What Drives Rose Breeders to Create New Cultivars?

What drives rose breeders to create new cultivars in a world so full of roses?

A rose at the David Austin Rose Gardens in England. Photo by Hannah Major

        Roses have long been a favorite of botanists and gardeners and the plant’s history is a long and colorful one. Since their entry onto the botany scene, plant breeders all over the world have been captivated by them, creating new cultivars for color, scent, or for a particular region of the world. Shrub roses, English roses, miniature roses, grandiflora roses, hybrid tea roses, climbing roses, and rambler roses are just a few of the species in the rose family, with each specie containing thousands of different cultivars and hybrids, bred by famous rosarians, or hobbyists in their backyards.  

A cultivar is a plant that has been produced by selective breeding, and is part of a larger species of plant.

A rose seedling in my greenhouse

Now, in the 21^st century, I take a step back, and consider my own small breeding program, situated in my tiny unheated greenhouse in Newberg, Oregon. There, twenty third and second year seedlings are growing, each under observation for their viability long term. There is only one I have high hopes for, a third year seedling I have dubbed ‘Mozart’ after one of my favorite composers. Its frilly double yellow blooms smell faintly of honey, as of now, it is a vigorous, healthy plant. But what motivates me to breed a new rose in a world already so full of cultivars? There are tens of thousand in the world, and yet famous breeding companies such as David Austin Roses still release a few new cultivars to the public each year. At Heirloom Roses, my former place of employment, we propagated over 700 different cultivars, some of which were bred by the company founder, Louise Clements. And though I was surrounded by what seemed like every shape and color and scent of rose imaginable, I can still look at ‘Mozart’ and see its unique individuality, and hope for its longevity in the rose world. I think that it is because I know that Mozart is unique. Not in all the world can be found another rose plant that is identical to it, for that’s how growing from open pollinated seed works. For me, it’s not so much creating a cultivar that the world will see as unique, but rather something I do for myself. Having ‘Mozart’ in my garden creates a sense of wonder, that I have a rose that is solely my own, a rose that can’t be found in any other place in the world.

Ivana’s second year seedling. Photo by Ivana Komanicka

        Over ten years ago Ivana Komanicka established her rose garden at the family home in Bardejov, Slovakia. The roses she has come to love the most are old European hybrids, albas, centifolia, gallica, and damasks, though they bloom just once. One of her favorite breeders is Gerschwind, whose roses amazed her with how quickly they became established rose trees—just four years. They had an ability to survive the often harsh Slovakian winter unscathed, and continued preforming well the following years. During the pandemic, Ivana began experimenting with rose breeding. While the Gerschwind roses were hard to work with, as most blooms did not produce seeds, she found success with open pollinating, and now has a promising seedling from parent plants MME Issac Pereire, and modern tea hybrid. It is very fragrant with an old rose scent combined with cloves, and a hint of lemon. She says of the seedling, “It is eager to bloom and is quite healthy and vigorous, but it is still the first year. Next year if it survives the winter it will be grafted in a Czech nursery in Skalicany and we´ll watch it grow.”

      In Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, Jitka Ulbricht became a rose breeder more by accident than anything else. For her, it started in 2013, when she attended a rose forum where growing roses from seed was talked about, and it intrigued her. So, she tried it  that fall by collecting rose hips from her garden and then scoured the internet to learn how to stratify and grow the seeds. The following spring, she was thrilled to see several seedlings sprout. Over the next year, she compared height, leaves, and other differences. She rejoiced when the first buds appeared, and felt that joy and enthusiasm that comes from seeing the first petals unfurl on a brand new rose. Then, she began trying to gather more information about rose breeding, but not finding many resources in Czech, proceeded by trial and error. The following year, her efforts produced no seedlings at all, but she continued anyway. After some time, she began to cross-pollinate purposefully, picking interesting and resistant varieties to work with. Now, of her knowledge of roses she says, “If I know anything about roses today, it is mainly thanks to daily observation while growing seedlings.” She knows the bar in rose breeding is set very high, but her love of roses, and the joy it brings her when she sees that first bud unfurl spur her onward in her breeding journey.

Ivana’s rose garden in Slovakia. Photo by Ivana Komanicka

     Breeding a new cultivar is a time-consuming task that takes patience, precision and a good knowledge of what you’re looking for in a new rose. The first step is to select two parents, (in the case of open-pollinating, seed can be collected at random) that have traits you would like in your new rose. After the parent plants are selected, pollen from one plant is placed on the stigma of the other, and then the flower is bagged to prevent further pollination from another flower. After the rose hip matures, it is harvested, and the seeds collected from it. The seeds then must be stratified for four months before they can be planted. From planting, it can take up to a month or two for the seed to germinate and sprout, and then normally a year or so before the first blooms will be seen. And just because the plant has now bloomed does not mean it’s ready for the market. For rosarians at David Austin Roses in England, this is just one step in a ten-year process of producing a new cultivar for sale. They sow around 350,000 seeds in their greenhouse every January, with that amount narrowed to 150,000 by spring. These seedlings are then planted outdoors for field trials, and observed for various traits throughout the next five years. At the end of those five years, only ten of the 350,000 seedlings remain. These are the best of the group, and are then propagated in large numbers. And then, three or four of those 10 roses will be chosen, ones that are deemed truly worthy of being on the market, and they will be released to the public.

For the hobbyist rose breeder such as myself, the most seeds I plant in a year is five hundred. I follow the same process, however, and over the years narrow my selection down to the best seedlings I have. I believe I’m doing an important work, even though my operation is small, because my roses are adapted to the micro climate of where I live. They’ll be healthier and better suited to my home than other roses that I bring in. Knowing that is part of what drives me onward in the search to create my own roses.

I am hopeful for Mozart’s long-term success. I hope to propagate from it soon, and grow my stock of it, and possibly get some open-pollinated seeds from it soon. I am propelled onward by its gentle honey scent and frilly blooms, thinking to myself, what else can I create?  Knowing that each tiny seeds holds a truly unique bloom is amazing to me. Most won’t ever be anything spectacular, for sure, but it’s a bit like hunting for shells or agates on a rocky beach—you have to search out and find the best ones to take home.

‘Mozart’, in my greenhouse. Photo by Hannah Major

And who knows? Maybe someday I’ll have a rose garden filled with my own varieties, specially suited to my home, and grown just for me, by me. It’s a sweet dream, and I’m working toward it, one seedling at a time.