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cameron383

Thornless & Full Tea Rose Recommendations?

cameron383
14 years ago

Recently, I developed a medical condition. If I get pricked by a rose thorn or "prickle," that could be very bad for me. But I love my roses! This fall, my husband cut down all of my rose bushes, promising to plant whatever thornless varieties I select this year. I don't even know where to begin to find replacements.

I'm looking for:

Thornless or nearly thornless

No "prickles" on the leaves

Hybrid tea variety (I think--one bloom on a long stem)

Full flowers--lots of petals

Consistent blooms throughout the growing season

And fragrance would be wonderful!

I feel like I'm asking for the moon. Do any of you have recommendations?

Thanks so very much for your help!

Lesha

Comments (8)

  • catsrose
    14 years ago

    Go to helpmefind.com/roses and put in a search for thornless. I don't think you will find many hybrid teas, but there are a number of OGR's thare are quite thornless.

  • gnabonnand
    14 years ago

    I have several thornless roses that I grow & love, but none that fit the hybrid-tea, one-bloom on a long stem description. Best of luck to you though.

    Randy

  • phil_schorr
    14 years ago

    Harvey Davidson produced a series of thornless roses with all the names beginning with "Smooth". By far the highest rated of them is Smooth Prince. The blooms are medium red, 26-28 petals, with some fragrance. Monrovia Nursery, a wholesale nursery, carries it and distributes it to various retail garden centers. I can't tell you which ones might have it, but maybe someone else knows - or you could contact Monrovia to see if any garden centers in your area received it.

  • zeffyrose
    14 years ago

    Lesha---------Randy has a wonderful collection of thornless roses---check out some of his pictures and maybe you will grow to love the bush type and OGR roses---Years ago I loved the Hybrid Tea long-stemmed type roses but now I really appreciate other types----

    Hybrid tea roses have many problems in my area----I have a couple that are pretty healthy but they are not thornless
    We are in different zones but there are many people in your area who can help you.

    Good luck in your search---I love Zephirine Drouhin --very smooth canes but prone to some problems---

    Florence

  • jaxondel
    14 years ago

    A thornless (and fragrant) HT I grow is 'Ahimsa' (aka 'Orient Silk). It's a fairly recent introduction by Viru Viraraghavan. Another of VV's roses that I bought last spring is the HT 'Naga Belle'. So far, it appears to be thornless. Both of these are available from Roses Unlimited. You might contact Pat there to ask if 'Naga Belle' remains thornless at maturity, and if there are others in RU's collection of HTs that meet the thornless criterion. If you're interested primarily in modern roses, you'll find a much larger selection of thornless if you extended your search to include Floribundas and shrub roses. I think there are some Austins that are thornless, or almost so . . . I don't remember which ones, though.

  • kstrong
    14 years ago

    The Frisco/Black Beauty/Abracadabra set of clones from Kordes are nearly thornless (you inspired me to go check my plants -- I found 2 thorns each on 2 full sized four foot tall plants). It is hard to come by these plants however under their real names in the U.S.
    But, no fear, the same exact plants have been renamed in the U.S. as mini floras and are available retail under the names Top Contender (yellow), Memphis Magis (dark red), and Memphis Music (striped yellow and red). You can purchase all three of them at Two Sisters Roses and here's a link.

    Be forewarned however that these are band size plants and will need a year or two to grow up.

    My other suggestion for you would be to email the good folks at Palatine Roses in Canada. They carry most of the Kordes roses as bareroots, and since Kordes seems to select their florist variety roses for having a minimum of thorns, I would bet that they could help you.

    Good Luck
    Kathy

    Here is a link that might be useful: Memphis Magic at Two Sisters Roses

  • dennisb1
    14 years ago

    It's a shame that you're limiting yourself to HT's, there's so much more out there. So I'm going out on a limb and recommend 2 nearly thornless, easy care, healthy roses. Both are David Austins.

    Heritage - semi double, light pink, blooms all summer.

    James Galway = full pompom, pink to lavender pink. Great spring bloom, sparse most of the rest of summer. Takes awhile to get to the great spring bloom. really big about 12'h x 6' wide. What it lacks in bloom the rest of the summer it makes up for as a good landscaper and no thorns.

    They both get sprayed with the rest of the roses for BS, but I don't recall either of them with BS. This year I experimented with JG, sprayed just half the bush. Neither side got BS.

  • luxrosa
    12 years ago

    Mrs Dudley Cross" is famous for lacking prickles, she is a Tea rose.

    Lux