Hi! One of our best roses has been "Mr. Lincoln"; it blooms all year, large, scarlet to dark-red roses against dark green foliage, strong perfume smell, great for long-stem bouquets....it's great, even though it tends to grow as high as our roof. :) The other best rose is a climber, huge blooms in dark green foliage, it's mostly a peach color but can get anywhere from gold to orange, not a real strong smell but sweet and also blooms all year, lasts even longer than Mr. Lincoln, only problem is I don't know the name of that one. :(

6a MA is a tough climate for roses. Try looking at the Bucks--maybe. 'Carefree Beauty'? 'Quietness'?

Or a Canadian--'Morden Blush'? Someone from New England area can better advise.

I can't speak for how Morden Blush would be in your zone, but here in the mid desert Southern California it was amazing! The ONLY Canadian Explorer rose to flower year round with NO disease issues here AT ALL! The others most often suffered rust and black spot HERE in our thirteen month growing season. Not a fault of the roses, but proof they weren't climatically suitable here. Morden Blush was. Kim

I've only grown Prairie Sunrise, G. Popcorn & J. Cartier on your list & G. Popcorn has the most continuous bloom of those 3 for me. Its been my observation that singles (4-8 petal blooms) are the roses that usually give you the best chance at continuous bloom, roses like Gizmo, Carefree Delight, Nearly Wild, & Funny Face. High petal count roses, which a lot of Austins are, usually have flush cycles with down cycles in between.

Hi you may want to give some thought to a newer Canadian Artist series rose name Felix Leclerc Large Pink blooms. no scent ,dark green foliage. Massive bloom in the spring. Closest thing I know of to continous bloom.
Very hardy, I do nothing to this shrub & it preforms extermely well.
I will include a link to info on Helpmefind.

Bill

Here is a link that might be useful: Felix Leclerc

Hoovb is right about picking roses that are good for our climate. Here in zone 5b, I've found that the Buck roses Quietness, Carefree Beauty and Prairie Sunrise have excellent re-bloom and provide lots of roses over the growing season. All are very hardy in my garden. The newer Summer Memories (Kordes from Palatine) and the difficult-to-find floribunda Royal Wedding are two disease resistant, hardy roses that are constantly in bloom in my garden throughout the growing season. Most of the Austin roses are quite hardy here - the newer ones are especially disease resistant, but do rest between flushes of bloom. However, their fragrance and beauty are difficult to top. Of course there is always the Knock Outs and Betty Prior for season long bloom, hardiness and disease resistance.

Clair Matin is a climbing rose.

I don't know what size rose you're looking for, but if you're looking for a flowering shrub for your landscape you probably should consider the rugosa roses as well. Rosa rugosa alba blooms on Nahant Beach, right in the sand. It has a big flush in late spring, but for the rest of the summer usually has at least a flower or two open (or so my memory recalls; I've never kept careful track). It also has decorative hips in the autumn. Its white flowers are a completely pure white which is unusual in white roses. Even the developing buds have no hint of another color.

It is not a rose whose flowers you can cut for indoor display. If you do that the flowers will shatter in less than a day, so you'll be picking petals off the table and throwing the naked stem in the trash.

Gourmet Popcorn was a black spot mess in my garden. Lady Esie May is a continuous bloomer that gets black spot, loses leaves, but keeps on blooming. You should have seen her at Thanksgiving covered in blooms despite a few light frosts. I don't spray.

Thanks for the suggestions. It does seem a little daunting to find a rose that has all the qualities you want in a rose. I'm starting to think I'm looking for too much and that there aren't that many healthy roses. I even looked over on the Organic Gardening forum at a few posts on roses to grow in a 'no spray' garden, but found it discouraging that as soon as someone would say a rose was healthy, someone else would say it wasn't for them.

I see that some on the forums have hundreds of roses and that will never be me. [g] Not that I wouldn't LOVE to, but I haven't the room or the time to care for even a fraction of that. I wish I could because then I could choose roses with less expectations from each one.

My goal is just to find about a dozen roses that I really love that perform well. I just don't want a rose that doesn't have fragrance. I'd rather buy another type of plant if that's the case. I bought an old garden rose last year and it bloomed once and for another 3 months of the growing season it was just taking up space. My garden is small so it's noticeable.

I can see that if I want to have the repeat bloom or continuous bloom, I'm going to have to give up something, so I guess as wirosarian suggests, fewer petals on the flowers would work for me and keep some fragrance. So that would leave out the Felix Leclerc. Pretty rose though.

