That is great Kim arranged that, KS. You will love her!

Sadly, I lost my second plant of ALMcD to heat and drought. It seemed to be doing OK. None of my roses can really flourish in their early years,since I can't water them much during the summer,so I thought Annie'd make it. But come early fall, it was clear that the rose was NOT bouncing back, but was continuing to dwindle, so I dug it up and put it in a pot. Too late; it died.This is the second ALMcD that's been killed off in my hot and dry garden. Now, I still have 2 plants left: one biggish one from Bierkreek,another very tiny one from Rosaplant. The larger one I bought potted, and now it's been in my pot ghetto for at least two years more. It had problems with rootstock trying to take over,but perhaps by now it uas managed to overcome this and is hopefully going own-root. I am leery of planting it out in my garden; I do NOT want to lose this one too!!! So I am hoping the "own-roots" will develop well this year, and when I do plant it out, I plan to choose a partially shaded place for it,and intend to try to coddle it more than I normally do. It's supposed to be so vigorous, so perhaps the problem lies in the fact that it does want to bloom constantly,and therefore can wind up exhausting itself easily if it doesn't get a lot of water in it's early years.

Gorgeous!

Bart mine is not vigorous and grows slowing. Atleast while settling in . It does have alot of new growth, but it snowed today, and we are having 27 degree weather two morning in a row, so that will kill its growth and my blooms on my china/Asian once bloomers. There are growing, but I haven't never seen a bloom :( wacky weather going warm for a month or so, then getting 2-3 nights/mornings of cold weather takes their bloom.

You would be correct! I enjoyed that immensely!

I have heard back from Steve Singer. If you want an Annie Laurie McDowell budded on seedling multiflora stock, please email him with your information. He will collect everything then let me know how many buds he needs me to send. Kim

He is shipping me an Annie Laurie McDowell in April! I'm so relieved to find out it wasn't the victim of "porch pirates" -- my neighborhood has a serious problem with package theft, so I panicked needlessly. Thank you Kim for making this possible!

That is so great Kim and KS and Steve Singer. You have to get her out there somehow. Mine are really healthy own root too.

Oh, good! I'm glad, KS. You're welcome, thank you!

We need to get it own root or on Fort for us Florida folks somehow...I am seriously pining for this rose. This photo just breaks my heart. Can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent trying to find it somewhere.

Well, I sent Geoff at Cool Roses there in Florida 7 pounds of virus indexed Fortuniana last year. He received it and told me he had struck over a hundred cuttings of it, but there had been a month of rain and he wasn't sure if he had gotten any takes. I had previously emailed, then called him about budding ALmD, but he didn't have virus indexed Fortuniana, so Kippy allowed me to prune hers as it had grown very large and she needed access to that area of the yard. I have emailed Geoff, inquiring whether or not he finally had VI stock being built up, but no word back yet. He said he had originally gotten some from Malcolm and some from other sources and that RMV kept popping up in his production budding so he didn't know which mother plants were clean and which weren't. He tried buying a hundred cuttings from Malcolm but said he couldn't because Malcolm only had one plant. Mine was from Malcolm's, and I had given Kippy one I had rooted and they're the same as Davis' as they obtained theirs from Malcolm. I deliberately sent him the quantity of material I did so he could get VI mother plants started and be able to bud clean product. He told me he had tried to obtain an Austin contract and they required him to legally sign he guaranteed his stock to to virus free. Isn't THAT a joke? He said he didn't get the license because he couldn't guaranty his Fortuniana was clean. Hopefully now he can, but until I hear back from him, I won't know whether to try getting ALmD sent through him or not.

Wow! That’s very encouraging! Thank you for your wonderful report. Crossing fingers that it will all work out. :-)

Is Austin kidding themselves that their mother plants are virus-free?
What a bad joke!

