Mr. Moore honestly had no idea whether anyone would buy this or not. His focus was purely on miniatures so this was totally outside of his view. Several of us begged him do so something with it. Thankfully, he let it go before it was too late. It's subject to black spot in areas where it's severe but in milder disease pressure areas, it's superb!

Absolutely lovely.

Gorgeous!

roseseek - I am so glad that you and others talked him into letting it go - it is such a spectacular rose.

Jackie

You and me, both, Jackie! There were MANY, some of which were finally introduced (Pink Powderpuff, Sunshine Sally, Out of the Night, Fakir's Delight and others. Too many, were never released. His "objection" to this one was the cresting wasn't heavy enough. The one he wanted to release did have a lot more cresting on a very upright, stiff plant with orange pink, semi double blooms with no scent. It appears to be extinct from what I can determine.

I just encountered another of Mr. Moore's "others" in full, beautiful bloom while out on a walk in the neighborhood. There is a house that has maybe nine "Ralph's Creeper' plants in the front yard, which is somewhat shady. The owner was actually there weeding, so I took the opportunity to find out when and from where she had obtained them, asking had she perhaps obtained them from a Strybing Arboretum sale (there are a bunch of them here/there/everywhere at Strybing).. But, no, she got them when the variety was first introduced (30+ years ago!), special-ordered through the local family-owned nursery.

Nine plants of R's C! That must be quite a sight - are they on a fence, or being used as ground cover? I looked it up on HMF, and quite a lovely rose.

Jackie

And, what's really fascinating about R'sC is what made it. This https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/pl.php?n=15722 with its approximately inch wide flowers appearing in spasms over the season, crossed with this https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/pl.php?n=4875 with its much larger flowers appearing nearly continuously in the right climate. I wish I could find photos of R's C as a weeping standard. It's spectacular grown that way!

Beautiful Jackie!!IHappy Spring everyone!

Wow! What a bloomer!

roseseek - thank you so much for the links to the parents of Dawn Crest - who would have thought they could produce such a different and marvelous rose? (Ralph Moore, that's who!).

Jackie

Sorry Jackie, those are the parents for Ralph's Creeper due to our hijacking your thread. Dawn Crest resulted from crossing his putative version of R. Soulieana X Crested Jewel. "Putative" because traditionally when you cross a once-flowering species with a repeating modern you don't usually get repeat in the first generation. This Soulieana DID provide repeat in the first generation using various mates. So, you have a "species" crossed with a hybrid which resulted from Little Darling crossed with Crested Moss. It's a triploid, meaning it has an uneven number of pairs of chromosomes which can lead to difficulties in breeding, but not impossible. Some of the most disease resistant roses ever created are triploids. The Knock Out roses are generally triploid. Mr. Moore's Golden Angel, which produced several of his more remarkable crosses, is triploid and it is what led to Lynnie, my healthy, intensely fertile triploid shrub. He honestly did show the way along several breeding paths.

Jackie, the local 'Ralph's Creeper' plants are being used as groundcover. Not only are they on the north side and under trees, they are in the local "soil", which is a pretty poor sort that we all suffer with, deemed useful only as middling-to-poor grazing land by USGS (and, on my lot, even that was scraped down to subsoil to level the lot!). This homeowner's solution was to make some raised beds with purchased topsoil, which, as you can see from the photo of one of them, has more or less disappeared after 30+ years in its spot. But, still, these plants are colorful and make a nice splash of color pretty consistently through the season.

Oh, Catspa - what a sweet, refreshing looking blooming fool of a rose!!! I love it!!

Gorgeous, Jackie!

It was a spindly thing for years after I planted it, but now appears to be coming into its own...I am developing a theory that some roses (and most old roses) should be given at least 10-15 years to show their worth, and not discarded if they disappoint after 3 (not that I would ever do that anyway).

Jackie

Jackie - goodness!! What a treasure!! The color is so happy and there are so many blooms! I think I need to pay attention to what you said. :) :)

I keep finding roses in my garden which are all amazing when older.

Jackie

Jackie, I agree with you about old roses grown on their own roots as long (as they are in a compatible zone). They tend to grow more like shrubs. It may take 5-10 years before you really know what to expect. OTOH, they tend to be as long-lived as any shrub may be. This may not be true for most modern HTs or FLBs. i think they were bred with the necessity that they be grafted.

BTW this is a stunning rose. I'll bet it stops traffic. Sometimes I wonder if those responsible for its creation had any idea how beautiful it would be as a mature rose in full bloom.

Kes - see roseseek's comments about Ralph Moore ("those responsible for its creation") and this rose above - Ralph Moore was a famous famous rose hybridizer of miniature roses, and specialty kinds of roses with "moss" on their buds, and crested buds, etc. He did that successfully until he was 100.

Jackie

I grow this here in z5 - it will never be as big as yours Jackie, but i just love it! Hoping for a good year here, we had a mild winter this year - only hit -7F. This rose has survived temps of -24 though, so dont be afraid to try it in a colder zone .

Thank you, Dingo - that is I am sure good to know for folks who live in colder zones.

Jackie