Can it take lots of sun, including some western sun? Or will it crisp?
Will it work good on a pillar?

*** Yes. But it is well-armored with prickles, so the job of training it is best done with assistance.

Does it have good disease resistance?

*** Almost complete resistance to mildew. Complete resistance to rust. I have no clue about blackspot.

Does it have decent re-bloom?

*** Excellent repeat, IF you deadhead.

Is it mostly white? I guess it has some hints of color sometimes

*** It is for the most part creamy white, though you may occasionally (in cool weather) see it as centered pale buff-pink. (See below for its usual look.)
In persistent cool weather, I have seen it fairly pink:

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but this coloration is rare.

According to HMF, it gets about 10-12 ft tall--perfect for my pillar. Is that height correct?

*** In my part of Southern CA, 12-ft canes are fairly normal. You may also see some long major laterals. It blooms on fairly long stems, and if picked tight, has a good vase life, before shattering.

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful:

Kate,

The version of Sombreuil that has sometimes been called Colonial White is an excellent rose for the right spot, but a pillar is not really the right spot in my opinion. It is very robust and exuberant with stiff canes that don't want to bend in smaller arcs and serious heavy thorns that will rip your skin. You no doubt could grow it on a pillar, but it would be a constant chore.

It is my opinion that the best roses for pillars have limber canes and moderate growth. Add to that light-to-moderate "thornage", and you have the ideal pillar rose.

Rosefolly

My Sombreuil/Colonial White started on a pillar, but soon got too tall, so my husband built an arch that spans the 8 foot distance from the pillar to our house. It has now grown up the 6 foot pillar, over the 8 foot arch, up to the roof of our 3 1/2 story house, and is even putting out long canes that would go taller than the roof if we would let them!

The wall of the house it is growing on gets a Western exposure, in sunny Calif. No crisping or blurning at all. Re cold tolerance, I understand that this rose is a Winchuriana hybrid, so it should have enough cold tolerance for your zone. Mine is perfectly healthy, and never gets sprayed (we have enough trouble going up on a 30 foot lader once a year to tie new canes up to the house!).

It blooms in waves all Spring and summer, more if you deadhead it periodically.

I agree with Paula, it would be a painful and bloody job to try to train Sombreuil around a pillar. It could be done, nothing is impossible, but she really would be better on a wall, trellis, or somewhere you could fan the canes out and bend them as horizontally as possible. I love Sombreuil. Very fragrant, beautiful blooms, good disease resistance (even here)and plenty of blooms. You really do need her, Kate. Just maybe not on the pillar.

She's a beauty

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Carol

Beautiful rose, but defoilates almost completely from BS here. I tried it twice, own root and grafted, hoping to get better resistance, no luck for me.
Olga

My experience with Sombreuil, is the same as listed above, those thick canes are hard to train.

If you live in 6b, and you desire a climbing white rose for a pillar, I'd suggest cl. 'Snowbird' instead.

Although I love very few Hybrid Teas, Snowbird is one that I do love because it has an old fashioned bloom shape, and it is very fragrant, vintagegardens remarks that it has an appearance like a Tea rose. It is one of the roses I suggest to people who cannot grow Tea roses.
Snowbird' has a long bloom season here in Oakland, Ca where it retains a pure white color most of the year, pink rarely shows. It gets mild p.m. but this doesn't hurt bloom production.
By coincidence, vintagegardens.com is selling climbing 'Snowbird' this week.

Good luck, let us know what you decide on.
Luxrosa

I agree with Lux!
I don't have Cl. Snowbird, but I do have a found HT which appears to be Snowbird.
I can't say enough good things about it.
We don't see mildew on ours, nor ever rust either. And it is as generous
a bloomer as any Tea Rose.

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Jeri

White Cap is another very good white climber. Very BS resistant, fragrant and blooms non stop here. Color is very similar to Sombreuil, the same warm undertone.
Olga

Oh, darn it--all that research, and I still didn't pick a winner! Good thing I checked here--the thick canes on Sombreuil could definitely be a problem.

carolfm--that pic of Sombreuil and the clematis--that is exactly what I was aiming for! You're right--I probably do need her, but unfortunately I am down to no more space. I'd have to spade Buff Beauty to have enough space and a fence for Sombreuil--and I'm not about to get rid of my 10 year old Buff Beauty, if you know what I mean. LOL

jerijen and Olga--thank you for the alternate suggestions. I will be checking them out.

