Everything Carol said...plus Etoile de Lyon, Mlle de Sombreuil (aka La Biche), Marie van Houtte and niles Cochet. Petal for petal, the best rose on the hill here is Souvenir de Pierre Notting.

Jerome

I focused on Teas last year's spring, and I, too, fell in love with them..They have grace and subtlety. I would also recommend the following, in addition to all the others that were mentioned:

Amazone, Blumenschmidt, Mme. Antoine Mari, Isabella Sprunt, Safrano, Francis Dubreuil, Maman Cochet, Mrs. Joseph Schwartz...

But, I do want to go off from these "bush" Teas and recommend some really, really, really beautiful Climbing Tea/Tea-Noisettes:

Ley's Perpetual IS gorgeous
Freiderich Kaiserin
Bouquet d'Or

These three roses seem to have a similar, delicate beauty and grace.

Of my 500+ roses, I think Ley's Perpetual may have the most beautiful flower.

Robert

This is Amazone, my only tea. They're not hardy here but I keep it in a pot that comes in the garage for the winter. I would love to get some more teas after I work out some more winter-storage space.

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I recommend those - at least the ones I have plus Cramoisi Superieur.

Sammy

Yes, Pierre stands out. I think I need a yellow to balance out the colors.

I do have Sombreuil, I didn't realize it was a tea, but I'm growing it as a climber and she's doing quite well.

Now, what is the best source for teas? Antique Rose Emporium?

I have gotten great tea roses from: Amity, ARE, Roses Unlimited, Chamblees, Ashdown, and Vintage.

Teas are my favorite class.
My old favorites are Etoile de Lyon, Mme Berard, Safrano, Duchesse de Brabant.
My new favorites are Jean Bach Sisley (help me find has it as a china but the fragrance and bloom form is all tea), Mme Lombard, and Francis Dubreuil (hmf has this as a tea but it doesnt' smell like a tea! Smells great, though.)
There are a lot of teas that did not make this favorite list. I love them, but if push came to shove I could live without them and that can't be said about the 7 listed above.

I do have Sombreuil, I didn't realize it was a tea, but I'm growing it as a climber and she's doing quite well.

*** Your climber - Sombreuil - is NOT a Tea Rose. It is a Wichuriana Climber of unknown origin,
which was substituted in commerce for the Tea Rose, 'Mlle. de Sombreuil.'
The substitution probably occurred at some point in the late 1940's, in the U.S.
It is, however, a very nice modern climbing rose with an old-fashioned look.

The Tea Rose, 'Mlle. de Sombreuil,' has been sold by some nurseries as 'La Biche'(a Noisette).
It is ALSO a wonderful, disease-resistant rose which I love.

The real 'La Biche' is not in commerce in the U.S. at this time, so any rose you buy under that name will be 'Mlle. de Sombreuil.'

Jeri

I'm new to teas too and am smitten by Clementina, Souv. de Pierre Notting, Etoile de Lyon, Le Pactole, possibly Alexander Hill Gray ( beautiful unspotting white blooms in abundance, but just suffered an attack of mildew), Lady Hillingdon, and the climber Marechal Neil. I have the climbing white Maman Cochet, not blooming much yet but looking really disease resistant. It's growing in a lower light close atmosphere situation with Cymbeline, who is quite blackspotty.

Buford, I love them too. If you don't have Clementina, you need it for sure!!! I love the Baronne too.

Carla

Thanks for the great thread, Buford. Lots of beauties here! Only making my task of choosing a few to order for fall more difficult. :) Brandy

From over a century ago, Mrs. Helen Milman wrote a book called (My Roses and how I grew them( and it's all about her Tea roses.

Here is a link that might be useful: My roses and how I grew them

Thanks, I've bookmarked it. It's almost like reading a Jane Austen novel!

Buford, how on earth did I forget General Gallieni and Francis D? Love them both and especially love the red color and fragrance. You need them both. If you can find the bush form of Devoniensis, get it. It takes a long time to establish for some reason but mine is now about 3years old and putting out strong new basals. The blooms are so beautiful and the fragrance is wonderful. Luanne bought the climber and keeps it cut back as a large bush. That is another option if you have the space.

Ann, great link. Whatever happened to the Tea book that was supposed to be coming out??

Carol

Buford, I planted Mlle. Franziska Krueger last year as a tiny plant alongside Crepuscule. This morning while watering, I noticed Mlle. has struggled amongst the Black and Blue salvias to claim her space with two lovely blooms! Crepuscule is another story, taking over the house. I think Duchesse de Brabant is a must have too. Teas rock.

Carla

Ann--

I read the whole book. How funny that even in the 1800's rose growers had the same love and struggles over our gardens! I loved it that she mentioned that rose catalogs were deceptive...some things never change!!

Great book Ann...thanks for the link!!

As for my favorite Teas...
For ALWAYS being covered in blooms: Duchesse de Brabant
Color: Mrs. Dudley Cross
Fragrance: Francis Dubreuil

Ronda

Not good news.

Here is a link that might be useful: Some first person info.

It looks like I'll need another tea bed......

I've also got an abundance of foxglove sprouts. After 3 years of trying to get the one foxglove I had self sow, I now have dozens, maybe hundreds coming up. Ok, I helped by scratching back the mulch and shaking the seed pods all over.....

Buford, Just get on I-85 N. and drive up to Laurens, SC to see the teas at Roses Unlimited. You'll come home with a carful of roses, just in time for fall planting.

