{"id":3408,"date":"2021-05-31T06:14:11","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T14:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=3408"},"modified":"2021-05-31T06:14:11","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T14:14:11","slug":"in-the-eye-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/in-the-eye-zone\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Eye Zone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hulthemia\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

My front garden has a bad case of hybrid Hulthemia.<\/p>\n

This Hulthemia phenomenon is manifesting itself on a new rose bush, \u2018In Your Eyes\u2019, causing it to erupt in blooms that open yellow, with a pronounced maroon \u201ceye zone\u201d in the middle of each flower.\u00a0 The petals gradually age to cream, while the \u201ceye zones\u201d fade to pale purple.\u00a0 When multiple flowers are in different stages of openness, the shrub appears to have blooms adorned with at least two color combinations.<\/p>\n

The shrub in question is gorgeous, but why is this happening?<\/p>\n

Rose breeders are always looking for something new\u2014blue roses, continuous bloomers, roses that flower in the shade, not to mention plants that are absolutely impervious to climate change, pests and diseases. \u00a0This quest has been going on for centuries, but in an era when breeding advances can be communicated around the world in an instant, the hunt for the unusual has become intense. \u00a0\u00a0Roses with \u201ceye zones\u201d are unusual, and therefore sought after.<\/p>\n

The genes for the \u201ceye zone\u201d trait came from a plant known botanically as Rosa persica, \u00a0Hulthemia persica or Hulthemia berberifolia.\u00a0 This dispute over genetics and nomenclature, is ongoing, at least in some quarters.\u00a0 The important thing to remember is that Hulthemia, a plant native to eastern Iran and surrounding areas, is a thorny, scraggly shrub that sports bright yellow flowers with unusual red centers.\u00a0 It blooms in summer and is well adapted to its native hot, dry climate.\u00a0 It is clearly related to true roses, but lacks some rose characteristics.<\/p>\n

Hulthemia would still be an obscure plant, if not for those \u201ceyes\u201d, which have made rose breeders\u2019 hearts thump loudly for years.\u00a0 Other rose species simply do not have \u201ceyes\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some of the first matchmaking attempts were made by an Englishman, Jack Harkness, who bred roses for his family\u2019s firm from 1964 until his death in 1994. Obtaining Hulthemia seeds, Harkness set about the business of trying to breed reblooming rose varieties that had the characteristic Hulthemia \u201ceyes\u201d. Harkness eventually \u00a0introduced four Hulthemia\/rose varieties: \u2018Euphrates,\u2019 \u2018Tigris,\u2019 \u2018Nigel Hawthorne\u2019 and \u2018Xerxes.\u2019 \u00a0Of these roses, none were reliable rebloomers and only \u2018Tigris\u2019 produced viable seed for future crosses. The matchmaking efforts continued, with further crosses made by Harkness and other breeders in England and America, including Ralph Moore, a Californian best known for his miniature roses.<\/p>\n

In a 2007 article, an American rose breeder named James A. Sproul of Bakersfield, California, wrote about the Hulthemia breeding process.\u00a0 Acording to Sproul, the genes that produce the characteristic \u201ceyes\u201d seem to be linked to genes for non-repeat blooming. \u00a0Modern mass market buyers expect roses to rebloom reliably, which made the matchmaking an even greater challenge.<\/p>\n

In his article, Sproul predicted that either the Harkness firm or one of several other breeders would create a Hulthemia breakthrough and have a reblooming rose with eyes ready for introduction within five years. \u00a0Sproul went the other breeders one better and did it himself, introducing his trademarked \u201cEyeconic\u201d series, beginning with \u2018Lemonade\u2019 and \u2018Pink Lemonade\u2019 in 2011. \u00a0The plants were marketed by the Pennsylvania-based wholesaler, Star Roses<\/p>\n

The Eyeconic series has since expanded to include delectable-sounding varieties like \u2018Lychee Lemonade\u2019, \u2018Mango Lemonade\u2019: \u2018Plum Lemonade\u2019, \u2018Melon Lemonade\u2019 and \u2018Pomegranate Lemonade.\u2019\u00a0 In all cases, the fruit designation refers to the base petal color.\u00a0 All feature darker central \u201ceyes\u201d. \u00a0The \u201cEyeconic\u201d shrubs are medium size bushes, growing to around four feet tall, with semi-double flowers bearing eight to ten petals apiece. \u00a0All are repeat bloomers and all are striking plants.<\/p>\n

Once breeders like Sproul figured out the reblooming equation, more \u201ceye zone\u201d roses came to market.\u00a0 Most are now characterized as \u201chybrid Hulthemia\u201d roses, because of their mixed genetic heritage.<\/p>\n

In 2019, American rose breeder Tom Carruth introduced \u2018In Your Eyes\u2019, the reblooming rose that has caused such a stir in my front garden.<\/p>\n

The hybrid Hulthemias, with their heritage of heat tolerance, are useful in areas where summers can be torrid.\u00a0 To curb the tendency to legginess, cut back by one third after each flush of bloom.<\/p>\n

Going forward, we will certainly see more trademarked lines of \u201ceye zone\u201d roses, possibly with fully double flowers and\/or more compact habits.\u00a0 Fragrance is not a strong feature, so hybridizers are almost undoubtedly working to breed that trait back into the shrubs.<\/p>\n

Local retailers will probably stock at least one of the hybrid Hulthemias this season and they leap out from rose displays when they are in bloom.\u00a0 You can also order \u2018In Your Eyes\u2019 from High Country Roses; P.O. Box 22901 Denver, CO 80222; (800) 552-2082; www.highcountryroses.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My front garden has a bad case of hybrid Hulthemia. This Hulthemia phenomenon is manifesting itself on a new rose bush, \u2018In Your Eyes\u2019, causing it to erupt in blooms that open yellow, with a pronounced maroon \u201ceye zone\u201d in the middle of each flower.\u00a0 The petals gradually age to cream, while the \u201ceye zones\u201d … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[2516,520,2513,2515,516,518,2517,517,1577,2514],"class_list":["post-3408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-carruth-roses","tag-eye-zone-roses","tag-eyeconic-roses","tag-harkness-roses","tag-hulthemia","tag-hybrid-hulthemia","tag-rosa-berberifolia","tag-rosa-persica","tag-rose-breeding","tag-sproul"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3410,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3408\/revisions\/3410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}