Today I was searching botanical records of Philippine flora under the Rosaceae family, then I came upon two species listed under Rosa, the genus of roses:

The first one was R. philippinensis. From what I can discern, this rose is native to Japan and has naturalized itself in Luzon. It's a synonym to R. luciae from which wichuranas came from if I remember correctly.

The second was R. luzoniensis. I think it's a native of Taiwan and managed to naturalize in our mountainous regions like Benguet. It's a synonym to R. transmorriensis.

Lastly, as I kept searching the interwebs regarding these two, I came upon another rose also under the species name R. philippinensis but had a local name of "Pitimini" (Petite-Mini). Now the interesting part here is that whenever I go to our local nursery, miniature roses were often called as "Pitimini" too but they all vary in color, bloom form, and practically everything (I even had Center Gold which was called Pitimini by the vendor when I bought it) so I think calling them R. philippinensis was just a misconception.

However, I've yet to see a record on R. bracteata, which according to HMF, was brought to Japan from Luzon in 1828 accroding to Japanese research. I think it may already be extinct here but who knows?

Another new Tea rose in my garden!

Today I bought a white Tea with blush pink shading. I was told by the clerk that the rose is fragrant and he wasn't lying at all! This beautiful Tea has a nice Tea scent at first before opening but when one of its flowers opened, it the scent shifted into a sweet, creamy scent! I can also spot a bit of cream shading in its petals.

The rose was already sending out new growth when I bought it so I think it will be a vigorous grower. As it is a warm-loving Tea, I'm expecting it to do well in my garden. Fingers crossed on this one!

Regarding my other roses: Center Gold has put out new growth and looks pretty normal now as if nothing happened, just as expected. No signs of buds on this one though. Olympiad's putting out some new growth as well though not as proliferous as Center Gold and no buds either. The pink mini has also put out new growth as well but signs of damage are still present and no buds here too. Apricot Midinette's the slowest one to put out new growth, with only three new sets of leaves but this one is the only one with buds. Despite its slow foliage replacement, it sure loves to bloom! American Glory (Or Crimson Bouquet?) lost some leaves for a while, I don't know why but they suddenly turned yellow these past few days.The dark red flowers have faded and dried so I guess my attempt at pollinating it failed. The White cluster-flowering Moss (Iceberg? Mossy Iceberg?) is blooming profusely. Most of its buds have opened and the plant is now partially covered in white. Some of the older blooms fell off though and some buds became weak and fell for some reason. Parson's Pink's(?) blooms have also faded and it's currently putting out new growth from where the flowers used to be. I hope it keeps on flowering as I want to see its flowers from bud stage to fully open. Ah, and that scent too! I'm hoping to cross it with my new Tea and Center Gold when it blooms. My striped rose is also putting out a lot of blooms. It seems to be ready to get back up and start blooming again! I want to see its striped bloom and take a picture of them so I can have it identified.

+-+-+Future Plans checklist+-+-+
Find a purple or burgundy rose.
Find a good, hip-setting rose.
Acquire a Black Jade rose plant. (OH GOD HELP ME WITH THIS.)
Find a living specimen of R. Bracteata in the Philippines.
-----New Hybridizing Goals-----
Cross White Cluster-flowering Moss with:
[]Center Gold
[]Olympiad
[]Apricot Midinette
[]Parson's Pink (?)
[]New Creamy Blush Tea (Hume's Blush?)
Cross the two Tea roses
Cross everything with Center Gold
Cross Olympiad with Center Gold and vice versa
Confirm whether or not my striped rose is a Tea or Hybrid Tea.

Today I have two new roses to present. Each one interesting in its own right:

1. Pink Tea - Tea; Pink; Moderate Tea fragrance, I can smell it whenever I stand close to it; Typical droopy Tea rose flowers, Petals are soft enough to pull all by hand, yet strong enough not to be blown off by winds; Twiggy growth, typical of Tea roses; Probably does not like too much pruning.

2. White Cluster-flowering Moss - Moss (?), most likely a sport; Light Green (bud) White (open-mature); Mild Scent, scent wafts whenever the moss is rubbed; Already bushy when I bought it with many flowers, seems to be a vigorous grower, readily releases the most pollen among my roses; Mossing seems to be less than the usual moss roses.