Mine are all new plants, but I grow and enjoy

Puerto Rico, white
William R. Smith, gorgeous pink
Duchesse du Brabant - I moved it about six weeks ago and it's blooming again already
Madame Joseph Schwartz - just started blooming lovely white blossoms
Mrs. Dudley Cross - slow starter, but has had a couple of beautiful blooms
Lady Hillingdon - lovely yellowish blossoms on reddish foliage
General Gallieni - beautiful dark red blossoms, constantly blooming

I have a Clementina Carb on order. I love these rose and always like to hear about the kinds others have.
Annie

If you decide to order, ARE has great tea roses. But if you can make that drive to SC, you'd have a lot of fun.

I don't have room for it, but Duchesse de Brabant is often grown in this area. It smells FANTASTIC to me, the very best fragrance I've smelled on a tea.
Gilbert Nabonnand blooms like crazy and has excellent foliage, but you have to like semi-double blooms to love him (I do).
You can't beat the true thornlessness of Mrs Dudley Cross.
So many teas, so little space.

Randy

Tea is my favorite class of rose, my favorites are
"Comtesse Emmeline de Guigne" which changes from peach in spring and pink in summer. I have two plants and prefer the one grown with some afternoon shade, the one in full sun turns red and pink in August.
"Alliance Franco-Russe" although the blooms are easily damaged by a few days of rain.
"White Maman Cochet" which has outer edges of pink, and I prefer a millions times over modern roses of that color.
"Etoille de Lyon" for its' delicious fragrance.
"Marechel Niel" for that amazing color.
"Crepescule" for the clarity and brightness of orange-yellow in its center.
"Reve d'Or" has bloomed every month since March. I grow it as a bush instead of a climber. Not the most shapely of blooms, but great from a few feet away.
Mme. Antoine Mari" and "Marie Van Houtte" are both lovely.
I love my "Angels Camp White" and "Georgetown Pink" but would not reccomend them where mildew is a problem. Every year I think of replacing them
I may have to add "Souvenir de Pierre Notting" after seeing these phots.
Luxrosa

Duchesse de Brabant and Madame Joseph Schwarz.

Looks like a trip to SC is in my future.

Randy, is Duchesse de Brabant the one you said smells like raspberries?

This is Puerto Rico, a found tea. Don't seem many pictures of it, so thought I'd post.

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Veilchen, yes, to me DdB does smell like raspberries. "Good to the bone" as my Dad used to say. Not sure what that really meant except his way of saying excellent!

Randy

I am looking forward to the day when we can actually post FRAGRANCES online. Literally. Then I can get a cyber-whiff.

Duchesse -- Now you have reminded me that I've always wanted "Puerto Rico." Thanks for the lovely image. :-)

Jeri
SoCalif

Uhm...I love and grow teas too, but they ought to come with a warning. Some can grow big. Scary big. It's not just the height, but it's the width that makes them large. I have a Mrs. BR Cant that dwarfs my "green-giant" Graham Thomas--always has. Not all teas are that large, but be careful of what teas you choose place in a single bed. At least teas have less menacing thorns than most roses, so when they need transplanting it isn't so bad.

I love my Puerto Rico as it stays very clean and blooms regularly in part shade. I noticed that Vintage has this rose listed as a Hybrid Musk. Is it really a Tea? Mine seems to do fine in 4 hours of sun per day or less. Duchesse--you have captured this rose quite nicely. The white with faint blush against the green shady background makes the roses look soft and delicate.

Beautiful photos of Puerto Rico. I've admired this one at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. The plants there of PR look like a bushy, vigorous, healthy hybrid-tea (was that an oxymoron?)

Randy

I think "Hybrid Musk" must be a typo. Early Hybrid Tea, maybe.

I bet they meant HT. Early HT makes sense. I checked the V.G. Book Of Roses, but it is not in that.

Jeri

What I think I know of this rose called Puerto Rico comes from a couple of books and rose vendors.

Mike Shoup, in Roses in the Southern Garden says they got their cuttings of this rose from Mrs. Cleo Barnwell of Louisiana who got it from Jose Marrero in Puerto Rico. These cuttings proved to be the same as a rose called "Maitland White," a found rose from Bermuda. He says it is probably an early hybrid tea introduced at the turn of the 20th century. Helpmefind lists Maitland White as a found Bermuda tea rose but doesn't identify it with Puerto Rico.

Liz Duitt in The Organic Rose Garden calls it a tea but is more like a grandiflora. It gets about 6 feet high but only about 4 feet wide.

Vintage is the only source I saw that calls it a hybrid musk, so maybe that is a typo.

Ashdowns says it's called both an early ht and a tea, but either way it's a great rose.

Countryside Roses calls it a hybrid tea.

Antique Rose Emp calls it found.

Maybe someone else knows more and can chime in. Annie

PS, thanks, all, for the nice comments about my photo. Annie

Well, the 'Hybrid Musk' listing is on the Vintage website, but in their 'Book of Roses' it is listed as another name for Maitland White under Teas. The 'Book' says it came from Jose Marrero in Puerto Rico, and so it is the found Tea--Maitland White. I guess they need to update their website.

I was lusting after Puerto Rico, but the one I saw Rhonda with at RU was decidedly orange-ish.

RHONDA - can you weigh in on this?? Was your Puerto Rico the found tea or am I confusing it with somebody else??

ok...you convinced me. I will be putting in some teas in the spring...lol