Reports of this rose being "nearly thornless" are far from accurate. It's a Hybrid Bracteata and it has a fair amount of straight, needle-like thorns that can be a handling hazard. It has a very light fragrance that only some people can detect. It requires a bit of imagination to declare it "fragrant'. That said, it is an exceptionally good rose and grows with abandon with minimal care, yet rarely exceeds a 2.5 foot rounded, mannerly shrub. But you have to be a fan of this particular coral hue to appreciate it. Mr. Moore was particularly fond of coral colors and it appears often in his work. (Its does fade quite a bit by the time it's done)
I don't grow it. Burlington has it for $7.50 but I took it off from my buy-list when I found it has thorns. Roses hardy to 6b are OK here if I plant them deep, water them in the winter, and plant them next to the house with a mound of dirt on top.
Ok! One of the Hybrid Bracteata.sets hips and germinates. Thank you Robert. Have you had anything decent show up in your seedlings from Precious Dream?
Most the the OP precious Dream seedlings lacked vigor. They were mostly cream colored. A couple were orange but were weak. I didn't keep any. I'd probably use Precious Dream for pollen keeping in mind that there is likely a propensity for blackspot in some of the offspring, being descendants of 'Orangeade'.
Cream and orange would be desirable for me but I'm sorry to hear that seedlings lacked vigor. I'll take your advice and use PD as a pollen parent but will have to use something very disease resistant as the pod parent. Thanks again Robert.
