Chimera roses?

[tsubasahome]

Anybody ever have this happen before with own root roses?

We got a bunch of David Austin roses from Chamblee's(the ones they actually remembered to send). I understand that Chamblee's often puts multiple cuttings of the same rose in one pot, but something very weird is going on here! Among others, we got Tamora, Ambridge Rose, and Heritage. The first to bloom was Tamora, then Heritage. All was well. Then Tamora bloomed again, producing a flower that looked an awful lot like Ambridge Rose! On close inspection, the middle cutting looked like the foliage was slightly larger...

Then Ambridge Rose, which I planted at the front of a border because of its size, popped its first flower and it looked just like Heritage! I was pissed! Why do we need two Heritages? Heritage is not small! One side of the rose grew strangely tall and leggy. Then it popped another flower that looked like Ambridge Rose. All was well. Then it bloomed again today on the leggy side and looked like Heritage!

Tamora has also bloomed again, producing two Tamoras and one Ambridge Rose. LOL...

I wonder what is going to happen to these roses...Chamblee's has a policy that they'll only replace roses after 30 days, which is tough if they take longer than that to bloom. I hope they don't have a fight to the death or something...

Also, I think my Griff's Red is really Don Juan, because it is now taller than I am.

Comments

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Rose Society people often warn us that the first few blooms on a new bush are often out of character, frequently an odd color or fewer petals than normal, untl the bush settles in. The problem is guessing if the company sent the wrong cutting or not, and by then it's a little late to get rid of it. Many ARS-affiliated Rose groups have experts at their shows who can identify a rose if you take in characteristic foliage with several blooms. Being able to see leaves, stems, buds, and seedpods will all help.

[tsubasahome.livejournal.com]

My guess is that our Tamora is an Ambridge Rose wedged between two Tamora cuttings. The Ambridge Rose-looking flower growing out of the Tamora plant also smells distinctly of myrrh, where as the flowers more characteristic of Tamora smell like peaches. ^^;;;

I had wondered if the rose we bought labelled as Ambridge Rose was just blooming pink and Heritage-like because it was 1)immature or 2)really Heritage but the second flower looked like Ambridge Rose and had the myrrh scent, where as the first flower both looked and smelled like the Heritage we have planted on in a different part of our yard... And just today, it produced another "Heritage"! Oddly enough, the side of the plant that produced the Ambridge Rose-looking flower is covered with blackspot, where as the side that produced the Heritage-looking flower doesn't have a speck on it!

How odd. I guess Tamora will turn out to be just an oddity if it really is 2/3 Tamora and 1/3 Ambridge Rose, but I'm concerned about my possible Ambridge Rose/Heritage plant, as Heritage is quite a bit larger than Ambridge Rose and I'm afraid it will choke out Ambridge Rose. There are some people who have spread the multiple cuttings from one Chamblee's gallon to different parts of their garden but I think it's too late for me to try to divide them into individual cuttings.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

IF the rose is growing okay, come dormant season you can actually dig it up, saw it apart at the base, and replant the different chunks. Much easier with own root plants! The trick with grafted would be to make sure each section gets a decent chunk of the main original root. You could do it over more than one season by digging down partway so you can see what's going on at the graft, and saw it partially apart but not completely, cover it in dirt again, and wait until the next year or two to dig and move the parts. In the meantime, you'd have to prune the more vigorous pieces to keep them restrained from drowning out the littler variety.