A wonderful, reliable old HT that is often found in abandoned gardens. I have probably shared it before, but here is something I wrote about Red Radiance many years ago, posted to the Comments section of its rose page on HMF, March 6, 2006. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.5145&tab=32 

Jeri - "discovered" in 1916? Do you know where or by whom?

Jackie

Ok, I get it - never mind. It is a sport of Radiance, of course. I like it much better!

Jackie

Oh! I love the whole Radiance clan! Radiance (not Red Radiance) was the first HT rose to bloom here this spring. Beautiful soft olive green foliage, shrugs off blackspot (about 90% clean in a no-spray garden), and hardy -- although it only reaches about 18 inches here. I have it up close in the front of the border. It is one of the roses I'd plant again if I moved.

Reportedly breeders worked feverishly to raise a yellow Radiance. J. Horace McFarland declared it a "World Rose" because "anywhere a man can comfortably live, Radiance can be grown".

One member of a local rose society was one of the few who had any interest in historic roses. I got to know her when she was in her 80's.

The one rose she had grown her entire rose growing life that she had from her parents was Red Radiance. She felt bad as a committed exhibitor that it didn't have a high pointed center, but she kept it. Her plant wasn't particularly healthy and should have been grafted on some stock because it had bad crown gall, but it was a survivor of our worst winter, when temps didnt get above zero Fahrenheit for three days.

This was a very popular rose in Florida in the early to mid-20th Century. It did (and does) very well here.

Malcolm,

Could that be because it likes soils with slightly higher phosphorus than average. I've often wondered if there's a halo in Florida where the phosphate mines were and extends into the areas where the same formation is, but not in mine-able quantities.

I get the impression that the 'Radiance' clan are all good almost everywhere. (With the exception of 'Careless Love' which seems to be a bit of a weakling.)

'Careless Love' Rose (helpmefind.com)

stillanntn6b -- I had not thought of that, but since it does well on rootstocks, I suspect the nutrient content of soils may not be a specific issue here. Just guessing. It is true that our soils have very high P levels, not so much because of the rich vein of the element 35-75 feet under us, but because we are on old citrus grove land, that was heavily fertilized over the years.

Malcolm, isn't yours budded on Fortuniana? Wouldn't how it performs there be more a function of Fortuniana roots than high phosphorus? A common root stock appears to often be the "great equalizer".

Kim, Yes, that's what I meant -- rootstock characteristics would be the more important factor here. When the Radiance series would first have been popular, a lot of them would have been grown on some other rootstock or own-root, since 'Fortuniana' would not have been popular by then. It was known and grown, but had not really taken off, I think.

Malcolm -- But wasn't "Ragged Robin" widely used, in that time?

There was (they've killed it) a 15-ft-tall bush at Rancho Camulos that was half Red Radiance, and half "Ragged Robin" ('Gloire des Rosomanes')

Jeri, please share that photo to the Red Radiance page on HMF!

Kim. I will. I never thought of it. Of course, at this stage of its life, it was 50% Ragged Robin.

From the history we know, it almost certainly was planted before 1925, when the ranch was sold.

Thank you! Adding all of that information will demonstrate how these old things survive and what you can expect from them where nothing eats, freezes, burns or otherwise "prune" them.

I wish you'd been with me, Kim, the day I made my last visit to the ranch, and saw how many things they had killed.

I had a temper tantrum.

They have never asked me back.

It's sad but get ready for more. As water tightens, more will be lost...

From back east, I was sick when I read about the Sacramento Cemetery roses, and the future of roses in the dry west scares me.

Here, Rose Rosette continues. Nobody seems to notice. But there are fewer rose gardens every year, sort of like rose shows.

I'd like to have something to hold onto, to hope

"I'd like to have something to hold onto, to hope"

Oh my dear . . . I'm with you all the way.

I was hoping there would be a NoCal "Heirloom Exposition" this fall, and we propagated some really rare things, hoping to sell them, there . . . But, no. No Expo, again. No Cemetery garden. No CoOR, and I fear there may never be again . . .

-----------

'Tina Marie' . . . One of the roses we propagated.

Careless Love was Carol Markell's (Bluesibe) favorite rose. I always think of her when it comes up in discussion. Red Radiance is a lovely rose as well.

"I'd like to have something to hold onto, to hope"

*** So would I, Ann. So would I.