Points
to Consider when trying to identify
a found rose.Points
to Consider when trying to identify
a found rose.Here are some questions to ask yourself when trying to identify a found rose. If you’d like to have your foundling included on this website (and eventually, in the Foundling Database), we’ll need the answers to as many of these questions as you can manage. Keep an eye on the rose all year to get the maximum amount of information about it. All these questions apply to the rose as it grows where it was originally found. It might also be helpful to keep all this information for roses you’ve brought to your garden, for comparison. (Note: we’re asking you to keep track of lots of things here. If you can’t cope, remember, a picture is worth a thousand words.)
A note on describing colors: Monitors vary in the way they display colors, so a color chart from which one could pick is not very useful. Verbal descriptions also leave something to be desired; what’s “purple” to one person might be “magenta” to the next. So to describe colors in a way that’s the same for everyone and readily available to all, we’re using the Crayola Crayon/Prismacolor Pencil system. Both these brands have absolutely reliable color reproduction anywhere one goes on the planet; so anyone who has either will know what you’re talking about when you mention a color!
Location: Where did you find the rose, in terms of physical location on the Planet Earth (or other planets as may apply)?
Age: Do you have any idea how long this rose may have been in this place?
Hardiness: Do you know the Hardiness Zone of this locale (link goes to a US map)?
Surroundings: Where did you find the rose, in terms of its surroundings (in a ditch, in a field, along a highway, in a garden, etc)?
Soil: What kind of soil is the rose growing in? What is the soil pH?
Sun: How many hours of full sun a day does the rose get?
Roots: Is the rose growing on its own roots?
Water source: Is the rose watered (by other than rainfall)? If so, how (by hand, via a nearby ditch, etc)?
How It Got There: What do you feel are the chances that the rose was deliberately planted in this spot?
Habit: How would you describe the rose’s growth habit? Does it climb? Form a neat bush or shrub? Sucker?
Cane size: What is the average diameter of a new cane (one that has begun growing during the season you’re in) at ground level? How tall/long does a typical cane grow?
Cane color: What color are the young canes? The mature canes? Is the color more intense on one side (generally the south) than the other?
Flexibility: Do the mature canes bend easily or are they rigid?
Thorniness: Are thorns few and far between, so prevalent you can hardly see the cane, or somewhere in-between? Are there more at the bottom of the cane than at the top or vice-versa?
Thorns: Which of the shapes below is closest to that of the shape of thorns in the middle of the cane? What color are the mature thorns?
Mossiness: Is there any mossiness on the stems? Hard moss or soft moss? What color? Any smell?
Disease/Damage: Is there any damage to the canes (diseases, excessive winter die-back, animal damage, pesticide sprays, etc)?
Season: When the do the canes first bud out? When do they go dormant? If you’ve moved some from where it was found to your garden, are the seasons different?
Leaflets number: How many leaflets per leaf, on average?
Leaflet arrangement: Do the leaflets open parallel to the rachis, or parallel to the ground (e.g., arranged in a stair-step)?
Leaf color: What Prismacolor pencil or Crayola crayon color is the mature leaf closest to? How about young leaves? Do the young and/or mature leaves have a shade of any non-green color around their rims? Is there a glaucous (bluish or hazy) shading on the leaf surface? Are the undersides the same color as the tops, or different? Are there spots or stripes, and if so, regularly or irregularly spaced?
Leaf texture: Are the surfaces shiny, satiny, matte? Is the veining pronounced or difficult to see? Are the undersides of the leaves smooth? Fuzzy? Mossed? Are the leaves paper-thin, leathery, thick, or something else? Is there any crinkling or puckering?
Folding: Do mature leaves flatten out or do they remain folded? Do they curl back?
Serrations: Are the serrations deep or shallow? Do they extend the entire length of the leaflet? Are there moss-glands between the serrations?
Shape of leaflets: Which of the below most accurately depicts the shape of a single leaflet?
Shape of petiole: Which of the below most accurately depicts the shape of the leaf’s petiole?
Shoulder: Do the leaves seem to come right up under the flower, so it might look from above as if the flower is resting on leaves?
Pests and Problems: Have you noticed any particular susceptibility to blackspot? Powdery mildew? Aphids? Leaf Hoppers? Other problems?
Placement: Are the first buds of the year on the end of the cane or on a lateral (i.e., do they grow from year old wood)?
Number: How many buds per cane/lateral?
Mossiness: Heavy? Light? Hard? Soft? Smelly? Sticky? Non-existent?
Sepals: Which of the below most closely resembles the shape of the sepals?
Bud:
Which of the above most closely resembles the opening
flower in profile (ignoring the sepals)?
Size: How tall, and how wide at its widest point, is/are the bud(s)?
Timing: When do the first buds appear? When do they open? For once-flowering roses, how long does the flowering season last?
Shape: How would you describe the shape of the flower when they’re fully open?
Size: What is the diameter of a fully open flower?
Petal Number: How many petals does the flower typically have (go ahead, take one apart, they’ll make more).
Petal Shape: Looking at the petals individually, are any which are deeply notched? Incurved? Twisted? Particularly flat?
Color: Please compare the color of a petal to Prismacolor pencils and/or Crayola crayons (don’t worry, it’s highly unlikely you’ll get an exact match). What’s the best match for the color or colors you see in the petals?
Color Effects: Is the rose Bicolored? Tricolored? Striped? Spotted? Does the color change or fade? Do spots develop on the petals if the flower is rained on? Does the color tend to change in response to heat or humidity?
Scent: On a scale of 0 to 5 where 0 is “no scent at all” and 5 is “you can smell it all the way down the road,” how strong would you say the scent is? What does it smell like to you?
Flower Duration: How long between the time the petals unfurl to the time the flower shatters on the bush? In a vase?
Stamens: What color are the stamens? Are they easily visible in the fully open flower?
Remontancy: After the first flush of spring, does the rose bloom again? Would you describe the rebloom, if any, as continuous? Episodic? Sporadic? Once-Only-In-Autumn?
Pests and Problems: Do the flowers: Ball when rained on? Attract thrips? Often fail to open? Tend to get eaten?
Setting: Left to its own devices, how likely it is that an individual flower will set a hip? (Do they all set hips, or only some, or do they never?)
Size: What are the dimensions of the hip? What is the shape?
Color: What color? The same color all over?
Texture: Are the hips: Smooth? Spiky? Shiny? Matte? Other?
Smell/Taste: Ever opened one or made tea with it? Please describe the smell and/or taste.
Seeds: How many seeds per hip? If you’ve tried, what percentage germinate?
True-breeding: If you’ve grown self-pollinated seeds, does the rose breed true?
Anything we left out?