I usually think of upright hybrid teas when I think of the 50s--but they all need spraying for BS. For some reason I never figured out, rose breeders/gardeners in those days didn't worry about things like disease--too used to reaching for the DDT type products, I guess.

However, here's a compromise. The Knock Out rose of the post-war era (that's WWII--I forgot for a moment how many wars we have had since!) was the floribunda Eutin -- which is still readily available today. In fact, I have three of them right now. Showy red flowers blooming in clusters and disease-resistant leaves. Gets about 3x3, maybe 4x3 is you don't trim it much.

The only down side of this rose is that it has a bit of a lag time in between blooming cycles, but then it comes roaring back with a showy blooming period again.

You are in New York? Then another advantage of Eutin over the 1950s hybrid teas is that Eutin is very cold hardy and most hybrid teas are not--so you won't have to worry about winter-kill with Eutin.

Hope that helps.

Kate

Peace, Charlotte Armstrong, Chrysler Imperial, Tiffany, and Queen Elizabeth were probably the most popular varieties, but they all would need spraying for black spot. If you are on the lake with heavy reliable snow cover, that would help with the hardiness issue. These are still good roses.

For a hybrid tea look without spraying, there are the Griffith Buck roses. He was starting his work in the 1950s, but the best varieties came later.
I'd recommend Earth Song, Prairie Harvest, Mother of Pearl, and Winter Sunset, available from Roses Unlimited. These are also hardier than hybrid teas.

I'll have to look into those!

I should mention that we are above the snowbelt/to the west of the tug hill plateau, so we don't get all that much snow. It typically is below us, or to the east. We got a few snows over the winter, but not many-less that surrounding areas. So the chances of a good snow cover aren't that high.

Queen Elizabeth is a wonderful rose in my no-spray garden. It gets blackspot, but this does not diminish hardiness or vigor.

It does very well through winter, and is an outstanding bloomer all season long. It's a sturdy rose. It's about 4 feet tall here.

It has only a very slight fragrance, but the beautiful blooms make it memorable.

{{gwi:267265}}

Before Knock Out there was a rose that was new that had outstanding reviews and having seen it in person, I can just picture it by a cottage. The rose is called (appropriately enough) Martha's Vineyard. With this rose you wouldn't even need to deadhead and it is winter hardy to boot.

Here is a link that might be useful: Martha's Vineyard

Yes, Peace was very popular at the time. Ophelia, Mme Butterfly and their sports was still very popular and commonly available. It was also the era of the floribundas, rows and larger plantings of them, like Alain, Allotria, Red Favorit, Poulsen's Pearl, Iceberg (but at least here Irene of Denmark was more widely grown for decades, Iceberg was introduced as late as 1958), also of HTs. Dainty Maid was very commonly grown in the 50's, and Orange Triumph (1935) was and is still very much used where hardiness is an issue. Aloha quickly became a hit and still is one of the best, as did Coral Dawn. Elmshorn, Alchymist and Fr�hlingsduft did very well too, and all still worth growing. Leverkusen was introdused in 1953 as the first double flowered yellow repeating climber, very healthy leaves.

The HT Hanne is still sold here, probably for the fragrance and hardiness. Crimson Glory (1935) was very commonly grow at the time, a brand name when it comes to fragrance.

A lot from the preward decades were still popular in the 50's, varieties that are not that much used anymore. Lots of varieties are still available and widely grown, there should be varieties for any need.

Best of luck with your search ;-)

I was going to say ... michaelg listed the greats, except for Crimson Glory. Glad to see that our great friend Trospero mentioned it.

I would add - Crimson Glory, Tiffany, Queen Elizabeth - I can testify with personal experience that they can all survive fairly well without spraying. Yes, they will get BS, their leaves will drop, but it never gets close to killing the rose.

Peace will do fairly well, too - if helped along with the other issues (watering, insects, etc.).

Circus was also from that era--I grow it and it is one of the more complimented roses I have. It also would benifit from blackspot protection but doesn't get it as bad as some others. Also, HMF claims it is hardy to zone 4b, though I wouldn't know myself. Geranium Red was from the late 40's and I love its scent, but it does get blackspot pretty badly. I've only recently started to grow Moonsprite, Cafe, and Careless Love, so am unsure about their disease resistance, though I love the few blooms I've gotten from them so far. Mothersday is from 1949 and is very vigourous, able to outgrow its slight attraction to blackspot, but I'll be honest and admit that I actually don't care for the pompon type blooms it has. Thats about all the expereince I have for roses from that era--good luck with your garden and keep us posted on what you choose and how it works out.

Oh, I didn't know Peace was that old. I've always like that one.

DH did bring up one potential issue that I hadn't thought much about since there is a wild rose up there...salt. specifically, road salt during the winter. The plows move at a pretty good clip here, thus throwing any salty snow back a good ways. A quick search of salt tolerant roses landed me on rosa rugosa. I'm pondering it...it is an older cultivar that might have been planted in a cottage setting, but since it's listed (from what I can see) as an invasive species in NY, I'm not so sure it's a good idea. Of course, it probably depends greatly on what PART of NY it's planted in, and I'm half wondering if my "wild rose" isn't actually a rugosa. It certainly is thorny enough. If it is, then I believe I had plantings of the Rugosa here at one point, since it is in a spot that it didn't volunteer, it had to be put there or it would have been mowed down. I will wait for it to bloom to really see-we ahd to whack it back to the ground last year when a tree fell on it and made a mess of it. Have yet to see a bloom on it, but a quick look at Google streetview shows a light white/cream/pale pink on it.

It is the rosa rugosa species that is invasive, the hybrids are not. You can safely grow Hansa (1905), Mrs. Anthony Waterer, or Mrs Dagmar Hastrup. Roseraie de l'Hay (1901) is almost identical to Hansa but doesn't set hips. They have all been widely grown as hedges and boarders. Some pimpinellifolia hybrids take salt fine, like Pink Blush, and Double Pink.

Just an FYI, but the reason it was called "Peace" was because of the end of WWII. It was actually being distributed as Gloria Dei (Glory to God) in 1939. After the war, in 1945, it was re-named "Peace" and given to all the delegations at the first meeting of the United Nations.

Rugosa Rose leaves are pretty distinctive looking, I bet if you can find an example to check out you would be able to tell if your wild rose is a rugosa before it flowers. I am in a totally different climate, but you might want to see if the rugosa hybrid 'Blanc Double de Coubert' is well suited to your area, it has beautiful pure white fragrant blossoms.

Well, my wild rose is just that. I picked up a Rugosa at a plant swap today and can compare-the wild is defiantely not a rugosa!