Beautiful, love the pink one especially!!! Tricia

catspat... I've found something of what I kept on the information about those China roses. I've no idea where I got it from, I'm still looking for the rest of it, it was very detailed and lengthy. I'll just post a paragraph here, I hope it's not copyrighted but I can't put a link as I've forgotten the source.. it was Old Gay Hill Red China, not the White Pearl.. Another group of suspected synonyms and sports that the results of this study support is a red, semi-double flowered group based on the China Rose cultivar Fabvier (syn. ‘Colonel Fabvier’). ‘Fabvier’, ‘Martha Gonzales’, and ‘Old Gay Hill Red China’ (C40, C10, and C16) all had identical SSR profiles. Based on catalogue descriptions of the plants in commerce (see Table 1 for information on sources), the results suggest that the found rose ‘Martha Gonzales’ is actually ‘Fabvier’, and that ‘Old Gay Hill Red China’, also a found rose, is a taller growth form sport of ‘Fabvier’. If I find the rest I'll post a link... edit here.. actually I've found the link, it's in pdf form and thesis written by Valerie Ann Soules of the N. Dakota State University.. titled ''Analysis of Genetic Diversity and Relationships in the China Rose Group''.. the paragraph above is on page 37 and on page 11 lists all the China roses analysed.. It's very lengthy and complicated. I must read it through sometime when I have about 3 days to spare.. there's around 60 pages... I was mostly interested in what it had to say about 'Miss Lowe's Variety'... link to Oaktrust Library

Ooh, ooh, ooh, Anja! My eyes are absolutely delighted. I think that you vastly improved H554 and WOW six flowers on her maiden flowering. My sincere compliments to you! I apologize for overwhelming you with ideas regarding your lovely (Pink Rascal x Emerald). My mind was spinning with possibilities. I haven’t ever been successful in obtaining seed from ‘Sweet Lilian.’ However, I do have one or two seedlings with SL as the pollen parent. An eBay seller in the UK listed (Sweet Lilian x La Paz) seeds and specified “crosses guaranteed correct.” On a Russian forum, there was a photo of seedlings that were represented as (Sweet Lilian x Red Pearl) and (Sweet Lilian x Red Lion), but this is anecdotal information. Although giant flowers are not my personal preference, one of the goals of Hippeastrum breeding is to produce larger, thicker petaled, longer lasting flowers. As diploids are crossed with tetraploid cultivars, we are seeing more and more sterile triploids. Some hypothesize that sterile plants may make more flowers because they aren’t using their resources for seed production.

Well, you learn something every day. I did not know about Playgirl. Love the color! I wonder if she does as well in Colorado as Playboy? Unfortunately not carried by High Country Roses so I'd have to mail order. I've considered doing it but I do like seeing the blooms in person and getting Matt's input on how the roses do in Colorado so haven't taken the leap yet. Winnipeg parks is a new addition. I went to the Denver Rose show this year and there were tons of beautiful Winnipeg Parks entries. Mid July or so we added a band. It now looks like this. I think it is going to become a favorite. So far the Japanese Beetles are leaving it alone, it seems to have alot of blooms (I have recently cut two off) and is supposed to be good down to zone 4. I couldn't help myself and went to cut more blooms today. My display area looks like this now. Turns out Amiga Mia is my largest rose. The Sally Holmes start that we put out front is getting established and growing. But I'm thinking we made a mistake. The big Sally Holmes bush is generally a Japanese Beetle magnet and Lady in Red isn't getting them at all. So Lady in Red may be a better bush to have in the front since it holds it's appearance better.