Jin, it’s hardly your fault! You’ve done so much to try to make this happen. I’m really sorry that I posted about it...I didn’t realize how much had been done to try to get this going. Maybe Geoff is just overwhelmed with business stressors right now? You and Kim have put forth a valiant effort, and I’m sure I’m just one of many who appreciate it immensely. But there’s only so much we can do, unless we learn real quick how to bud on Fort, lol! I‘m super-grateful that you guys were willing to try so many angles, and know that when it’s the right time, it will all work out. :-)

No problem, Jin, Thank you for trying to help provide the "pull"! Geoff doesn't have it. I know he doesn't. I spoke with him last year and I've emailed him again about it this year, mentioning the rose every time. I simply want to know if he has the VI Fortuniana rooted and enough stocks available for me to unleash those of you who wish to buy it budded to that from him. I wrote and told him I would send him the bud wood. If he would simply read emails, check on the Fortuniana and respond, all will be well. I guess I have to call him again? He's still not responded to my email. Oh, well. Seems quite a bit like K&M. "I never got it. Oh, I got it, it died. Oh, it didn't die, I don't know where it is. Oh, I found it, what was it again?" and on and on and on... IF Geoff has the VI Fortuniana rooted and IF he will respond so we can get things set up, you will be able to get it budded by him. Simple.

Perma, I CAN bud on Fortuniana. The issue is, it doesn't get hot enough here to force it to root. It sits there. I can callus it by wrapping it, then it sits and rots. It will NOT root for me here in Santa Maria. It rooted like the weed it is in Encino where it's hotter and drier. My ALmD is budded on the same VI Fortuniana. Before I moved, I budded several on both Pink Clouds and Fort to insure it made the move with me. They have all found homes.

Thank you, Jin, and you're welcome! Own root DA's do sound a bit "unusual".

Will pink clouds work for you folks in Florida? Do you think fortuniana woodroot with bottom Heat?

Jerry, I'm sorry I got sidetracked! Also sorry for the spelling I can't type on my phone and it doesn't give me your correct spelling but with voice recognition. Anyway, you have the prettiest roses. Absolutely the prettiest roses. All these pictures really capture why everyone wants this Rose.

I doubt Pink Clouds would be much different from multiflora as far as nematodes in Florida are concerned. Fortuniana may root with bottom heat, but then it demands HEAT to push it to grow. It was perfect in the San Fernando Valley where it got as hot as the Bellows of Hades, but here on the Central Coast, in the "fog belt", we just aren't hot enough to make it push. I collected six virus indexed root stocks to be able to explore what worked better on which and passed most on to Gracie Flower Farm as they get a lot more heat in Santa Ynez, more inland than we are.

Thank you so much, Kim, for all you do to help so many of us grow these amazing plants. Your generosity is extrordinary, and I’m so grateful for all that you’ve done to try to help all the FL growers. (I’m sure YOU can bud anything you want to; that was just meant as a joke for Jin and I, as newbies. I certainly wasn’t including you in that, and apologize if it read that way.) You’ve gone above and beyond what anyone could to make this rose available to us, and I know it is appreciated beyond words.

I think I mentioned in a post last year that McDowell is my mother’s maiden name, and we’ve just recently found a connection to the Texas McDowells. So there’s a much stronger reason for me wanting to grow ALMD and a lot of it‘s just my delight discovering some family connections to growing roses. But I have so many wonderful roses already, and it sounds like I am just supposed to take care of all these beauties for now, and wait patiently for my Annie.

Jin, you are just the sweetest person ever to go to all this trouble, and I’m so grateful to you, too. Because of your generosity and kindness, I just hate to hear you feeling discouraged about this, and blaming yourself. We‘ll get her one way or another! She’s too good a rose to just disappear. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for how you keep encouraging me, and for all that I’ve learned from you about growing roses.

I just love that we have this place, to meet people that share our passion for roses—-I wouldn’t know all these amazing people if I hadn’t discovered this forum, and I’m so very grateful. :-)

How neat about the family McDowell connection and new relatives! Congratulations! No worries, I'd LOVE for everyone to learn to bud, seriously. It would make keeping these goodies around so much easier and even fun!

