It might take two to three years for climbers to really climb, espeically if they are on own roots. You might have quicker results with grafted ones, but I mostly grow ORRs and think it is worth the wait. A compromise might be to plant grafted to have "instant" gratification, and root the plant yourself if it is not under patent and if you need more than one. Have you considered New Dawn? I used to live in Fairfax County, VA, and I think I saw a HUGE climber that might have been New Dawn near where we used to live. New Dawn is moderately fragrant, has reliable repeat, comparatively shade tolerant, and the flower is quite elegant(or at least to my eyes). I planted a grafted ND last year, and it is VERY thorny and definitely a house eater. New Dawn so far has been very disease resistant for me, with zero or little blackspot. I understand that the same goes with Awarkening, a sport of New Dawn. I love my ND so much I planted an Awakening several weeks ago. The plant was on own root ordered from a Texas nursery. It had blackspot all over TWO WEEKS ago, and it is not even blackspot season here in NJ yet. Go figure. I have two dozens roses in my garden, and every rose other than Awakening is spotless. I am afraid that I have spent good money to "import" a super strain of the blackspot from Texas that attacks earlier than what I have here. Will never, ever order from that nursery again. If the concern is that your climbers might "tresspass" onto your neighbor' yard, maybe Zepherine Droulin? It will get blackspot where you live. But it is thornless, and very fragrant. I planted two band sized ZDs last fall: one in half shade near my deck, and one in full sun. The one in half shade had far worse blackspot than the one in full sun, but it is growing very well in size so I think that I should be able to get some blooms this year or next, although it probably won't bloom as much as the one in full sun.

I adore Ghislaine de Feligonde (Spelling may be off!). It's completely clean here in the northwest. I too, had to get rid of Mme. Alfred Carrier. It was completely covered in blackspot. Ghislaine has very small thorns and has the prettiest range of pink/peach colors. Another disease free climber for me has been Autumn Sunset. It grows large, has gorgeous, big blooms, and a great fragrance. I've had 2 for years now framing my front porch and without any spray at all, they've been totally clean. It blooms almost continuously for me. It does, however, have thorns.

Dr Dirt is our friend Tom Gallagher (sp?), a staffer at Sandy Springs Friends School where the Fall Swap was held. He runs a composting program at the school, he usually brings a truckload of old manure and stacks of old coffee sacks to haul it in to any offsite swaps he attends, and by special arrangement I was able to get a carload direct from him on another occasion. Other good manure sources include Wheaton Park stables, Rock Creek stables, and contact the local 4H for names of folks who raise goats/sheep/rabbits in PG or Monkey Cty. I also have names of local alpaca and llama breeders I got from attending the MD Sheep and Wool Festival (MD Fair Grounds, Timonium, usually 1st weekend in May) -- I got several carloads of llama manure last summer in return for helping to paint fences. Tom Sawyer, eat your heart out. Lynn

Follow up 2 years later The Fairy (planted in full sun. doing beautifully, little disease, profuse flushes of bloom in spring and fall. Intermitent during heat) Little White Pet (planted in full sun. some black spot, but not horrible. profuse flushes of bloom in spring and fall. Intermitent during heat) Needs regular deadheading to get rid of old blooms (cling to plant and turn brown) Rose de Rescht (Some black spot in full sun, but not terrible. Gorgeous smallish deep rose blooms. Definitely worth growing. Great color. In a little bit of shade 10 ft away it was a black spot magnet) Mme. Alfred Carrie (1/2 day sun. How many ways can you say stunning and gorgeous? Drenched in white blooms in the spring. Intermittent from then on. A reasonable display in fall. Some mildew otherwise quite healthy. HUGE and very vigorous. Reached 20 ft in 2 years. I'm a little worried about having planted it next to a building) Lovely sent. Zeperine Drohin -- 1/2 day sun. Also drop dead gorgeous mass of bloom in the spring. very intermittent during the heat. OK flush of bloom in the fall. The spring makes it worth it. Absolutely mass of bloom -- think Tournament of Roses float. Lovely sent. moderate blackspot in no spray garden, but not unsightly. Sombruiell. -- absolutely healthy foilage. One of the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen. A tendency for the secondary flower buds not to develop or to turn yellow and drop off. I suppose this is a disease. Heavy bloom in the spring and fall, light in the summer. Huge, also extremely thorny. My garden is on a corner lot and my neighbors love all of these roses. Modern roses that fit into an old rose garden. Schneekoppe (Snow pavement). More than reasonably healthy rugosa. Very vigorous, spreads by suckers. Could form a thicket quite quickly. wanders into lawn. Beautiful flower. My neighbor's grade school sone said they smell like cherries. Blooms fairly steadily all summer. Summer Bouquet. Healthy, nice bloom. My only problem is it's quite wide. about 5 ft across. Heritage By vote of neighbors, the most beautiful rose on earth (or at least in my garden). Wonderful light sent. Little disease. Flower is a bit fragile, but worth it. Sophies Rose beautiful flower, some black spot, but not unsightly. The Sombriel was gorgeous. It's growning very vigorously and had almost no disease until it got a tiny bit of blackspot in late November. I'm really looking forward to seeing it this year. The Comte de Chambord was a disaster. It was covered with blackspot seemingly forever. Looked horrible. I pulled it and sent it off to the Fort Totten dump.