Aside from my own seedlings, I guess they would have to be Blue for You and Eyes for You. Both of which have proven themselves to be incredibly healthy, intensely fragrant and wonderfully seductive! Oh, and Art Nouveau, not fragrant, but healthy and quite intriguing. Kim

This post was edited by roseseek on Thu, Dec 13, 12 at 19:20

Thanks, Ingrid for those names. I'll check your roses out: Romaggi Plot, Lady Mary Corry, and N92 Nanjing. Also the other ones you have: Leonie's Appoline, Lady Alice Stanley, Duchess of Albany and Souvenir de Pierre de St. Germain

Kim's Annie Laurie McDowell is the most unusual, it's green to the tip now, zone 5a, and 100% thornless. Another unusual is Robert Neil's CAROP thornless blue rose, second descendant from Kim's Joyberry. That one still has green leaves, and that's a miracle for a tiny rooting outside in zone 5a.

Check out Robert Neil's newly created REALLY BLUE thornless and fragrant rose below:

Here is a link that might be useful: CAROP thornless blue rose by Robert Neil

I had to stop and think about that.

I don't know that I have any really "unusual" roses -- tho we have a few that are found, and not available in commerce.

"Pulich Children," "Jesse Hildreth," "Legacy Of The Richardson Family," "Durst Plot," "Ladyfingers," "Orange Smith," Rosa arkansana "Peppermint Candy," -- Foundlings of ours and those of other Rose Sleuths. 'Mel's Heritage,' 'Lupe's Buttons' -- Seedlings from the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden.

But I don't know if Uncommon could equate to Unusual.

Jeri

Strawberry, Where would one find Carop? That is a pretty rose!

I agree with Jeri: roses with unusual qualities tend to be popular and so not rare; rare roses do not necessarily have unusual characteristics. So likely candidates are new hybrids, from hybridizers, or a rose that has just entered into commerce in your part of the world. I sigh over some of Kim's roses that aren't, as far as I know, available here in Europe, and ditto for Paul Barden. But I've had N 92 Nanjing in the garden for some years now: it looks something like a redder 'Old Blush'. If it roots, my rarest rose will be the 'Mozart' x 'Mutabilis' cross a friend bred and then gave me cuttings of.

AHH Melissa -- N2 Nanjing sounds fascinating. Photos? origin?

Jeri

I have some that seem rare in commerce in the US, as far as I can tell. One that I've never heard anyone else mention is Vintage's own Sebastopol Queen, a very nice rambler that I have growing into an enormous maple tree.

Another is Andenken an J Diering, a climbing rose I like very much! I have to get new pictures of that one (well, all of mine). I saw some Japanese pictures of a mature one, and I can't wait till mine matures more.

I have two that come to mind.

Sophie's Perpetual. It's been mentioned here before, but not very often. Some call it a China. Vintage calls it a Bourbon (and they're description uses the word unusual!) It's most likely a Bourbon China hybrid. Twiggy, thornless, china-like growth with flowers that darken in the sun, but a nice Damask fragrance. The first flowers on mine were nearly single, but there's a flower open now that is quite double. I will try to take pics tomorrow.

I also have an old Ralph Moore miniature/polyantha/wichurana seedling from 1953 called Frosty. It hasn't bloomed for me yet, but is supposed to have snow white flowers with green styles in the center and a strong honeysuckle fragrance. Also thornless.

nothing much for me apart from the first lot of hybrid hulthemias bred by Harkness (and I only have a couple of those - Euphrates and Nigel Hawthorn). I am also awaiting a new rose about which I know nothing - Murjami, a small single wild-looking thing from Beales and I suspect there are not going to be too many bushes of Dawn Crest in the UK,(a US Moore import via Bierkreek which I am terribly excited about).
Funnily enough, Euphrates is my oldest rose (over 25 years) which I bought before I was much of a gardener and certainly before roses in general stole my attention. Even though there were suggestions that these roses were a bit miffy, they have always been outstanding under my rough care, happy in large pots with only an annual topdressing. Pleased to see there has been a revival in these lovely Persian roses as, if they like the garden, they are astoundingly healthy, floriferous and unusual. If I had the patience to embark on a hybridisation programme of my own, I would be going to these as pollen parents (since they do not, for me at least, seem keen on setting heps).

I have a number of rare roses but as for unusual I guess I would say Rosa Foliolosa. It has long slender willow like leaves.

The gallica Bijou des amateurs may be my most unusual rose. It is one of five rare gallicas (at least in Sweden) I ordered from Loubert because they used to grow in a shortlived public rose garden in Stockholm in 1836. (It was vandalized by the public). Most of the 400 roses in that garden are still sold today but a few are less common over here, L�a, the Bijou, Pourpre charmant, Manteau pourpre and Adele Heu. The Adele I received is probably a bourbon, not a gallica. I don't have a good picture of it or someone might recognize it.

My two DDR roses are probably unusual too, Salzaquelle and Wartburg 77, both bred by Hermann Berger at the East German production cooperative Roter Oktober. Wartburg 77:

The rose itself isn't unusual in any manner, it's really quite pretty, but it is very rare and, as far as I know, impossible to buy, Pinocchio. Still have Mom's original and last year managed to get one to root!