And yes, I was looking for a small shrub size so that leaves out Mr Lincoln and Clair Matin.

The Prairie Sunrise on my list is a Buck's rose. I don't see a lot of other choices I like for Buck Roses at Pickering. Maybe there is another nursery I will look for more.

I do see Morden Blush at Pickering and that sounds like an option.

I have seen Betty Prior and it is a nice carefree rose and I have a Knock Out rose which performs very well, but I am exploring whether I can do a little bit better in the petal count and the fragrance department.

I'll look into Summer Memories and Royal Wedding, thanks.

York rose, there seem to be a lot of new rugosas now. I was looking at them in the Pickering catalog. That's a nice white one. I am planning on adding this rose to a perennial bed and I'm wondering if the suckering and the size of a rugosa is going to be a problem.

Looks like lots of people have trouble with Blackspot on the Gourmet Popcorn, too bad, it looks so cute. [g]

Thanks for all the help narrowing down my list.

The rugosa species cultivars (including R. rugosa alba) do sucker, but as I understand it they aren't typically crazy vigorous about suckering. My understanding is that they develop into a thicket, but usually do so gradually, and only if you do nothing about it. There are some rugosas that are shorter and I suspect might work pretty well in a garden bed, but.....

I don't know what size your garden is so I don't know what size you want your roses to be. If you want them to be short and small and fit well into a bed of perennials you're probably looking at Polyantha roses (except many of them have little or no fragrance).

As to wanting a rose that doesn't yet exist (good rebloom, great growth habit, disease-free, dependably hardy, great fragrance), welcome to rose fandom........ ;)

Have you been using HelpMeFind? That's a terrific resource for learning about roses. You may find it will help you quite a lot in your searching. Pickering isn't the only reputable nursery that carries roses that will grow well in Massachusetts. I've purchased roses from Roses Unlimited, in South Carolina, and been very happy with what they delivered. Their shipping costs are steep, but in my experience (just two roses admittedly, Fragrant Cloud and Paul Shirville, but I will happily get more from them when I can afford to) their roses are good ones. Not everything they offer is appropriate for Massachusetts, but some of them most definitely are. HelpMeFind can help you figure out those sorts of questions.

If $$ allows this year (I think it might) I'm tentatively planning to buy from them the climbing roses New Dawn, Viking Queen, and Parade. They'll replace City of York and Dr. W. Van Fleet, growing along a low (3') fence on the condo property. Both of those are lovely climbing roses, but neither dependably reblooms for me and City of York is simply too vigorous and too thorny. It wants a landscape situation that doesn't exist at this condo complex (& on top of that it doesn't rebloom here).

Yorkrose, I'll pay more attention to the Polyantha, I think there was at least one on my list. I've seen some very attractive ones with no fragrance. Pickering didn't have a big selection.

I'm wondering if the Northeast is more of a problem for growing roses than other parts of the country. I remember there used to be more rose growers in New England, but I don't know that there are any more. I was looking at Rogue Valley Roses and wondering if they would have anything that would grow here? They do have zone 4/5 roses. I like the Moore and Barden hybrids, I think. Sequoia nursery sounds like it was a winner, sorry that is not available any more. I've only ordered from Pickering so far. I like that they are bareroot and have heard many people say how healthy their offerings are. I went looking for Buck roses yesterday and Heirloom Roses offers a lot of them, but I read a few threads that suggest some people have had problems there. I'll check out Roses Unlimited.

Yes, I've used HelpMeFind. I haven't lately, but I'll check it out again.

Too bad you have to replace 'City of York' [g] I just bought 'New Dawn' last spring. It had nice healthy foliage until the fall but it still isn't that bad. I'm looking forward to next season to see what it can do. 'Viking Queen' and 'Parade' look very good too. I'll be interested to hear how they do for you.

Yes, I'm sure I'm not alone in looking for something that doesn't exist. [g] I think if I lived in a better 'rose growing' area and had a larger garden, I'd be able to have enough roses to get some of everything I want in a collection of roses. I have a 1/4 acre property with a lot of shrubs and more part sun than full sun so there just are few places I can put a rose. I'm experimenting already in areas with less than full sun, but not sure how that will go yet. Last year was the first year trying it, so I will be anxious to see how it goes next year. I just lasagna layered some lawn in the front to extend an existing perennial bed which is my only full sun area and will add roses with perennials next spring.