I got these two last Wednesday, I saw these two beforehand while I was window shopping at our local nursery and I was lucky enough to snag the mossy white rose before it was gone. It was the only one among a group of similar white roses being sold that had the mossy feature so I'm convinced that it's a sport. Moss roses are said to not do so well in our climate so seeing this one growing all big and bushy with many flowers only supported my theory that it's a sport of the other white roses it was being sold with. Oddly enough, most roses in our nursery are called "Valentine Roses" despite the differences in classes and color. These two new roses I bought were both called "Valentine Roses" by two different clerks from different stalls. I dunno where the term "Valentine Rose" came from but maybe it had to with roses becoming omnipresent in country during Valentine's Day and then gone without a trace the day after.

I first thought that the pink Tea I had was Parson's Pink/Old Blush because it looked very similar but thanks to the peeps at Gardenweb forums, I was able to confirm it being a Tea instead of a China. This pink one is by far the most fragrant rose in my garden. I knew the moment that I saw it on the stall that it was either a Tea or a China by its droopy blooms and long twiggy growth, and I was right! I was just looking for Teas the other day too! What a stroke of luck!

I actually thought I would never be able to find roses other than Hybrid Teas and Miniatures in my country but thank God I was proven wrong! Now I have a good pollen parent and a nice Tea rose that I'm planning to use as a seed parent with all my other roses. :D

And now to cross off two things in my checklist:

*Any Tea - Checked! Now to see how well it will do for me.
Good hip setting roses - for breeding purposes.
*Any white rose - Checked! I got a nice surprise here with a mossy cluster-flowering one. :D
Any purple rose, preferably Hybrid Tea.
R. Bracteata - With the recent super-typhoon that hit us, I'm more anxious about finding one growing in the wild here.
Black Jade - Still requires lottery-winning luck to find.

I just found out about this handy little feature today!

From now on, I'm gonna list all the new roses I will acquire in the future, and maybe keep a checklist of roses I'll be planning to get.

For now, I'll just list the roses I currently have with me in this entry by order of which came first.

1. Olympiad - Hybrid Tea; Red; Very mild sweet scent; Extremely Heat Tolerant (kept all it leaves during a drought while most of my roses defoliated); Can resist black spot but susceptible to powdery mildew

2. Orange Miniature (Apricot Midinette?) - Miniature; Russet (bud), Orange (loose bud-fully open), Pink (mature-fading); Strong spicy scent; Heat Tolerant (keeps blooming and growing in our hot tropical summer); Got powdery mildew once but never returned.

3. Atkin's Beauty/Center Gold - Miniature/Floribunda (up to 3 clusters); Yellow (bud-fully open), White with gold center (mature), White (fading); Strong spicy scent w/ fragrant leaves; Vigorous Grower (defoliates during hot days but is always the first to regain its foliage and flowers); Sometimes gets black spot but very resistant to powdery mildew

4. Pink Miniature - Miniature; Light Pink; Unscented; Heat Tolerant but gets proliferation in heat; Black-spot resistant, powdery mildew resistant.

5. Striped Tea(?) - Tea(?); White with Pink stripes; Sweet Scent; Slow Grower (Only bloomed twice this year); Droopy flowers; Thin twiggy growth; Does not take well to pruning;

6. Dark Almost-black Red Hybrid Tea - Hybrid Tea; Burgundy (in shade), Reddish-pink (in sun, almost like Olympiad); Very mild sweet scent; Newest addition so not much information has been gathered yet. It's quite tall at 3.2 feet when I bought it. Has long thick stems. Flowers seems to have "bracts" under them. Bracts look like a leaf with a single to three small leaflets and comes in pairs opposite each other.

As for my checklist, these are the roses I plan to have ordered by which I'm going to prioritize in acquiring: :

Any Tea - I'd like to see how well they'd adapt to our tropical climate.
Good hip setting roses - for breeding purposes.
Any white rose, preferably Tea, Mini, or Hybrid Tea.
Any purple rose, preferably Hybrid Tea.
R. Bracteata - I have a thing for this one since it is my country's native rose found in Cagayan.
Black Jade - Chances of finding one here is very slim though.

I also read Miss Lynne Chapman's book on Tea roses today. I must say, their journey throughout Australia looking for Tea roses has inspired me to go out there and look for undiscovered native roses in the Philippines. Other than R. bracteata, no other rose has been documented to have originated from our islands. Given our country's biodiversity and the many islands we have, it's quite likely that several new rose species may be out there waiting to be discovered. But this project will have to be postponed until I get a chance to do so. Graduating from college and finding a job later are still my top priorities. I'll just keep this here to remind me to do so when I forget.

- Ardee