Origin of the moss roses is shrouded in mystery and much of what has been written about it very likely bears little resemblance to the truth. For the most part, practically nothing was written down or records preserved by those who actually discovered or developed those first varieties. At best we only have second hand stories or suppositions .... and much of these are little better than fairy tales. An attempt to bring some order out of the chaos was made in "Notes on the Origin of Moss-Rose" by Hurst and Breeze¹, in 1922 but for the most part the confusion remained.

What we do know is that during the better part of the 18th century and up until the close of the 19th century moss roses were very popular and were grown in many gardens. They were unusual and quite hardy garden subjects. Perfume in the rose was of the utmost importance and moss roses not only had fragrance in the ordinary sense but the unique mossy growth was also fragrant to the touch. Garden space was not at the premium it is today so the large oft-times sprawling plant habit was not objectionable. All was forgiven each spring when those lovely mossy buds and fragrant flowers would cover the plant.

But what do we actually have left of those darlings of yesteryear? And there certainly must have been many which got lost over the years. Just as there are collectors of various kinds of heirlooms and antiques there are those who collect and preserve plant, especially rose, antiques. Several people, both amateur and professional plant growers have contributed to the rediscovery, identification and propagation of moss and other old roses. This is not only of aesthetic and historical value but it helps to keep alive the gene pool so that plant breeders may again use valuable, almost lost, plant qualities to breed new roses for the gardens of today and yes, tomorrow.

Among those who have helped to save these old varieties have been such people as Kordes, Pedro Dot, L. Walter, Dr. F. L. Skinner, Nancy Steen (New Zealand)², Joe Kern, Melvin Wyant, Will Tillotson, Dorothy Stemler and others. It was Dorothy Stemler who really helped me get started with moss rose varieties which were later to play such an important role in my rose breeding.

And what are some of these garden gems from another time? One of the best, and often the first, of the old moss roses to find its way into a garden is Communis (Common Moss; Old Pink Moss; Pink Moss) which appeared in southern France about 1696. But there are several others which are also available today such as; Mousseline (Alfred de Dalmas) -1855, William Lobb - 1855, Comtesse de Murinais - 1843, Deuil de Paul Fontaine - 1873, Gloire des Mousseaux - 1852, Mme. Louis Leveque - 1827, Nuits de Young - 1851 and Salet - 1854. There is also a striped variety from the early 1800s, plus several relatively new kinds (of the old fashioned moss varieties) such as Mossman (Skinner, 1954), Gabriel Noyelle (Buatois, 1933), Goethe, 1911, Wichmoss, 1911, etc.

We have been talking of "moss roses" but what are they and how do they differ from other garden roses? While the plants may vary greatly in growth, habit and flower color the basic difference is in the bud. "Moss roses" are distinguished from other roses by the decorative moss-like growth on the buds. This "moss" varies with each variety and the moss itself may have its own distinctive fragrance. To enjoy this unique experience just rub or tweak a plump maturing bud and hold your fingers to your nose!

In addition to the regular moss roses, such I have been writing about, which I choose to call "modified thorn type" because research has shown that the moss is only a genetically remodeled thorn, there is yet another moss phenomena. This is known as the "crested type" and is typified in the old variety Chapeau de Napoleon, also known as Crested Moss (also, Rosa centifolia cristata)³.

Crested Moss differs from the "thorn type", (also known as Rosa centifolia muscosa) by the mossy or frilled edges of the sepals and the relative lack of excessive thorns which are an essential part of the "thorn type" moss varieties (see photos).

A rose makes any day special.
.... R.S.M.

In the meantime, my rose breeding work with the miniatures was underway and the learning experience was to be helpful later with the moss roses. But the moss roses had a fascination that could not easily be overlooked. I did not realize the problems nor the time which would be involved when I took on the moss rose project.

My initial dream or goal was to develop everblooming bush type miniature moss roses. To do this proved a long and circuitous journey as I was to learn. So little information on the actual heredity and the breeding of moss roses was available that I had to learn most of it by trial and error. But I did have some theories - or developed them as I got involved.