Too bad once bloomers didn't bloom at different times and you could succession plant. [g]

Earth Song is my usual recommendation for a healthy, HT type, smelly rose. Prairie Harvest from Pickering (grafted) might work. Mine had to go in a pot because the whole winterkill-rebound cycle was too much for it.

The larger the rose, the bigger ability to rebloom. That's one of the things you are running into.

prairiemoon, if your yard is more than a bit shaded I highly recommend you watch this video. Paul Zimmerman also has a slew of others (as you can see if you go to the link), and I think they're all terrific.

If you have the space for a larger shrub (since they tend to be 7' high or so, if I understand correctly), you can plant one of the earlier blooming once bloomers. There are several species (& hybrids from them) that have thin willowy stems, a vase shaped bush, small ferny-appearing leaves, and pale yellow flowers along their stems that bloom in mid-spring rather than late spring.

Rosa hugonis is one of the most famous of them, but there are others, including Rosa primula and Canary Bird. Olga is a big fan of them and she's posed pictures of hers in bloom.

Scent and rebloom and double blooms? My vote in your zone would be for Belinda's Dream. Morden Blush or Champlaign would work if you didn't care so much about the fragrance. And Prairie Harvest and Carefree Beauty are two Buck roses that would fit the bill.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Musings Blog

I'm going to have to look for Earth Song with a different supplier. I do see Prairie Harvest at Pickering and skipped over it because it was a yellow. I have two yellows already. Golden Celebration and I just bought Julia Child last year, that did really well for me. Maybe the Prairie Sunrise will have some of the same qualities. Thanks.

York Rose, that was a really helpful video, thanks!! I forget that you can find just about anything on YouTube. I'm going to have to rethink possible sites for roses. I have planted in afternoon sun and ignored the morning sun locations. Maybe I can try a few more roses. [g]

Isn't that hip on 'Canary Bird' something?

Thanks professorroush, I was just reading the post on EarthKind roses and noticed that pretty Belinda's Dream. Morden Blush is pretty too. Enjoy your blog too. :-)

Here's one I rarely see mentioned on this forum: Lambert Closse, a Canadian Explorer rose. It has lovely two toned pink blooms (darker in center) and is in bloom most of the time except when it goes over 100 degrees here in August--but most of my other roses stop then also. It is very disease resistant. Mine, however, is a bit taller than all the descriptions I have seen which place it more like 3-4 ft tall. Mine is about 5 ft tall--don't know why. As a whole, a most satisfactory rose.

Kate

Another one to look for. It should be very hardy too if it's an Explorer rose. Thanks!

prairiemoon2,

I've found that the best solution for having continuous rose bloom is a combination of roses that have the qualities you're looking for.

This year I had continuous bloom, but not all from the same rose.

I combine double-blooming Knockouts, the Buck roses Carefree Beauty and Quietness, the ployantha The Fairy, the David Austin roses Eglantyne (a great bloomer), Mary Rose, and Lichfield Angel, the Explorer rose Morden Blush, and the shrub rose Bonica to get spring-to-fall blooming coverage.

There are all, essentially pinks (except for Lichfield Angel) and some of them have scent, some have hips, while others of them don't. They don't bloom at the same time, though there is quite a bit of overlap.

Another rose that I'm thinking of adding is the gorgeous Gene Beorner. There was a photo of another poster's success with this rose on this forum last year.

I grow multiples of Morden Blush, and agree that it's a very pretty rose, however, it does blackspot pretty badly. Of my 50 or so roses this one is the worst for blackspot. Also, it does not have any fragrance at all.

I think aegis500 is probably onto something, at least, if you are dedicated to having a summer-long display of roses.

As to the hips of Canary Bird, botanically speaking rose hips are "pomes". That means they are biologically the same as apples or pears. Furthermore both apples (the various species of Malus) and pears (the various species of Pyrus) are also in the rose family, and despite the fact that those plants are trees rather than shrubs (as roses are), their fruits also are "pomes". Thus, if when you look at the hips of Canary Bird, or of any of the hips of Rosa rugosa (or any other rose for that matter), you are reminded of the fruits of an apple or pear tree (or a Cotoneaster or firethorn (Pyracantha) shrub, or a hawthorn (Crataegus) shrub or tree)? That's no accident. ALL of those other trees and shrubs are also in the rose family and also bear fruits that are (botanically speaking) "pomes"! :)

Over time, if planted on its own roots this rose will sucker into a thicket, but there is a light pink "antique" rose named Stanwell Perpetual that also may (or may not) appeal to you. The flowers don't open in the elegant way that Hybrid Tea flowers open, but they still have their own charms, and from what I gather from my reading the flowers smell quite nicely, too, as well as reblooming persistently during the summer (which is enormously rare for the class of roses it belongs to, the "Scotch Roses"). I don't know how frequently it happens, but it also is capable of setting hips, although the hips are small and dark, rather than large & bright red (or scarlet) the way the hips of a rugosa rose (or several other antique roses, such as the White Rose of York) are. The "Scotch roses" typically set rose hips that are dark in color (& often fairly small).

