Progress With Hardy Roses 
The State Rose Garden is located at Sioux Falls. Here and at Brookings some 20 
acres are devoted to originating roses that will be hardy without winter protection, 
also to originating hardy thornless rose stocks. The Rose Annual of the American 
Rose Society with several thousand members in America and rncny foreign lands, empha¬ 
sized the fact that South Dakota is the first state in the union to have a State Rose 
Garden. 
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The progress in Hardy Roses at this station was recognized June 29, 1956, at the 
annual meeting of the American Rose Society at Des Moines, Iowa, in awarding First 
Prize to N. E. Hansen for 41 new seedlings. The leading rose in this collection is 
now named Lillian Gibson. 
Lillian Gibson Rose - Pedigree: Wild rose, Rosa blanda . from Wilton, northern 
Minnesota x Red Star (a red Hybrid Tea) pollen. Offered for the first time. This 
rose was the sensation at the Sioux Falls Flower Show, June, 1957. The flowers are 
large, double, over 40 petals, a beautiful lively rose pink, about three inches across 
with delightful rich fragrance. A very abundant bloomer in late June. Plant of 
strong upright sturdy growth. The plant is sparsely thorny on young shoots, with scat¬ 
tered thorns on the old shoots. Only 14 own-rooted plants available, price each-$1.00. 
100% Thornless Roses 
In clearing twenty acres of rose seedlings in 1952 in the State Rose Garden at 
Sioux Falls and at State College, a few 100 per cent thornless rose plants were select¬ 
ed for further work. Both leaves and wood are smooth. These were introduced in 1956. 
The flowers are single, pink, fragrant. The abundant red rose-hips in autumn and win¬ 
ter are noteworthy. Plant of sturdy upright habit. These plants are now being crossed 
with many large double-flowered varieties in other colors. In its present condition 
it is a pleasing ornamental shrub that will endure 50 below zero Fahrenheit without 
protection, and which may be found useful by the rose-breeders in eliminating thorns. 
It is a pleasure to report further progress with the 100% Thornless Roses noted 
in S. D. Bulletin No. 509. The flowers are single and pink. In 1957 out of 11055 
seedlings of these 100% thornless roses, 615 seedlings or about 5-J%, were entirely 
smooth even the first year from seed. My hope is to make this character come true to 
seed and that it will be a dominant homozygote in hybridization with standard double 
roses. 
Strong plants of the 100% thornless roses noted in S. D. Bulletin 509, each $1.00. 
Three Pax Roses 
Three varieties of Pax: Roses are offered for the first time: Pax Amanda, Pax 
Apollo, Pax loin.. Pax is the Latin for peace. Thorns are not necessary in Roses. 
These Pax Roses are nearly or quite thornless. I hope that eventually Pax will be 
declared in the Rose gardens of the world! 
Pax Amanda Rose - Pedigree: Frau Georg Von Simson (a multiflora climber from 
Europe) x pollen of Rosa blanda wild rose from Wilton, Minnesota. A gorgeous bloomer, 
light pink turning to white, semi-double in clusters. Petals about 17. A strong up¬ 
right grower, with dark brown 7-foot stems. The stems are smooth except a very few 
thorns near the ground; the midrib of the leaf is bristly. Only 1 plant available. 
Price $1.00. 
Pax Apollo Rose - Pedigree: Rosa sempervirens pallida x pollen of Rosa blanda 
wild rose from southern Manitoba, A wonderful producer of deep oink flowers in lrrge 
clusters in June. Petris about 14. Tall, upright, 7-foot dark red stems. The wood 
is smooth; on strong shoots the midrib of the leaf is bristly. Only 5 own-rooted 
plants of Pax Apollo rose available for spring. Price each - $1.00. 
Pax Iola Rose - Pedigree: Anci Bohm (a climbing rose from Europe) x pollen of 
Rosa blanda wild rose from Bemidji, north Minnesota. Flowers a semi-double clear shell 
pink, A strong grower, evidently of the pillar type. The shoots close to the ground 
also full of bloom. Hybrids of flowers 2^ inches across in large clusters. Petals 
about 25. The older flowers are nearly white; these two colors make the bush a thing 
of beauty. The stems of strong growth are all smooth; the rachis or midrib of the leaf 
is bristly, but a pleasing thornless bouquet cm be cut fr;m the side shoots. Only one 
Pax Iola plant available► Price $1.00. 
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