I've budded and grafted citrus and just grafted some other plants, before. Are roses any harder? My Fortuniana plant was graciously given to me by Blue Girl. I didnt think to ask where it came from. Its finally getting some size on it. Does anyone have a tutorial video?

Look up chip budding on You Tube. I understand there are a number of them there. That's the method most useful with Fortuniana due to its brittle bark. It's EASY. I believe that Fortuniana from Blue Girl is from me, as I sent it to her. She wasn't budding on it, but other things. I have to email her as she moved and I need to make sure all is going well with getting settled in. You might email her just to verify. Have fun!

Thanks, I just found the you tube :) I'm gonna start some root stock from the Fort to practice with later.

Good for you! If you have other roses you aren't worried about spreading RMV to or from, you might start practicing budding so once you have the Fortuniana ready, you can jump right in and already have a feeling for what you're doing. Why waste the good stuff when you can get your "learner's permit" on stuff that's already there? Take a bud from a bush and bud it to the same thing somewhere else to practice budding. That way, there is no chance of infecting something that isn't already infected.

What a fabulous idea. I have some multiflora something original to my house I was thinking of rooting, but I could just graft something directly onto it just to practice!Now if it would just warm up. Do I really need the grafting knife or can one use and Xacto knife?

Good! If the multiflora is seedling, it's probably "virus free", unless you have RRD in the area, then there is always that potential. Otherwise, if it grows well there, it's seedling and you have it, go for it! I have owned two or three grafting knives and haven't found one yet I was comfortable using. My all time "go to" budding tool is a single edged razor blade. No cleaning necessary. If you're concerned about transmitting RMV via your tool, push it back into the container in which it is sold and pull out a fresh blade. If it's getting dull, ditto. They're cheap, relatively easy to obtain and always sharp. I've gotten used to holding the blade in my mouth while I work (rounded side in, of course!) and have never cut myself with one.

Budding sounds interesting. I saved 3 hardy Canadian rose tree trunks after the grafted parts went. They are rugosa tree trunks. It would be nice to make them rose trees again. I am in for budding too! :-) Let's share pictures later, we shall learn together, this is an open classroom.

There are MANY videos on line and probably many blogs and other sources of information to help.I'll start it off here with my Chip Budding blog post.

Thank you! It sounds like good bedtime reading. Lol! :-) I'll have to see if this is the one I read a while back that had an excellent tutorial but I forgot to book Market. Excuse my language I can't type on my phone and it doesn't recognize my voice all the time.

My multiflora may be a named variety I am not sure. My house is 100 years old and I have many original plan to pick up which I believe these are one. In fact, I was recently given a picture of my house from 1925 and it clearly shows a huge rose bush back where I want to plant one very nearby to this Rose. However, I've been mowing it for the past umpteen years so only now did I realize it was there! I still think I will start trying to chip Bud to other plants that I have and just try and root this over the summer. I also have to see what time of year is best for this. Thank you so much!

Thanks Kim! I just ordered 4 rolls grafting tapes (360'), it should last me for a while. I am also interested in grafting fruit trees, but I will start with roses.

Vap, Let's do it! :-) It's more fun if more people are learning at the same time.

I did citrus (fruit cocktail) type grafting before with different citrus varieties on one tree. It was neat for awhile but one seems to always want to take over the others and get real big and shade them out or hog all the energy. I got tired of trying to maintain balance of them all and lost interest lol. So when I moved to FL and had to leave them behind I was glad lol.

Sultry_Jasmine, Was it hard to do? I was thinking about grafting Honey Jar Jujube trees. It's pretty expensive. I have 2 in my small orchard. I'd like to have a few more. I am not sure where to buy the tree trunks for grafting fruit yet, have to find it out from the fruit and orchards forum.

I guess that helps explain the bigger it gives to roses that are grafted to it!