I think you're right, yorkrose, aegis500 IS onto something! That sounds like a great way to do it. I wonder aegis500 if you are anywhere near my area, in New England, could I expect to have a similar experience growing the roses you list?

I only have a few roses now, a single Knock Out, an alba Mme. Plantier that is once blooming, Penelope, a musk that is once blooming and nicely fragrant, a shrub rose, 'Rhapsody in Blue' that repeats a little and is a little fragrant, 'Golden Celebration' that is not very good at repeat, New Dawn, that I'm not sure about, and 'Harlow Carr' a David Austin that was new last year, but I expect to repeat well. The only pink actually. I do have Bonica that is in so much shade and overgrown so it is barely still living, that I'm going to dig out and move next year and see if it will recover.

So the month of June is pretty well covered. I think Harlow Carr is the only rose I have now that will offer me much the rest of the summer, aside from the Knock Out. Oh, and the Bonica if it recovers. I would like to have roses and fragrance in July through September. Crazy, I know. [g]

So the Buck roses, the Polyantha, and the Explorer do the heavy lifting for bloom over the summer, I suppose? with the David Austins filling in here and there?

kristin, thanks for sharing your experience with Morden Blush. Where are you located?

YorkRose, that is SOME hip on that Stanwell Perpetual...lol. I do enjoy hips and that and the Canary Bird really do have some pretty ones. Beautiful colors! Thanks for the explanation on the Rose Family tree. They do look like litte crabapples. An old rose that repeats does sound unusual, I'll give it a look.

YorkRose, we must be pretty close to each other. I'm not that far from the coast. I imagine the salt air has some effect on rose diseases. I wonder if it is a good effect or not? What do you grow that you enjoy that you consider disease resistant? Have you ever grown any of the Rogue Valley Roses?

hello PrairieMoon,

I also have a tiny little home garden so when looking at plants, it is always worth considering other aspects rather than just the blooms. The overall shape, the foliage, the colour of new growth, heps and autumn colour, as well as looking for a successional bloom cycle. There are many lovely roses which have delightful leaves and grow into graceful and elegant shapes, even when denuded by winter. Hope I am not sounding preachy but it is always worth looking at the plant in its entirety, over a season, rather than the few weeks of blooming.

PrairieMoon - I am located in Minnesota zone 4a. The blackspot pressure here is not as bad as out east, but even so Morden Blush always blackspots for me. If you are willing to spray it shouldn't be a problem (I don't spray).

You might take a look at the floribundas or hybrid musks like 'Nearly Wild' or 'Ballerina' (both singles). I don't grow these myself, so can't comment on their disease resistance, but they do bloom a lot. Also the polyanthas like 'The Fairy'. 'The Fairy' starts blooming late, but continues on through the fall. I had some issues with cercospora leaf spot on my 'The Fairy' this year, but usually it is disease free (keep the leaves dry).

My choices are limited, but in your zone 6 there should be plenty of good roses with continuous bloom to choose from. I guess if I were you I'd research the floribundas, polyanthas and hybrid musks.

Hi campanula,

I have been checking out names on HelpMeFind to see if I can get a look at the whole plant and find any further comments about them aside from the catalog description. Yes, it would be great to find a rose that has every attribute and I do want something that looks good in the garden. I guess right now I am concentrating on choosing those that will extend the time I have roses blooming in the garden because I do enjoy the blooms and the fragrance. Last year, after June, I barely saw another bloom. The 'Harlowe Carr' kept pushing out one bloom at a time since it was in it's first year from bareroot and not over a foot tall. Did you have any names of roses that are an overall nice plant that you can suggest?

Kristin, thanks for that suggestion. I did go over the Pickering website this morning looking at the Polyanthas and the Musks. There was one or two that interested me that are sold out right now. I saw one called 'Marie-Jeanne' that I like, which I'm still thinking about. It has the continuous bloom I was looking for and moderate fragrance, where as the 'Fairy' has light fragrance and I think the blooms are smaller. I liked 'Mozart' in the Musk category but they are sold out too. I also have a white house, so the pale pinks that are so numerous, like Felicia that I do like, are not as good a fit as a medium to dark pink or a darker purple.