Does anyone else have any alternate suggestions? Since this will be my last open spot in the garden, I want to make sure it will be a rose I absolutely love.

By the way, for those of you in places where roses grow much bigger and taller than is listed in most catalogs, that is not usually a problem here in Zone 6 Kansas. Out here on the open plains, most plants achieve only the lower end of the listed heights.

Thanks, everyone, for your input. Love those pictures!

Kate

I grow Sombreuil on the north side of my alley fence in Sacto CA. A storm flattened that fence last winter--all except the 20 feet held up by Her Majesty. Cutting the rose back to replace the fence produced a pinker than usual nosegay of blooms. (January!) In our hot weather the color is usually more like the lush fleshy tones of the Victorian floozy lounging in her step-ins in the portrait above a gentleman's bar.

I have shovel pruned roses, new and old, for being hard to rassle (cl. Angel Face, I'm talking about you). Sombreuil may draw some blood but I'd try it on a pillar before I'd go without.

I have shovel pruned roses, new and old, for being hard to rassle ...Sombreuil may draw some blood but I'd try it on a pillar before I'd go without.

*** So I think. :-)

Jeri

As far as disease resistance goes you need to know that Olga has little patience with black spot. If she says WHITE CAP is resistant then it is REALLY resistant.

I've had SOMBREUIL for years and absolutely love it. Completely hardy in zone 6b and flowers to die for. Not many climbers are fragrant but this cultivar is sinfully perfumed. Good repeat too. Disease resistance really isn't all that bad and the foliage stays clean with infrequent spraying. Outstanding vigor and looooong flexible canes. About the only negative is the hideous thorns.

Image of Sombreuil by Missy_GardenWhimsy at Hortiplex.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sombreuil at a Southern Garden

Hey! That's a BEAUTIFUL usage of Sombreuil, Hoov!

Jeri

Now I'm thinking carefully about White Cap. I see Patrick has set up a separate thread on it, so maybe we'll get more feedback on this rose. However, hoovb's pic of Sombreuil is so gorgeous that I still haven't given up completely on that one.

Any one else have any thoughts, pro or con? This choice is turning out to be more difficult than I anticipated. LOL

Kate

My sombreuil is more like Patrick's. Main canes can be thick but trainable. Secondary canes are flexible, long and easy to train. Thorns are not more than average. I rate my Parade as more vicious. But nothing compares to Night Light in that department.

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Hi, everybody. I'm bringing up this thread again to let you know that I think I'm settling on Sombreuil for my choice.

I've been exploring about a half-dozen other options, but sooner or later end up rejecting them for one reason or another.

So I started back here again--and fell in love with those pics all over again! Who cares if it has thick canes with sharp prickles--LOL. Gotta have that beauty.

So, is it OK to order it (grafted, I assume) from David Austin place (in TX, I think)? I've always received big, strong plants from them. Or is there a better place?

Thanks for all your assistance. I've really been back and forth on this one, but now I'm totally happy with this choice.

Kate

Yeah, probably OK. But it grows just as well on its own roots, and almost as quickly.
And there would be no problem of suckering.
It just doesn't NEED rootstock.
In fact, long-term, I think it is better, own-root.

Jeri

The fragrance of Sombreuil is wonderful also. On L.I., however, this rose has had its blooms spoiled by caterpillars from the oak trees every spring and then by thrips (?), I think. Last year I saved at least some of the flowers by spraying at the right time. Hoping to do better this year, but it has been disheartening. I can't always get out there to spray when I ought to, because it is a weekend garden that belongs to my cousin, even though I do most of the gardening. Sombreuil also gets blackspot as the summer goes on. It is quite vigorous, however.

I got my Sombreuil from Chanblee's, own root, 8 feet in 2 months. Stiff main canes but the laterals can twist around forever.
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and she is beautiful.!
la

That's really nice Luanne. You caught that creamy look.
It's a beauty of a rose, isn't it? Even if we NEVER find out where it really came from.
The only loser is the real hybridizer, who has never gotten credit for what he (or she!) created.

Jeri