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At right is one of the more recent of the red miniatures to come out of Sequoia's breeding program. Introduced in 1996, this dark red variety is called 'Cherry Hi'. There are few red minis that are as dark as this one! It's a beautiful color, and it holds very well in hot sunlight.
The Miniature Moss roses evolved very gradually for Mr. Moore. As he says, "Since 1948 I have been actively interested in the breeding and development of Moss Roses. It was a long, long trail; the road was uncharted. Information to help with this adventure was, for the most part, almost totally lacking." The earliest of crosses was using Pedro Dot's 'Golden Moss', from 1938, and then, "One outstanding seedling (#12-59-10) came from a cross of 'Pinocchio' (pink) x 'William Lobb'. Realizing that this was a useful variety, "we did successfully cross #12-59-10 with the miniature variety 'New Penny' to produce 'Fairy Moss', the first miniature moss." Eventually, 'Fairy Moss' was used as the seed parent to produce 'Dresden Doll'. This is a very nice little Moss rose....try it, you won't be disappointed.
The variety you see at left is a new rose that has not yet been introduced into commerce. I have been told that it is a Hybrid Tea type rose which shows heavy cresting on the buds. You can see it on the buds in the photo. It is a fairly tall plant, from what I remember....about 4 to 5 feet tall, and I don't recall that it had much fragrance. The fully open bloom is a semi double, rich pink hue. I hope that one day we will see some of these new Crested Roses available on the market.
This shrub is a fountain shaped bush, growing to about three feet tall, then cascading over and down, producing a very elegant form. The blooms are produced constantly, in big clusters of up to 20 or more 1.5 inch blooms. The color varies from pale lavender to deep mauve, and whitish pink...sometimes all at the same time on a branch! This rose is likely going to be one of my favorites. To quote Ralph Moore in a recent publication, "Our aim has been to develop not just new varieties, but better and different roses." 'Vineyard Song' is certainly evidence that this goal has been realized in many of Mr. Moore's roses.
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Ralph
Moore has bred and introduced some of the most remarkable rose hybrids
of our century. When the first of his true miniatures began appearing
on the market decades ago, Hybrid Teas were the king of American gardens.
He took a big chance all those years ago by breeding the tiny roses
he loved so much, hoping that other people would find them as charming
as he did. Needless to say, America was very happy to adopt these little
garden gems for their own. I have heard it said that miniature roses
now outsell all other roses four to one!
One
of Ralph Moore's greatest ambitions has been to create a Floribunda
type rose which has the Crested sepals of 