I think I had cercospora leaf spot on New Dawn in the fall after clean foliage all summer. I don't really understand how you can keep the foliage dry though when you live in an area that rains often? Last year, we hardly had rain at all, but that's unusual.

I'm going to spend some time looking at the Floribundas. I forgot I do have 'Julia Child' which I bought last year. It was a real winner!

Thanks... :-)

prairie2,

I live in central Indiana, but at zone 5b, we may be a bit cooler than you. I have varying degrees of clay soil to work with, so some of my roses do well, and some not so well, depending on where they're planted.

As much as you probably don't want to hear, Knockouts are the most floriferous roses I have. I have Pink Knockout, Blushing Knockout, and Double Pink Knockout.

The Knockouts are among the first to bloom, rarely take a break through the season, ... and finish up last. It takes frost has to stop them.

Morden Blush blooms early, but, so far, hasn't been a show stopper for me. The blooms were nice last year, but the plant itself was small, and the bloom stems were not strong enough to hold the blooms erect. As I said though, the blooms are nice, and I'm hoping next year that the plant does better.

{{gwi:347160}}
I was really excited about planting the Buck rose Carefree Beauty, but it took a while to get going. The last (2) years have been nice. It blooms in the spring, and kind of off and on through the summer. Mine still seem to shut down before Fall, but the one I planted for my mother seems to go gangbusters all year, etiher blooming, or preparing to bloom.

A drawback to Carefree Beauty is that its blooms are not so sturdy, so a rain can make a mess of them. Also, the blooms will only last 2-3 days individually.

Quietness is a great looking rose, but not quite as vigorous as its cousin Carefree Beauty. After (2) years, mine are still kind of preoccupied with growing, rather than blooming. For me, Quietness also has a nice scent, at times.

{{gwi:347161}}
One of my favorite roses is the David Austin rose Egalntyne, which is as vigorous and floriferous as you would want. In it's second year, I got some absolutely stunning blooms, and its grown and bloomed stunningly ever since. I, typically, get a good (4) flushes of bloom from this plant in a given season. Aside from the Knockouts, this one is as close to being continous blooming as I have.

The drawback for Eglantyne is that it gets blackspot worse than any rose I have, as do all of my David Austins. At a given point in late summer, its as bare as it can be. But it still blooms, and since I've got my roses integrated in with other landscape shrubs, the blackspot effect is not too distracting. Obviously, I don't spray.

Mary Rose is another pretty pink David Austin (with scent). It's not quite up to my Eglantyne, but it does a nice job, though it blackspots too. It blooms about (3) flushes per season.

Lichfield Angel is a pretty cream colored David Austin that would probably be quite stunning, except that my specimen (obtained from David Austin USA) has Rose Mosaic Disease, which limits its vigor. So, it's just nice. Blooms a couple times a year. Doesn't blackspot so badly.

{{gwi:347162}}
As has been said, the Fairy blooms late, but blooms long. But a major drawback here is the variety of Fairy clones. At one time I had (4) of these, but (3) of them only wanted to shoot out multi-foot long thorny viney canes that would root where they touched the ground. They hardly ever bloomed, so I pulled them out. The one remaining plant I have blooms well (and doesn't try to spread) and I appreciate its contribution to the landscape.

{{gwi:347165}}
Bonica is a nice rose. I tried starting about (4) of these at one time, but lost (3) of the (4) to bad conditions (bad soil, not enough sun, etc.). The remaining plant has done quite well, though it doesn't compete well with the neighboring shrubs. One thing that I've learned is that a shaded rose will not only perform poorly, but may die. I've even had Knockouts die from lack of sun.

Anyway, Bonica blooms in early summer, a little before the Fairy, its blossoms look great and hold up well, and it will bloom again right before the Fall.

So, anyway, between the combination of this motley crew, I'll get some bloom all throuh the growing season, and some particularly special bloom at varying points.

I pray that you will have similar success, or better.

P.S. I wanted to mention that I'm growing Jacques Cartier as well, but I'm not too thrilled with it. Weird form, lack of adequate bloom, etc. has made this one, so far, a bad choice for me.

Jacques Cartier is an older ("antique") rose, in the "Portland" class. If you seek rose flowers with petals that gracefully spiral open then you don't want Jacques Cartier because it lacks the genes necessary to do that. Instead its flowers sort of explode open in a jumbled riot of petals. That's a common behavior among the older European roses with many-petalled blossoms.