The scent depends upon your nose. It has NO scent to mine. You CAN grow these monsters even without vast amounts of space. Prune the devil out of them and they will respond by remaining smaller masses of growth. No, they won't be "happy" and you won't have AS many flowers, but you will have the material if you want to work with it. Until last spring, I'd never budded anything other than roses. I joined the Rare Fruit group in Santa Barbara and cut my teeth on apple trees, which are THE easiest to graft. Not that I have the space for them, but I now have aLaxton's Fortune (Laxton was a large British nursery who did a lot with roses) and a "Snow Apple", one of the oldest know varieties.

I have sort of a "natural experiment" (aka "by accident") going on with restricting the size of Fortuniana by not irrigating it in summer. Late last winter I moved a 'Fabvier' up to a spot at the very edge of the cared-for part of my garden and grabbed the water line of the Fortuniana I also have growing up there (wild-and-crazy and regularly pruned) and gave it to 'Fabvier', figuring I would get around to fixing something up for Fortuniana later. Well, the summer went along and then it was fall without me getting around to it and I'm realizing that the Fortuniana still looked fine, though not putting on lots of new growth. Never did give it irrigation, and rains started in early November. Looked at it this morning -- lots of new leaves and flower buds, but no wild-and-crazy octopus canes yet, which it used to produce all the time when it got summer irrigation. I know of at least a few banksia roses at old houses around town that don't get any summer water but have persisted for a long, long time, and I am curious now to see how Fortuniana fares under that regime. Imagine this strategy wouldn't work in Florida, though, jin...

I was wondering if anyone has tried any other rootstocks for FL? Like some of the other OGRs that do well here? It seems like it would be nice to have a more moderate rootstock. (I’ve been reading about how insanely vigorous Kordes roses are on Fort.)

I grafted an apple this past year, too, Kim! I was wondering how that compared to roses. It seems like rose budwood is softer, so that makes me worry a bit about getting really good clean cuts. I think it could be a very interesting experiment.

I’m really excited about getting enough roses to have some seedlings to “play” with, too. :-)

Apples are almost idiot proof. They are real "grafting" as you took a stick and slid it into a notch at the top of the stock. Roses can be done that way, too, once you've practiced enough. Chip and T budding require just a single bud which is completely different from the standard apple grafting. Chip budding is the easiest method for roses. As long as whatever you use is sharp and clean, "clean cuts" aren't a problem.

Apples are rather "rustic", "ham fisted", compared to chip budding roses. You don't want to split the stock nor whittle the scion into a point. You want to slice just under the bark without lifting the cambium from the pith so you can slide the bud (also with cambium on its back side) under the bark so you have cambium to cambium contact. Just like apples, cambium is required to touch cambium so you have a circulatory system regeneration, knitting the two pieces together. Apples don't require the finesse roses do, but don't let that worry you about roses being "difficult". Few things aren't difficult when they are new.

Thank you, Kim! You are an excellent teacher—even without visuals I can follow your gist—-and you make it sound like fun.

It’s exciting to think of the new opportunities that grafting could bring! :-)

You're welcome! Believe it or not, it IS fun! And, there are tremendous opportunities being able to "roll your own" can bring!

It would be great if more people could learn to do this, because some old roses were bred to be grafted, I understand, and these are getting hard to find commercially. Also, there are some which sucker so prolifically on their own roots that it precludes growing them in very small gardens.

It is honestly easy enough that many people COULD learn it. The issue has always been few WOULD.

I always wanted to make my own standards.... that's really what got me interested in trying. I have a couple of DrH's I've been nurturing and I can probably use them for this venture. I just wish I'd thought of this while there were still roses at the Wooster Roses of Legends and Romance site. If I knew they were going to destroy it, I would have snagged a few of the rarities.

My DH keeps telling me that if I don’t stop buying roses, I’m going to have to open my own nursery, lol! I can’t imagine his reaction if I started reproducing my roses! But I‘d really like to expand my rose options the same way I’m expanding my fruit options. It’s the same problem with fruit trees; they’re all on the wrong rootstock. I’m really encouraged to try this. :-)