I have a yellow that I have yet to find a name for (not that I haven't tried), that came with my property. Looks like a floribunda or small scrub rose, no fragrance, blooms last absolutely forever - so long that when I finally want a new set of blooms, I have to cut off the old with hedge cutters, even though they retain a nice form - just become lighter in color and pedals edge with pink. and I really love it. Gophers actually gave me a gift on this one, chewed the roots right in half, so when I dug it up to cage and replant I had two to replant. Both in the ground now, leafing up like crazy, definitely own root. Don't know if I'll ever know the history on it, but it's my little unique rose, unlike any small bloomed yellow I've ever seen.

Camp,you can research what Chris Warner did with the Hulthemias there but here, no progress could have been possible without Tigris. It is the only one which actually sets seeds, though not with its own pollen, and the only one whose pollen worked on other seed parents until Mr. Moore raised his first hybrids. The trick here to using Tigris for seed was NOT to emasculate the blooms. Until he stopped removing the stamen and anthers from its flowers, Tigris refused to set any hips. Once he stopped, it set hips from almost every pollinated flower.

I, too, have found Euphrates to be very long lived. I've grown Tigris and Nigel and lost both over the years, but this piece of Euphrates is still one of the original rooted suckers from that plant I imported directly from Harkness back in the mid eighties. It isn't happy here and it has mildew, something neither Tigris nor Nigel ever had to contend with, but this plant flat out REFUSES to die! Kim

Seil, Pinocchio may be one you should include in your breeding. Ralph Moore used to speak of it that there is tremendously more possible from it than what has been mined already. IIRC, Boerner wrote that it made a much better pollen than seed parent. Mr. Moore stated he thought it virtually worthless for seed as they would form and germinate, but many would die off before attaining much size. However seeds resulting from its pollen are usually as vigorous as those from any other pollen parent. Kim

In my garden 'Nimbus', a florbiunda bred by LeGrice (1989), is the most unusual rose in terms of the color of the blooms. It fits into the category of the mauve colored roses, but there is something very special about this one. It is actually a mauve blend, that can sometimes occur almost brown. The color is constantly changing with the temperatures, but always fascinating and pleasing. Coincidentally I posted some photos of 'Nimbus' in my last blog post. If you like to see them please click on the link below.

Very interesting and certainly inspiring to read about the unusual roses growing in the gardens of other Antique Rose Forum members!

Christina

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Garden Dreams

I've seen Nimbus and think it is a very special rose, and think it deserves to be as well known as Distant Drums.

Comtesse Emmeline de Guigne' is not rare, but I rarely come across it in other gardens.
I found a cream sport on a plant in a public garden and have waited 3 years for it to grow to large enough so I can propagate from it by taking 3 cuttings, and still leave a good amount of sporting section upon the sport parent. If I can get to that garden this January (I have an injury that keeps me from driving) I'll take cuttings from it, (I've had a permission letter, to do this for a few years now). The blooms are the size and shape of another Tea; Catherine Mermet, but the petals are glossy and cream.

'Cemetary Musk' seedling I bought this at the Sacramento Cemetary sale intending to use it in a white rose border, but I should have visited the plant in the garden first, my mistake, for it is a pink Noisette, not a white Musk.
It is a fetching five petaled pink rose, with the regular re-bloom of a Noisette, and the foliage is so healthy and attractive that I regularly use it in bouquets, and it is still blooming now, ten days before Christmas.
I left Celsiana and white Rose of York, when I moved, and though they are not unusual, they are rarely seen where I live near San Francisco, ca. Oh, how I miss them!

Luxrosa

Kippy: If you e-mail Robert Neil Rippetoe in HMF, he's listed as HMF member and HMF breeder.... he breeds a big collection of exotic roses .. he sends tiny rootings out for testing, if folks pay for postage and handling cost, around $11. Check out yellow-tinged-red rose called SMOX below, it's smoking hot!

Here is a link that might be useful: Newly bred yellow with red tinge

I love Marianne's picture of yellow rose Wartburg 77 - just perfect! Too bad we don't have that here.

I like newly bred exotic roses because the disease-resistant is superb compared to OGR's that gave me trouble: either BS-ridden, or don't bloom often. The 3 roses I got from Robert Neil are 100% clean, zero BS here.

Here's another newly bred reddish purple from Robert Neil, its non-official name is JACXSMO:

Here is a link that might be useful: JACXSMO from Robert Neil

I have a large, healthy 'Eugene de Beauharnais'. The rose itself is not unusual, but apparently describing it as "large, healthy" is. ;^)

Thanks, Kim. I have tried breeding with it several times but so far no luck. It has never set hips for me on itself or when pollen was used on others. But I'm still trying!

You're welcome Sharon. Personally, I wouldn't mess with trying Pinocchio for seed, but concentrate on using it for pollen. I'd hate to actually generate seeds from it and have them follow the pattern of never germinating, or dying off shortly after germination. Ralph Moore got some neat things from it and I love Pride of Oakland, the Lindquist floribunda created using it with China Doll. Ironically, he produced that from Pinocchio seed. Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Pride of Oakland

There's another ridiculously healthy rose that Lyn Griffth and I grow, bred by Robert Neil Rippetoe. Here's Lyn comment: "I also am growing 'Lyn Griffith x China Town' Yes, it has been totally clean for the last two years."

Here in my zone 5a, LYGXCHT is 100% healthy, zero blackspots in our rainy fall. It's still green until hard frost hit Dec. 12, the root system is good, and I hope it will survive winter with dirt mounded on top. It's fruity fragrant, peachy-yellow, many petals. Check out the link below for this new, VERY disease-resistant rose:

Here is a link that might be useful: Lyn Griffth x Chinatown bred by Robert Neil