I live about ten miles north of Boston, right on the coast.

About ten or so blocks away from me someone is growing 2 bushes of The Fairy (a behaved strain of it :) ) in their front yard. It blooms for an extended run during the heat of the summer. I grew it when I lived in the Philadelphia area. I wouldn't call it disease-proof (very, very few roses are), but the Philadelphia area's climate makes it ground zero for blackspot pressure. I didn't spray and while The Fairy lost leaves to blackspot it didn't usually defoliate to the point that it looked ugly. If you get a mannerly strain of it I think it's an excellent introduction to the Polyantha roses. If you insist upon fragrant roses the Polyanthas will be a disappointment because many (most?) of them have very little, or no, scent at all. To my nose The Fairy is scentless (but the human sense of smell is a variable thing, so there may well be others who do detect a fragrance from it), and since I do very much prefer scented roses (& have little room and no land of my own to grow them), at this present time I avoid scentless roses. Were it not for that I would very seriously consider growing The Fairy again where I live now. I think it's a FANTASTIC rose to combine with other flowers in a mixed flower bed! It would be one of my first choices if I was going to add a rose to a garden done in an English cottage style.

I haven't grown all that many roses, but of those I have grown I would list these as disease-resistant:

City of York (a GORGEOUS, near indestructible climbing rose that is VERY vigorous and insanely thorny)
Rosa alba semi-plena (aka "The White Rose of York", and my favorite rose; I lost it in a freak winter about four years ago :( yet another big rose )
Great Maiden's Blush (you've never smelled such a wonderfully, purely sweet fragrance!!!!)
Salet (a lovely, reblooming moss rose with pink flowers with a hint of lavender in the pink; not the most elegantly shaped bush, but still something that will work excellently with other perennial flowers such as lavender)
Dr. W. Van Fleet/New Dawn/Awakening (Dr. Van Fleet's on this property - it occasionally mildews in late summer, but not to a large degree, and also gets little blackspot)
Tausendschön ("Thousand Beauties") (can mildew in late summer/autumn, but in late spring it's AMAZING! thornless)
The Fairy

That was supposed to be an umlaut over an "o". I didn't realize it wouldn't show up when posted since it was in the preview just fine.

Another way to spell the name is "Tausendschoen".

Hi aegis,

What nice photos of your roses! Thanks for sharing them. It always helps a lot to see what someone is referring to.

Well, it might be that the knockouts are the most floriferous, but maybe we can keep working at it and it won't always be the case. I do enjoy the Knockout that I have. It is very healthy and has a bit of fragrance. I'm not sure the newer doubles do? The foliage also colors in the fall.

Your Morden Blush took a very nice photo. The foliage is so healthy and I like that color green.

With your Carefree Beauty, I wonder if you and your Mom have different soil? I have clay as well and I've been wondering if I should be adding some lime in the fall to the rose plantings?

Egalantyne, is very pretty. I do like the quartered look of the bloom and the foliage is nice. They are large blooms and more upright then the Golden Celebration blooms. I don't know if I could buy a rose that I knew was going to have blackspot when I don't spray. [g]

I am very concerned to heaer your Lichfield Angel has Rose Mosaic Disease from David Austin USA. I was getting ready to order that Susan Williams-Ellis from them but I think I might put a hold on that.

The Fairy and the Bonica are really nice too. You really like pink....lol!

Thanks for letting me know about the Jacques Cartier too.

Gee, a LOT of information in this thread. I'm going to have to go back and read it again. I see I missed a couple of posts. Tomorrow morning.... :-)

I see you posted just before I did, york rose.

Thanks for the ideas. I almost bought that Great Maiden's Blush instead of the Mme Plantier. I needed a smaller white. I have New Dawn that I bought last year and can't wait to see what it does next year.

I love the Moss roses. We rented a place near the beach a few years in a row when I was younger and the owner had planted moss roses in the garden. I was fascinated. I thought all roses had that fuzz on the buds for a long time. [g]

That Thousand Beauties is so full of flowers! I was actually thinking about adding a climber to my list. I was posting over the summer I think, asking about roses that birds would nest in and madgallica and others were talking to me about these huge monster roses...lol. I was getting a little concerned about whether it was the best idea, after hearing how one was gobbling up a nearby forest at someone's house. Darlow's Enigma maybe? Plus I've started to have a healthy fear of large thorns after reading about the infections you can get from one, after I ordered New Dawn. I would like to use a really large rose as a screen still. I was thinking about that Viking Queen you were talking about. I saw it at Pickering today. Thousand Beauties is one to consider too, I think, thornless really sounds great!

