'Archduke Charles'
"Bermuda Spice"
'Ducher' (original bit the dust, replacement is coming in Spring)
'Lady Hillingdon'
'Mme Laurette Messimy' (from Vintage)
'Napoleon'
'Louis Philippe'

Some I have are often called Chinas/Teas but have other blood in them:

'Barcelona' (same rose being sold as 'Francis Dubreuil' -- mine bit the dust, but a replacement will come in Spring)
"Eugene de Beauharnais" (aka 'Le Grande Capitaine')
'Nigrette' (probably the same rose being sold as 'Louis XIV')
"Sophie's Perpetual"

OK, so some I'm thinking about:

'Alliance Franco-Russe'
'Devoniensis' (bush form)
'Jean Bach Sisley' (aka "Creekside Manor Tea")
"McClinton Tea"
'Mme Melanie Willermoz'
'Perle des Jardins'
'Safrano'
"Westside Road Cream Tea"
"Windsor Tea"

PLEASE share your thoughts, experience, opinions, suggestions, etc. about the aforementioned roses, or any others you'd like to recommend. I realize that some of the Teas get huge in other areas, but I'm hoping that where I am, they can remain manageable for a few years in large planters. After that, they'll come with me when I move way down South.

Thanks in advance.

:-)

~Christopher

My JB Sisley has very angular growth--straight out, sharp right turn up or down, and seems more prone to blackspot than other Chinas. Nor does it seem to be a profuse bloomer. A rather gawky child, even for a china.

McClinton Tea in my garden was one of the least spectacular roses (I really want to say ugly) I have ever seen. Someone else likened its flowers to scrambled eggs. The second time I grew it I was given it as a bonus rose and thought why not try it again. I quickly found out why I didn't want to.

Perle de Jardins for me, and I believe for Melissa in Italy, was a dud of a rose that never grew much or bloomed to any extent, and the blooms as I recall balled with great abandon. Others may have had more positive experiences.

Mme. Melanie Willermoz was a lovely but rather fragile plant which I gave away and I'm not able to say how it's doing now.

My Devoniensis is still a baby, and a very slow-growing one at that, but then it has the reputation of taking a long time to mature. I've heard enough good things about it to let it take its time. I'm disbudding it so can't comment about the blooms.

Westside Road Cream Tea had many good qualities and if it had behaved as it seems to for everyone else I would still have it. A healthy and vigorous rose with good bloom production. However, after some time, for most of the year the blooms would from the time they began as buds have a grayish-brown color and grow no larger than a quarter coin. In good times the blooms were large and fluffy but this strange phenomenon continued every year and I have no idea why. No one else here has ever mentioned having a similar experience.

Ingrid

'Homere'
'Le Pactole' (aka "Mc Ginnis Tea")
'Mme Bravy'
"Oneto Home Saffron"
'Queen Mab' (which may be the same as the previous rose)
'Rival de Paestum'

Most likely, any of these I get will be kept as pot-pets, and it'll probably be only the top 5 or so. I'm looking for scent as well, so if you grow any of these and can't smell anything on the flowers (AND you are able to smell other Teas in general), please let me know that as well. And if you have other suggestions for me, please feel free to mention them.

Thank you so much.

:-)

~Christopher

I think that Barcelona is an old hybrid tea, not a tea. It is a lovely, dark red rose with a lot of damask scent. It does well in a vase. I love it.

Some cautions about Devoniensis. I loved the creamy white color in its first year. (Think of a gardenia.) The second year, though, the color changed to palest pink, which was a big disappointment to me. The rose does have a very nice scent: tea, with something like a hint of freesia, I would say, but the latter scent is very fleeting. Not impressive in a vase either, where it flops. It is much prettier in the bud.

Ramblingly,

Larry

Thanks for the heads-up on 'Devoniensis'. I was interested in that one (as well as 'Le Pactole' and 'Safrano') because of their ancestry (those three are each genetically 3/4 'Parks Yellow') and for possible further breeding. I'm less concerned with garden performance with them than I am with feasibility of growing them in large pots here.

:-)

~Christopher

Josh

Lori, thank you for the heads-up. I planted some Chinas and Teas in the ground this year, so perhaps it'd be wise for me to hold-off on getting more until after the peak of Winter has passed here, and see how they look. I do have space for overwintering protection of planters which need it, so I'll keep that in mind.

I do plan on heading down to Florida after grad school, but my interest in having some fragrant Chinas and small Teas was in playing with hybridizing -- so it's more than just having them now to bring with me later. I want to try making new Noisettes, but broadening the gene pool by using Chinas other than 'Old Blush', and Teas other than 'Parks Yellow', and see what happens. I'd also like to see how 'Reverend Seidel' works in place of its parent, 'Rosa moschata' -- just a little hobby project.

As far as blackspot, it's hard to tell with what I planted so far. BS definitely did make a run through the yard this Summer, but most of what got hit was still in pots and kind of crammed together, waiting to be planted in the ground. I think that along the Atlantic, BS is just inevitable, and as long as the roses can shake it off (as they appear to have done here after a few weeks when left to their own devices), I'm not going to resort to fungicides. About as far as I'll go is neem oil in a Cornell mix spray, or lye soap for the hotter months.

:-)

~Christopher