ROSES RAISED BY BREEDERS IN JAPAN

This is our continuing translation project of the rose cultivars raised by Japanese breeders originally compiled by Mr. Osamu Hashimoto, a member of the Japan Rose Society.

Each year, the yearbook of the Society journal, Bara Dayori (Rose News), has given a report on the registration of roses the JRS has accepted that year. Mr. Hashimoto went through all the past issues of the yearbook and made a list of all the roses which Japan's breeders had raised by 1998. He further completed the list by cross-referencing and including all the Japanese roses listed in Modern Roses XI.

The comparison of the two lists has revealed that there are a considerable number of roses which breeders have registered with the ARS but not in Japan, though a larger number of the roses registered with the ARS are also registered in Japan.

This translated series covers all the items in Mr. Hashimoto's first list as well as those given in the JRS yearbooks from 1999 through 2003. Regrettably, the list gives no information on roses not registered with the JRS, or those raised before the 1950s. At present, it is extremely difficult to collect detailed information on those roses, especially on those raised during or before World War II.

The roses in this series are classed in five categories: HTs, floribundas, climbers, miniature roses, and “others.” In each category, the roses are aarranged in alphabetical order, and for each rose, all the information obtained from its breeder is given on the following – the rose's:

• name – what MR XI calls the 'fancy name' – in single quotation marks, and its brief translation or explanation in square brackets [ ] when it is given in Japanese;
• flowers – how they are borne, colour(s), shape, size, the number of petals, etc.;
• floriferousness;
• fragrance;
• foliage;
• tree shape and growth habit;
• prickles;
• use(s) the breeder considers most appropriate;
• parentage; and
• breeder's name and the year of introduction or registration.

If the name of a rose is underlined, it means that the rose is also registered with the ARS and is entered in MR XI. The translator has noticed that in some cases, there is considerable difference between the descriptions given in our list and those in MR XI. This is most likely due to alterations made by the Modern Roses XI editing committee based on differences in climate and geography between their local knowledge of the rose and the hybridizers' submitted growing information.

Most of the roses registered with the JRS by Keisei Rose Nursery were registered with the ARS by the names of the breeders who supervised the hybridization programme of the nursery: the late Mr. Seizo Suzuki and, after 1994, the late Mr. Hiroshi Hirabayashi.

The translator has added a list of the Japanese roses registered with the ARS and/or at some other agents outside Japan and the United States. It gives just the names of the roses and their breeders and the years of registration. For most of these roses, however, a detailed description can be found in MR XI.

Akira Ogawa, TRN Japan Correspondent
Jef Cameron-Martin, TRN Managing Editor

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PART I: HYBRID TEA ROSES

Section 2

8) 'ARIAKE' [dawn]

• Flower solitary, ivory white, pink in the centre; 13cm; 47-50 high-centred, rotund petals; moderate fragrance; foliage light green; upright; very vigorous; bedding rose. 'Lady X' x 'Garden Party'; K. Teranishi, 1978

9) 'ASABORAKE' [dawn]

• Flower solitary, yellow, petal rims pink; 13cm; 30 high-centred, reflected petals; slight fragrance; foliage leathery; upright growth; bedding rose. ('Golden Sceptre' x 'Narzisse') x 'Kordes Perfecta'; K. Ota, 1979

10) 'ASAGUMO' [Cloud in the Morning Sky] = 'Oriental Dawn']

• Flower pale yellow, edged crimson, which spreads as the flower opens; 15-17cm, 55 cupped, slightly reflected petals; moderate fragrance; leaflets large, wide, glossy, dark green; semi-spreading; vigorous growth; bedding rose. Seedling of: 'Peace' x Seedling of: 'Charleston'; Keisei Rose Nursery, 1973

11) 'ASAHI' [morning sun]

• Flower solitary, pale yellow with pink stripes; 16cm, 30-50 high-centred, reflected petals; no fragrance; stems not so long; bedding rose. 'Ethel Sandy' x 'Peace'; S. Sugiura, 1973

12) 'ASATSUYU' [morning dew]

• Flower solitary, pale beige tinted glossy yellow; 10cm, 15 slightly reflected petals; no fragrance; fairly floriferous; foliage dark green, leathery; bushy growth; bedding rose. 'Sterling Silver' x (unnamed seedling); T. Onodera, 1969

13) 'ASUKA' [an area in Nara, the site of the capital at the earliest historic age of Japan (693 - 710 CE)]

• Flower pale pink; 15cm, 45 high-centred, reflected petals; moderate fragrance; floriferous; thick, semi-glossy leaflets; very vigorous; bedding rose. 'Queen Elizabeth' x 'Minuet'; Y. Kono, 1974

14) 'ATAGO' [a place name]

• Flower solitary, orange-red, base greenish-yellow, reverse pink, base pale greenish yellow;13cm, 40-50 slightly reflected petals; late blooming; slight fragrance; very floriferous; foliage semi-glossy, thick, many leaves with seven leaflets; prickles underside concaved, few on flower stems; vigorous growth; bedding rose. 'Hawaii' x ('Super Star' x 'Christian Dior'); Keihan Gardening Co., 1984.

CONTINUE

THE WORLD - ROSES RAISED IN JAPAN

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