Dublinbay, thanks for the Lambert Closse idea. That looks like a nice one. I saw that at Pickering today too.

I'm also considering Belinda's Dream. I saw that at Chamblee's and was going to ask if they are a good supplier.

Pickering doesn't have Earth song, madgallica, but they do have Prairie Harvest. It is a yellow that reminds me of Harrison's Yellow which I like. I do have two yellow roses and not sure I can fit another right now but it's going on the list.

That's it for me. It's not easy trying to choose roses! I hope to make my first order with Pickering tomorrow, so I'll have to hurry up and decide.

I appreciate all the input, a LOT!

Thousand Beauties can also be grown as a free standing shrub. If you do that it will get about 5' high and maybe 8' wide. It will also have long canes arching further than that, but they droop into an informal fountain shape. They can easily be taken back a bit to keep it looking more shapely. As a climber it's rather a bit upright. New Dawn's canes are far more limber, at least for the first 4'.

I don't fertilize City of York, Dr. Van Fleet, or Thousand Beauties. Once the funds are available I'll be replacing City of York & Dr. W. Van Fleet. In their place I want to put New Dawn, Viking Queen, and Parade. Even unfertilized City of York is simply too vigorous for this property, and I want New Dawn since it reblooms while Dr. W. Van Fleet does not.

Earth Song (for a grandiflora with high centered blooms, and almost continuous). Very vigorous bush with upright growth.

Mordern Blush (It goes in flushes but in some years it has been entirely continuous -- usually there are a few left when the next flush comes I get up to 400 flowers on it at a time). The bush itself is round.

Hi again, Prairierose2

I believe that Knockout and parallel research will lead to a larger selection of garden quality disease resistant roses for us. Say what you want, Knockout was truly a ground-breaker.

There's no question that my mother's soil is better than mine. She also successfully grows Carefree Wonder, which was beautiful for (1) year in my yard, then slowly withered away.

She also has a beautiful red rose (on the order of Bonica) which we finally identified as Champlain last year.

Chamblees is a wonderful supplier. Just about all of my roses, except the Knockouts, Bonicas, and Fairies, ... are from Chamblees. I only got the Lichfield Angel from David Austin because it was new to the US, and they were the only supplier offering it. I'm in the same position this year as I want David Austin's new US offering 'Munstead Wood', and I don't think anyone else is offering it.

I've considered Belinda's Dream, but I think I'm going to opt for Gene Boerner.

Thanks yorkrose, I can't get over how many flowers are on that Thousand Beauties rose. I'm going to have to look for a place to add that one.

Mark, yes, madgallica suggested that Earth Song too. It sounds like a good bet. You are lucky that you are in an area where these two roses are healthy for you. Sounds like great rebloom.

aegis, all this talk about Knock Out, I took a close look at mine today when I was outside. Here it is mid December and the shrub still has attractive, clean leaves on it. I moved mine in the spring, so it hasn't hit its stride where it is this year, but I'm looking forward to next year.

I am an organic grower and so although I have clay soil and it is on the acid side, it is also a little on the loamy side and just barely acid. I add as much compost as I can get my hands on and lasagna build new beds, so I keep working toward good soil as much as I can. I think it makes a big difference. I also tried Alfalfa pellets worked in at the base of the roses the last two years and that made a big difference too. I got a better rebloom on 'Golden Celebration' after doing that and healthier foliage.

I am starting to think Belinda's Dream isn't as hardy here in MA. I thought I just read that it is borderline hardy in New Jersey which is south of me. 'Gene Boerner' is very pretty!

I wanted to revive this thread if at all possible given the new introductions since then. Any other thoughts on best repeat flowerers? I like The Lady Gardener for repeating. Any others you guys just love??

Continuous bloom roses for me are Marc Chagall, Peach Swirl and Moonlight in Paris, all new to me this year. They literally have not been without blooms all season. Older roses that bloom continuously are Cinco de Mayo, Bolero, Darcy Bussell and Flamenco Rosita.

I've heard before that The Lady Gardener is a good bloomer. I don't have it, but wish I did.

