[From
Climbing the Miniature Rose Ladder, by Dick Streeper, pp. 18-9:
an article in the April 1998 issue of American Rose magazine] Chris Warner is an amateur rose breeder working out of Shropshire, England... his early goal was to develop a blackspot-resistant strain of roses... His line of seedlings developed from
Rosa sinowilsonii crossed with 'Marjorie Fair' produced lots of very vigorous climbers with good-looking blackspot-resistant foliage. From that line he developed a large number of climbing miniature roses.
In 1984, he won a competition sponsored by the British Postal Service and one of his seedlings was named 'Pillarbox', the Postal Service Rose. In 1988, 'Warm Welcome' was awarded the President's International Trophy.
About 20 years ago, Warner and Jack Harkness began a breeding program using a plant genus known as HULTHEMIA... a natural cross-genus hybrid with a rose... From this, Jack Harkness produced 'Tigris'... H. persica and 'Tigris' are very difficult to breed and propagate and are not of commercial importance -- except in the breeding program of Chris Warner. He is now working on production roses with a pretty bloom and good growth habit.
He has an early cross involving R. sinowilsonii in the 1996 AARS rose trials. Entered as a shrub by Weeks, the rose has scored well and is expected to be introduced in the U.S. in the year 2000.
Jackson & Perkins lists two of his best climbing miniature roses in its 1998 wholesale catalog. Those varieties are 'King Tut', also known as Laura Ford, a yellow vigorous plant, and 'Rocketeer', a coral-orange also known as Rosalie Coral.
Sean McCann says, in his column called Roses Abroad (American Rose Magazine, November 1998, p. 14, [Chris Warner is] the man who has done more to initiate the interest in miniature climbers than anyone else by breeding a handful of international winners.
[From Miniature Roses: Their Care and Cultivation, by Sean McCann, p. 133:] Warner's roses flower right through from spring to winter and are very healthy.