First, I determined that the old moss roses behaved as dominants for tallness and bloom habit as all hybrids between the old moss and regular everblooming bush type roses resulted in vigorous climbing plants which flowered in spring only. Many bush type roses were crossed with pollen from old moss rose varieties. These were hybrid tea and floribunda varieties since, to gain as much fertility as possible in the offspring, I used as seed parents only those kinds which naturally set good seed hips.

Once embarked upon the task of breeding improved varieties of moss roses there was no turning back. Bit by bit, year after year some of the pieces fell into place. But I did not know that it would take 15 years before the work would show much in the way of real results - and nearly another 10 years before the first of these new moss rose hybrids would be ready to make its way into the gardens of the world.

The time element had, no doubt, been one of the major roadblocks which prevented or delayed the development of modern hybrid moss roses. It is true that other breeders had tried their hand with moss roses. Among them were:

Pedro Dot (Spain) who introduced Golden Moss in 1932. This variety, a cross of Frau Karl Druschki x (Souv. de Claudius Pernet x Blanche Moreau) grew upright, similar to Frau Karl Druschki and bore well mossed buds which opened into soft peach-yellow flowers. Spring bloom only.

L. Walter (France) produced Yellow Moss which was introduced by Jackson & Perkins in 1932. This variety was yellow, slightly mossed, a shy bloomer.

In 1933, another Frenchman by the name of Buatios introduced Gabriel Noyelle. This cross of Salet x Souv. de Mme. Kreuger (H.T.) has well mossed buds which open into soft salmon-pink flowers. The tall, almost climbing, plant has recurrent bloom off and on all summer.

No stranger to knowledgeable gardeners and rose lovers is the name Dr. F. L. Skinner. In 1954 this famous Canadian plant breeder introduced Mossman, an interesting step in moss rose breeding. Heavily mossed buds open into very double pale pink flowers — a cross involving (R. acicularis x R. rugosa) x an old Moss rose; spring bloom only.

Black Boy came in 1958 from that genius of rose breeding, Wilhelm Kordes. This deep crimson flower was a cross of Worlds Fair x Nuits de Young but was only slightly mossed.

Above are listed some of the near-recent attempts to breed new moss roses. Others have also tried their hand. But the rose breeder to whom I owe much, especially for his continuing encouragement during the long, apparently unfruitful years, is Dr. Walter Lammerts. As you may have noted in the survey above, nearly all the varieties are tall growing, spring flowering hybrids, not too different from the old moss roses. From the breeders viewpoint, Golden Moss and Gabriel Noyelle are possibly the most significant.

My own work with moss roses began with a successful cross of Mark Sullivan (H.T.) x Golden Moss. As expected, all seedlings were tall growing (climbing to 8-10' or more) spring flowering plants. Only one was really mossed. It had large glossy foliage and slender, quite well mossed buds which opened into a brilliant blend of yellow and orange. The moss was of the stiff or thorny type but it was a start and this selection has been an important link in my work with moss roses. Few hips will set and seeds are not viable but good pollen is abundantly produced. Most moss roses are low in fertility — that is, they set few or no seed hips and produce little or no pollen. There are exceptions and it is the exception which makes continuing development of new moss hybrids possible.

Beginning with this Mark Sullivan x Golden Moss seedling as the pollen parent, numerous crosses were made using hybrid tea and floribunda varieties as the seed (female) parent. This was necessary in order to recover the everblooming, bush type plant. But in so doing most, or all, of the moss was lost.

The next step was to select a partially mossed bush type plant to server either as seed or pollen parent. If this light to moderately mossed bush set viable seed it could be used as the seed parent. Most likely it did not set seed but did produce some usable pollen. This pollen could then be used to fertilize the flowers of a selected tall growing spring flowering hybrid moss rose which was known to produce fertile seed. From such a cross it is then possible to select from the seedling offspring a plant or plants having everblooming, bush habit with moderate to quite heavy moss. On the other hand, it has often proven better to select a bush type plant, with at least a fair amount of mossing and cross it with the tall spring flowering F1 moss hybrid. It is the testing — trial and error which takes the time.

All the while we have kept in mind the goal: to produce bush type, everblooming garden roses of the hybrid tea, floribunda and miniature types, with good bud form, in a variety of colors and with good mossing. With such a goal in mind, the selection of parents to be used and the specific crosses to be made was of utmost importance.

