Last night as I was reading, Graham Thomas’s Rose Book, I was surprised/overjoyed/ skeptical when I saw he recommends Alba Roses for the Northern Walls.

Now, I have a northern wall, well actually a 30' long, 2’ high wooden fence, which receives 1 to 2 hours of direct sun light. The rest is dappled light/shade under a giant Manitoba Maple (Acer negundo).

For the time being a Sorbaria and a Snowball bush (viburnum) thrive there. Plus Morning glories (the small purple types) seem to have naturalized the spot.

Now I would love let lose a Great Maiden Blush loose there, to take as much spot as possible, but is it possible to see flowers or Graham Thomas was just teasing?

Has anyone grown Albas in these conditions?

Thanks,

Bob

A true north-wall situation may get brief sunshine in summer mornings or evenings but gets most of its light from the open sky and reflected from structures to the north. It wouldn't work under a tree.

The link below gives a cute little application to show how the sun moves depending on time of year and latitude.

Thanks for the link Mad gallica. It was not much of a comfort, though.

England lies between the 51 and 55th parallel.

The most densly inhabited parts of Canada lie between the 45th & 60th. parallel. I don't know where in Canada you live, but I doubt England is very much more north than you. Remember that you have longer summer days and more daylight the further north you go.

I think your project is worth trying with maybe alba maxima or semiplena to start with. I have always found Maiden's Blush rather difficult to get started. Pickering sells large vigorous albas grafted onto multiflora.The grafted plants do take off sooner and might be a better bet for a tough location.

I buy my roses from Pickering.
I was planning to try,

Great Maiden's Blush
Semi-plena
Félicité Parmentier

if I'll go for it, I'll post on this thread again :)

I was focused more on semi-plena, but I'll give Maxima a thought.
From what I gather Maxima is bigger than semi-plena, has double flowers, but as one is the sport of the other, I assume they have the same type of fragrance, or am I wrong?

The thing is the more I think about, that area is quite shady, and honestly I'm not sure if any rose can thrive there and flower, with dappled light and if lucky an hour max 2, botchy direct sun light, from May till September. (It is full sun from October till Mid May, but that's no helpful is it?)

So, I'm trying to think of a better spot, light wise, which will receive 2/3 hours of direct sunlight. But I will be obliged to curtail it’s spread and force it up the cherry tree, at 2 feet distance. It's a rather tight spot and furthermore it will have root competition :(

So, that’s where I am for the time being.

Pickering has only Frühlingsduft, Frühlingsgold and Stanwell Perpetual.
I might be able to get Double Scotch White/ Pink from another nursery, which is really beautiful rose but I'm not sure, if it can become a "statement" rose, like the Albas.

At this point fragrance and size are the most important factors. It seems that Stanwell Perpetual is the most fragrant.

I like the fact that they thrive on neglect :)

I wanted to thank everyone for their thoughtful input, suggestions and encouragements :)

I finally ordered an Alba semi-plena from Pickering.

I'll post updates, later on, so other people can benefit from my experience.

I got semi-plena last year and planted not where I intended but close to a cherry tree, where it receives full sun till mid May, just before the trees leaf out.

Nowadays the average direct sunlight should be around 2 hours.

The plant grew quite a bit (5/6 feet) and went through the winter without a hitch. Well most of it was under snow.

And this year it is full of blooms. A couple of days ago, she surprised me with her first bloom. Suffice to say it was en emotional moment!

The great thing being under the tree is that, in case of rain showers, the flowers are less affected.

I really love this rose. Besides it's hardiness, it has the most beautiful blooms, foliage and form and the fragrance is lovely. And of course it has the distinction of being my first OGR.

I sometimes wish, I'd gone with my experiment and planted more Albas. I might still go through with it :-)

Albas are supposed to be very shade tolerant. Below is a link to Rogue Valley Roses' description of Great Maiden's Blush which they list as very shade tolerant.

Good luck.
Diane

Keep us posted on your Gallica experiments Portland.

Summer, I would love to try Darlow's enigma. But for some reason, it cannot be found in Canada.

Most of my garden is in shade. However as you know there is shade and shade.
The back of the garden was full sun a long time ago, however, the trees have grown so much that it is constant dappled shade.

So, roses that grow there need to be vigorous and tough and sizable.

I love Albas. There is an aura of mystery about them, as if they are a bridge between a longtime ago past and what is old and venerable in us.

If I'd go through with this experiment (As the spots are taken with some sentimental plants),

For the original spot mentioned in this post, I was thinking of going with Great Maiden's Blush even though I was tempted by the Queen and her ladies-in-waiting Madame Legras and Mme. Plantier!

For a small spot I was thinking of Félicité Parmentier, as none of the big ones will fit.

Although the idea of an all exclusive alba garden is very enticing, I've always been intrigued by the apple scented leaves of Sweet Briar. So, she'll be another candidate for another tough spot. I would grow her for her scented leaves only.

But again all this is an ideal, a dream, which for the time being, is enough as I'm quite content with miss Semi-plena….

Cath

I think it is a good idea to start a thread about roses in shade. I see many a rose, growing in less than optimal situation in my walks.

And yes it is Chaplin :-)

She thrives. I didn't think she would at first and I agree with the comment above that she might be slower growing to start in your less than ideal situation.

Finally back to her old self/size this year...(she was transplanted into my current garden in 2010)

I *will* say though that in this kind of shade I do often see even hardy GMB with some powdery mildew...but for whatever reason, this has been the most glorious year gardening :: knocking on wood :: and I've had none this year.

I've had this plant since 2002.

She can take a lot of abuse...if you have the heart to give her some space (and she needs a LOT) I think you probably could. But ofc this is only my experience.

[EDIT to add that I also grow Blanche de Belgique, Blush Hip, and Felicite Parmentier (who might be shovel pruned next year, to be honest, she does NOT want to grow own-root in the shade for me, what a pity)...used to grow the KvD but left her behind...GMB is my favorite of the class...and people would probably be shocked to see the full list of what I have growing in shade.]

Cheers!
~Anika

How tall is it?

Wow that's a lot of roses in shade. Thanks for the info. Was your KvD as big as your GMB?

Personally in my climate, I wouldn't go for a grafted rose. I'm too impatient ;-) If I want it to sucker, I'll plant it deeper and let it root....