Not knowing how roses respond in your area I don't have any suggestions, but I think I have heard that Iceberg is a blackspot magnet in humid climates. It's great in hot and dry western states but apparently not so good further east. Hopefully there will be suggestions for a good rose for you.

Ingrid

Iceberg is a great rose, unfortunately as ingrid has said, it does suffer from blackspot and has to be sprayed. Mine also was virused and succumbed to that one winter. I also have Fabulous and Moondance, which are descendants of Iceberg, and they also spot, but not as badly. I would say Fabulous gets larger than Moondance. Moondance has a bit more of a yellowish tinge to the white than Fabulous does.

Sugar moon. I have three of them next to a fountain in a sunny spot. Little black spot and wonderful fragrance ..but it's a HT not David Austin.

Hi Bunyip,

I do prefer the antique roses to the Austins and Modern Hybrid Teas etc so I'll suggest several white roses that although once blooming, are magnificent and fragrant and disease free in my garden.

Madame Hardy is a very beautiful rose, white with a green button eye. I never have a problem with her.

Alba Maxima is also a wonderful white rose as is Alba Semi Plena. I also have the Alba rose Sappho but am not sure how readily available it is.

Here is a link that might be useful: Madame Hardy

I have never planted 'Iceberg' myself, but I do remember one where I grew up on Long Island -- an area also known for blackspot. And boy did that rose get it. I remember it going naked more than once each year. As popular as it is on the West coast, I wouldn't recommend planting it on the East coast unless you were willing to spray regularly.

I haven't grown this myself, but I've heard good things about 'White Cecile Brunner.' It's one of the "Poly-Teas." I have baby 'Perle d'Or', which is more of an apricot fading to off-white "Poly-Tea", and while still small, it doesn't get hit hard by blackspot here in NJ. Sure, it gets a little (I don't spray, so virtually everything gets SOME blackspot), but it never went naked last year.

These aren't by far the only possibilities, but I'd like to cast a vote for either of these three -- 'Cecile Brunner' (make sure you get the bush form, NOT the climber), 'White Cecile Brunner' or 'Perle d'Or.' While CB and PdO aren't white, they do fade to near-white when fully open and in full-sun.

I remember a post asking about 'Perle d'Or' and Rosefolly posted pics of her hedge of them. I'm thinking that 'Cecile Brunner' or 'White Cecile Brunner' could easily be treated the same way.

:-)

~Christopher

Here is a link that might be useful: Perle d'Or questions

Thank you all so much for all the suggestions! I forgot earlier -- I do have Cecile Brunner in bush form, and I love her. I always enjoy handling the bush because everything is fragrant, and even if I'm only deadheading, I have that lovely scent on my hands for hours.

I am frantically making notes this morning, and will spend some time looking on line. Back later to report.

You are all so knowledgeable -- it is really interesting to read the posts here.

I have a feeling since Bunyip lives in the DC area, she might have to spray anyway. But if not, some of those are good choices. I have Perle d'Or, but it's been in a pot. I saw it at the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta and it did not have BS, so that's a good sign. However, it does get big. Albas are great, but aren't they once bloomers?

Sugarmoon is beautiful and has a great fragrance. I don't have it, but I think it may also need spraying in a humid climate. But oh, look at this bloom....

{{gwi:273401}}

Oh, I just remembered, we had a speaker at our last rose meeting from a local nursery. They sell roses of very good quality. One of the roses she mentioned was Bolero a rose from Weeks or Star. Anyway, it's widely available in Home Depot, if you can find it. It supposedly has a great scent and is disease resistant. And it has an Austin type look.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bolero Rose

Is 'Ducher' going to be hardy in 7? hmf says 7b. I know in TX in the bad BS areas it is often recommended. It is an EarthKind, so has much better than average disease resistance.

Bolero is a wonderful rose here, but I don't know how it would hold up to BS. It tends to be slow to establish.

Here is a link that might be useful: ducher

I would not plant Iceberg here in black spot hell if you paid me. Without weekly spaying - and I do mean every single week - the shrub with completely defoliation.

I'm also not going to recommend a Hybrid Tea or Floribunda because this is the Antique Rose Forum.

If you want to go no spray with repeat bloom then you basically have two options: Darlow's Enigma and Rosa Rugosa Alba. Both have wicked thorns and can get very big but with ruthless pruning you could keep them at 4 feet. Blossoms on both cutivars only have five petals but are fragrant and pretty.

Now if you're willing to spray or put up with a lot of black spot then I would recommend either COQUETTE DES BLANCHES or SOMBREUIL. Both Coquette des Blanches and Sombreuil can get big but do accept pruning. The flowers on CdB are small but absolutely gorgeous: quartered, palest pink-to-white and sinfully fragrant. The bush is also low on thorns and an absolute joy to work around. Sombreuil is very thorny but I forgive it because the large, creamy white flowers are so beautiful and again, very fragrant.

If you want a soft yellow rose then you can't go wrong with the English Rose CHARLOTTE. Nicely shaped shrub, few thorns, accepts pruning, grows well on its own roots, reliable repeat bloom; basically the works. Her only fault is the light-to-moderate fragrance.

I wonder if you could grow Hybrid Rugosas in DC? I really like the looks of 'Fimbriata' and 'Blanc Double de Coubert', but don't know if either would do well where you are?

Here is a link that might be useful: HMF photo of 'Fimbriata'