For example, one cannot go to just any yellow and obtain a good yellow. Often the proposed parents are, for some reason, incompatible or not suitable. They just refuse to cross or the offspring prove to be only mediocre. In other cases a variety may manifest the moss influence in its hybrid offspring while another good rose, crossed with the same pollen, will show little or no moss influence.

While the initial goal was to develop miniature rose varieties with well mossed buds, I knew that these would only be realized by first working through other more compatible and fertile types of roses. As mentioned earlier, my first successful moss cross was a seedling produced by crossing Mark Sullivan with Golden Moss. Since the original code number was lost we simply refer to this clone as O.M. in our breeding records.

Pollen from O.M. (short for orange moss) has been used in numerous crosses over the years. The pollen is produced abundantly and is compatible with many varieties. So by crossing a yellow H.T. seedling with pollen from O.M. I obtained a number of yellow and orange colored moss roses. Nearly all were tall growing (climbing) spring flowering plants and ranged from single to full double flowers.

Along the way another important cross was made. One outstanding seedling (#12-59-10) came from a cross of Pinocchio (pink) x William Lobb. This selection has well mossed buds and resembles William Lobb but the plant is more vigorous with better foliage and brighter flower color. Abundant spring bloom leaves the plant covered with spiney hips. Because of the very thorny plant and difficulty in handling the mossy buds (emasculation is slow, tedious and messy) we have used this mainly as a pollen parent. However, we did successfully cross #12-59-10 with the miniature variety New Penny to produce Fairy Moss, the first miniature moss .... and Fairy Moss has proven to be a fertile parent (both male and female). From Fairy Moss we can, hopefully, proceed in several directions.

When #12-59-10 was crossed with this pink mossed floribunda we got #2-63-5, a very mossy everblooming floribunda with double 2.5 inch light red flowers. It produces no seed but a fair amount of pollen. When Rumba was crossed with #2-63-5 we got numerous bush type moss roses in colors ranging from medium pink to red and orange red. Rougemoss came from this cross. These hybrids, Rougemoss and Goldmoss, have been quite overlooked by many rose growers and breeders but in their gene pools are the makings of new moss roses of the future. In the meantime many other combinations with moss roses were being made. Most produced nothing of value, but here and there an interesting seedling did appear. Several of these have already been used in my breeding work and others are just now being made ready for future crosses. As indicated earlier, the lack of fertility in most moss roses can block the direction we would often like to take. So one must observe the better seedlings, try making crosses with different pollens and then await the results.

Sometimes we learn quickly. For example, a promising selection may fail utterly to set seeds from foreign pollen even though seeds may easily set naturally. Other times seed hips may set but fail to develop and ripen properly — or we may get seeds from a desired cross only to have little or no germination.

We now have made many crosses involving Fairy Moss and are well on the way to having a good selection of miniature moss roses. At present we are observing a number of seedlings resulting from Fairy Moss crosses in which the other parent may range all the way from Fire Princess to Magic Wand to Goldmoss, plus several selected seedlings which we hope to breed into our moss line.

Already introduced in addition to Fairy Moss are the following:

Kara, 1973, small very mossy bud opens into single (5 petals) 1.25" rose pink flower. (Fairy Moss x Fairy Moss).

Paintbrush, 1975, very mossy bud starts apricot-yellow and opens into 10 petaled daisy-like white flower. (Fairy Moss x Goldmoss).

Dresden Doll, 1975, very mossy bud opens into double soft pink flower showing some golden stamens. Fairy Moss x unnamed seedling (Fairy Moss x #2-63-5).

Mood Music, 1977, well mossed bud opens into very double orange-pink flower (Fairy Moss x Goldmoss).

Strawberry Swirl, 1978, lightly mossed bud opens into very double 1 inch flowers in an ever changing color mix: soft strawberry red blended with white or pink — one of the new striped roses! (Fairy Moss x unnamed seedling).

Lemon Delight, 1978, small well mossed bud opens clear yellow .... dainty 10 petaled flower. Moss on bud has delightful lemony fragrance. (Fairy Moss x Goldmoss).

There is also a new variety, originated by Annette Dobbs, which will soon be available. It is a seedling of Fairy Moss x unknown; deep pink or light red and quite well mossed. This is named Mary Kate.

