Cross-breeding roses is a labour of love: Day
Finding the perfect new rose is no easy task. Dr. Daryl Somers and the team at
Vineland Research Station are working on such a long-range project
The Toronto Star, February 12, 2016
By Sonia Day, Gardening
VINELAND RESEARCH STATION
Dr. Daryl Somers, a rose breeder at Vineland Research Station, is attempting to
develop a new, commercially viable rose.
Dr. Daryl Somers is a pretty unusual guy.
He likes to see black spot on roses.
Yes, you read right. I’m talking about the disfiguring fungal disease (known
asDiplocarpon rosae in Latin), that every other rose lover dreads.
Why does Somers feel differently?
Because he’s a rose breeder, not a regular gardener.
“When I see black spot, I say ‘great’ because then I can dig up that bush and throw
it out,” he says with a chuckle. “The best tool a rose breeder can have nowadays is
the garbage can.”
It takes from eight to 10 years to develop a new, commercially viable rose, Somers
explains. Along the way, that means rejecting huge numbers of possibles, which —
for one reason or another, including all-too-common black spot — just aren’t good
enough.
He’s part of a team at Vineland Research Station in Niagara that’s currently
sleuthing for winners — and they put their efforts on show one sweltering evening
last July during Vineland’s annual open house. Curious members of the public like
me got treated to a tour of the expansive fields where thousands of small, prickly
bushes are lined up in neat rows, all with identifying labels.
Many of these roses-in-the-making were in bloom and looked lovely to our
untutored eyes,
“Ooo, look at that pretty pink, John,” said a woman in baggy shorts of the same
colour, bending over for a closer look. “I’d love that for the front porch.”
“No, no, I want the red,” protested her perspiring husband, following close behind.
“It’s like old velvet.”
I, meanwhile, favoured a pink and yellow specimen, because its streaky hues
reminded me of Niagara peaches.
So it was disconcerting for us to learn that none of our picks is likely to make it into
a garden centre.
“Just about everything you see here,” said Somers with a dismissive wave, “will
wind up in the garbage.”
That’s because the weeding-out process for roses is as ruthless as for students
trying to get into an ivy-league university. A specimen has to be truly exceptional
to make it.
Yet it’s fascinating, challenging work, according to Dr. Parminderjit Sandhu, an
expert on plant breeding from India, who’s working with Somers on this long-range
project.
“We make crosses of all kinds of historic breeds with modern hybrids,” she says.
“We try everything.”
Will they find a perfect new rose? The Vineland team is trying hard. Stay tuned.
And this being the weekend for lovers, here’s another eye opener about roses. The
long stemmed red kind, that is. They are mostly raised in Central and South
America, not Canada, and florists sell millions in the week running up to Valentine’s
Day.
However, this year, Toronto Flower Market members are urging us to skip those
roses and buy other kinds of blooms instead.
“Roses may be red and beautiful, but sadly they’re mostly imported during
February,” says spokeswoman Natalie Petozzi. “We’d like to see more Canadians
buying flowers that are locally raised.”
So throughout this coming Saturday and Sunday, the Flower Market has taken over
the Sky Yard at the Drake Hotel, where they’ll be selling lush, romantic bouquets of
beauties such as Ranunculus, anemones, Amaryllis and tulips — all gorgeous, all
super-fresh and all grown, remarkably, in greenhouses at Niagara. Go. Support
them. Bouquets can be ordered in advance. Contact: TorontoFlowerMarket.ca.
http://www.thestar.com/life/2016/02/12/cross-breeding-roses-is-a-labour-of-loveday.html