute. I can't resist posing this question to you, but have you ever used Tamora in your rose breeding? I have noticed on HMF that it has been used quite a lot for this purpose. Last night, I saw that it's a parent of the DA rose Nefertiti, a real beauty. Good luck finding the minis. I wish I could help you, but my only mini is Diamond Eyes, a turkey. Diane

Hi Diane, yes ma'am. Lemon Drop has been reused. No, I've resisted using Tamora because the absolute deal breaker fungal issue for me is RUST. Tamora is a gorgeous flower and a splendid plant where rust isn't an issue. It is damned by those Conrad Ferdinand Meyer genes Austin mined to use in it (along with Cressida, Sir Clough). Rugosa and its hybrids rust like old nails where water stress occurs due to extreme heat. The semi circular beds of Tamora at The Huntington around the tempietto were gorgeous but they rusted like old iron skillets. I won't spray and I won't abide by RUST. Tamora is a good parent...for rust-free climates. Thankfully, I'm out of the "extreme heat" zone, but rust still occurs here, so... Thank you. It appears a few are starting to creep out of the wood work. Thank you for verifying what I feared about Diamond Eyes. I WANTED to like it, but...

Thanks, Kim. How awful about Tamora and rust. That's something I never have an issue with. Here, the issue is water and a few thrips. The harsh climate means no fungal diseases, except for occasional powdery mildew on a few dying back peony plants. No chili thrips, no RRD, no midge, no Japanese beetles, almost no grasshoppers, no rose slugs (whatever they are), no potato beetles, a few thrips on four or five roses. It's a rose growers heaven, except for the 1F low last night and ghastly water bills. Keeping up an extensive drip emitter and tiny sprinkler system is not fun or cheap, either. Diamond Eyes is not a good bloomer, and the blooms don't show up, kind of sinking back into the plant. The blooms don't last and dry up fast in our climate (another desert problem). But the Diamond Eyes plant itself is quite wonderful, so I keep one in a fairly shady bed where I'm not looking for blooms, anyway. Diane

Sorry, Kim - I just checked and I have 'Yellow Doll', not 'Bit 'O' Sunshine'. Lost that one in The Big Freeze. I might still have 'Kayla' out there. I know 'Swedish Doll' is still there - that thing is indestructible.

Nothing to be sorry about, Paul! I appreciate every effort! I just read your comment on HMF about it growing from 12" to 5' X 5' each year! WOW! Talk about "vigor" and if your disease pressures and winter weather won't damage it...

Kim, here I go off topic again. I forgot about this grocery store mini, which I've grown for about 12 years. I have no idea what it is--it was a gift from a student to my daughter when she taught kindergarten. Anyway, it does better when it isn't pruned in the spring along with the rest of my roses. It's approaching six feet tall, and the blooms in spring are almost the size of a typical rose. Then as the heat sets in, the blooms become mini sized and not very good looking. When it cools down in fall, the blooms become larger again, though not as nice as in spring. It reminds me of what my late, non lamented PAoK did every year. So is it a true mini? Diane

Grocery store "mini" what could it be?

Thanks, Kim. I'm mostly intrigued by all the changes this so called mini goes through in a season and wish it would stay always like the spring version. As I mentioned, it reminds me of that blasted PAoK, looking nice in spring, ugly in summer, and maybe nice again in fall. But it was a monster in my garden, too, and it had to go. Diane

Obviously, the introducer determined it would make a suitable flowering potted plant in the size you received it in. It was very likely never meant to be planted out and grown on but propagated and sold as a "flowering mini". As the newly rooted cuttings in flower, it probably was a "mini". The Poulsens and Kordes grocery store minis develop into five and six foot plants but usually maintain their smaller than 2" flower sizes. My youngest sister planted them all over her yard and then let them get away from her. She now has large hedges of "minis".