garden roses

[coosagirl]

I planted four different colored roses last year. Now they are starting to bud out and they are all red. Can anyone tell me why.

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forum! That's certainly an odd thing to happen, where did you get the roses from? Is it possible that they were mislabelled?

 

[claudine]

This is really weird! But the truth is that roses are full of surprises Two of my miniatures changed their colors too (you can read about it in this thread: https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/my-miniature-rose-changed-color.3553/). I really don't know how to explain it. It might have something to do with temperature and the type of soil.

 

[galmal]

This is an interesting question, I would love to hear the answer. I have the same problem with daylilies. One year I decided to put a row of daylilies around our inground pool. I poured over the catalog and ordered a bunch of different varieties, as I wanted different colors and bloom times. The first year, they were lovely. All different colors of pink, white and purple. But slowly, over about 3 years, most of them turned orange - like native daylilies. I was so disappointed. The funny thing, I planted one variety in a bed out in the front yard, and it stayed it's original color.

I talked with my mom about it, and come to find out, she has had a similar experience. Anyone know why the happens and how to keep it from happening?

 

[marlingardener]

Just a guess, but hybrids often revert to the "mother" plant. In the case of roses, cross-breeding a weak rose with a strong one often results in color change, in favor of the strong rose. I think the same thing could happen with bred daylilies.
I don't think there is much you can do about it, except buy pure strains (own-root or antique roses, or daylilies that are not hybrids.)

 

[galmal]

Just a guess, but hybrids often revert to the "mother" plant. In the case of roses, cross-breeding a weak rose with a strong one often results in color change, in favor of the strong rose. I think the same thing could happen with bred daylilies.
I don't think there is much you can do about it, except buy pure strains (own-root or antique roses, or daylilies that are not hybrids.)

That's what I was thinking, that it had to do with the hybridizing. I thought maybe it had to do with cross pollination, as the one in the front yard, which was planted by itself, stayed true to color. My understanding is that the "original" daylilies were only the dark orange, which I hate, but I love everything else about them. I love the grass-like leaves, the color of the green foliage and the blooms. I'm a sucker for lilies of any type. I also like that they've bred ones that rebloom, so you have a much longer period of color. But after these changed, I'm kind of afraid of ordering more.