And from the late Carl Truby we have a low growing miniature moss named Der Carl. Well mossed buds and double pink flowers characterize this offspring of Fairy Moss x unknown.

Picking up on my own work, there are several, mostly amateur growers, who have grown some seedlings from Fairy Moss. While it is possible to get some interesting seedlings directly from Fairy Moss, I have found, having also grown several thousand self seedlings directly from Fairy Moss, that few or none are up to the quality demanded. The chief fault of the self seedlings seems to be soft petal substance, plus lack of vigor of in the plants. For this reason it is necessary to select as the other parent a moss variety which produces flowers with above average petal substance as well as an extra sturdy plant.

1. The moss factor(s) appear to behave as dominant but may be quantitative in their expression in any given cross.

2. The so-called "hard" moss and "soft moss" types of moss roses are only different manifestations of the moss factor(s) — that is, quantitative expressions. 3. As with miniatures, nearly all moss roses seem to have a built-in sterility hence would not likely be observed in the wild state. 4. Certain crosses appear much more likely to express the "moss" characteristic than other, even similar crosses, hence it appears that the mossing may not be simply a passing over of moss material (genes) but may be triggering to release something already present in the (usually seed) non-moss parent. For example: certain moss rose pollen when used on Rumba will give a rather high percentage of mossed seedlings whereas the same pollen used on another variety will give little or no moss.

Fig 9

5. Theoretically, pollen from a heavily mossed (homozygous for moss) variety used on any variety should give moss in varying degrees, however, this has not been proven, possibly because the few heavy moss varieties produce so little (or no) pollen that no adequate populations of such crosses have been observed.

6. On heavily mossed varieties (selections I have made to use in future breeding) I have observed that even the leaves tend to show a unique marking (stippling — see Fig 9) hence the moss factor(s) appears to affect or be a part of the entire plant.

7. My work with the Crested type moss roses indicates that its heredity patterns are similar to the regular (modified thorn type) moss. Work is continuing with the crested moss but is slow mainly because of the sterility problems. But we are making progress. (See Fig 21-26).

 

Notes On Crested Moss

Fig 21

The crested moss type has been mentioned briefly but a bit more should be added here for clarity. There were no doubt other members of this type which were lost along the way. The variety, Chapeau de Napoleon, more commonly known as Crested Moss, is the best example of the class which still survives. (See photo: Fig 21)⁴. This is a rather tall growing plant and bears medium large, very double, rose pink flowers in spring only. Breeders have tried (and hoped) for seedlings or crosses of this rose but apparently with no avail until my initial success several years ago.

Fig 22

The flowers of Crested Moss are usually so double that no anthers are present, thus no pollen. And Crested Moss seems to be unwilling to set any seeds no matter what pollen may be applied. However, one spring about 15 years ago, I did find a few anthers on my plant of Crested Moss and dusted the pollen on the blooms of Little Darling (floribunda). A few hips set and seed ripened. Out of this seed lot seven plants grew. One was the pink rose pictured in Fig 22 and has since been named Crested Jewel (introduced by Tillotsons). From crosses using pollen from this variety we now have several selections which show some degree of cresting. One is a rich red floribunda (Sarabande x Crested Jewel, see Fig 23); another is a pink floribunda (Queen Elizabeth x Crested Jewel) and another is a red, grandiflora type — (Baccara x Crested Jewel). None are yet at the stage where the crest is sufficiently outstanding but there is progress. Still another selection (red floribunda climber x Crested Jewel) has quite a bit of the cresting (see photo: Fig 24 & Fig 25). This is an interesting plant and flower, semi-climbing, repeat bloom and easily sets seed so has value for future breeding.

Also of interest is the fact that in succeeding years I have been able to secure enough pollen to produce seedlings from Queen Elizabeth x Crested Moss and from Baccara x Crested Moss. From each of these crosses one selection was made and the plants multiplied so that we now have material from several sources to help in the quest of producing garden roses, hopefully, with the cresting of Crested Moss. I also have another selection of Little Darling x Crested Moss which is much like the crested parent except that my seedling is a better growing plant with cleaner, brighter green cresting. The flower is similar in form and color to Crested Moss, but alas, it too is without seeds or pollen.