A friend in Chicagoland (Vickyrosegarden) replied when I asked her what are the continuous bloomers in her garden. Vicky wrote: "MOST FRAGRANT ROSES: mostly the Austin roses, but I especially enjoy Munstead Wood, Vanessa Bell, Bolero, Heaven on Earth, Evelyn. FAVORITE HEALTHY ROSES: Vanessa Bell was new last year, and she is a real winner! He is very healthy, no disease, and blooms continuously with many blooms at once. She is such a soft yellow that would blend with just about any other color. I also really like Olivia Rose Austin for her excellent health, but she has little fragrance.

If you like Kordes roses, you might consider Summer Memories. It took a few years for that one to get going, and I moved it several times so that may have set it back, but it is really prolific with the blooms--it pumps them out like Julie Child, which is another favorite of mine for her many blooms. Earth Angel does not rebloom as much but I still like her for the beauty of her blooms." Vicky.

I've always liked Munstead with its gorgeous, generous blooming and scent. But this summer of hellish nonstop temps has made me appreciate MW even more. It's outbloomed just about every other rose I grow. And they are full sized and gorgeous as ever. The big problem is the heat burns the blooms up fast, but not faster than many others in my garden. I hate to see all this wasted energy from a rose, but the temps will be falling, and MW (I grow two) is in full flush right now. So is that crazy guy The Prince, who has turned into a big bloomer with darker blooms than ever (has this nutty rose gone own root? I've grown it about 15 years). Diane

First photo is Munstead Wood, and this photo is The Prince.

I'm really sad my MW didn't make it--got it directly from DA bareroot and it failed. They were very good about replacing, but I had them give me a Jude instead :) My Rouge Royales from Edmunds both failed also--one never started, the other grew a single leaf bud and then died when I finally put it in the ground. I think I do better with bands/potted roses :(

@Diane Brakefield have you ever thought to put them in part shade? That's where I have my red HPs and Ascot--they get morning sun bc they're on the east side of the house, but are shielded from harsh afternoon sun. *if* i'm lucky enough to get The Prince that's where I'll put it as well.

@flowersaremusic z5 Eastern WA I was a bit snooty about The Lady Gardener when it was said to have superseded Evelyn, but I appreciate it for its own virtues--massive sprays of massive, fragrant blooms. I have yet to see it pause its blooming this season. They're more of a pure apricot than peachy pink, and the bloom form is a little less cupped than Evelyn. I also love how it pales towards the edges.

Roses I have that are continuous are my Blanc Double de Coubert and Morden Blush. Scepter'd Isle seems to have a near-continuous bloom cycle with large sprays, but it does pause at times. My Francis Meilland in afternoon sun seems to always have one giant bloom on it, but that's it. The one that's more shaded repeats less often.

Aaron, some of my roses do bloom in part shade, including Rouge Royale. I've found no difference in any blooms frying here, whether the rose grows in part shade or full sun. It's a desert here and the air is very dry. This does as much damage as sun and heat, making almost all roses quickly crunchy. We have been in a continuous heat wave since June 9, and no rose will do well in that, whether in shade or not. I wish the roses wouldn't even try to bloom when it gets so hot and dry. We had no rain for almost three months until a few days ago, and finally, we got one night of rain. No more since. Today, finally, we drop into the 80s. For a few days, then it goes back up, which I hope proves incorrect. I've grown Jude the Obscure (huge) for 17 years, and while it is an exquisite, unique rose, I don't find that it reblooms well, certainly not like Munstead Wood, so I hope you eventually do acquire Munstead Wood. Other great bloomers for me, which I've probably already mentioned (sorry) are Julia Child, of course, Tamora, Golden Celebration, Boscobel, Love Song, and good bloomers, Rouge Royale, Augusta Luise, Ebb Tide, Twilight Zone, Bernstein-Rose, Ballerina, and who did I miss--ha? You will have fun, if you find him, with the challenging Prince, which slogged along for years, and produced nice blooms, when it felt like it, on a pretty little bush. After The Prince's third transplant, it perked up, liked the place, and began a slow "expansion", which exploded about three years ago, when The Prince put pedal to the metal, blooming almost nonstop. The blooms even got darker. This rose has gotten so big that I'm wondering if it has gone own root, or what other major factor has caused such a transformation. Diane

That's an album of Jude the Obscure from over the years. Just above, Jude is shown next to his long time neighbor and old fogy, Brother Cadfael. Diane

I forgot your climate :( You've been my Redspiration! I hope your roses will weather the dry spell and heat well!

My Eden has had a very long spring flush--it's still putting out new buds. As Diane said, MW is near-constant. I'm also very happy with my Jacqueline du Pres--they don't last long, but they're constantly in bud.