Maureen
Hortico sells Canary Bird. I buy every year one or two and give it as presents to my friends. This is my way of bringing this rose back to US :) They ship very nice looking Canary Bird plants.
Hugonis from Pickering is very different from own root Hugonis I got, I think, from High Country roses.
Hugonis from Pickering is quite similar to Primula, just a touch more yellow. Hugonis from HCR is very different. I don't know is it because it is own root or there are several clones available. The flowers are different, the color of canes, the way how the canes arch, etc. Both are very good. I definitely would recommend to add Primula even though it is similar to Pickering's Hugonis. My Primula is from Hortico too. The leaves are quite fragrant when you brush the canes, especially in humid weather. The name Incense Rose is really right.
Olga.

I didn't see 'Canary Bird' at hortico, this year, and pickerings is out of cantabrigiensis' some say the prettiest of the yellow species hybrids. The fragrant leaves of R. primula make it very special. The first time I came across it, I was sitting on a bench and wondered where the Buddhist temple was near me that was burning such fragrant incense. No temple at all, just a plant of R.primula whose leaves are more highly scented than most rose species flowers are.

If you cannot find a Canary Bird to buy comercially, perhaps you could arrange to get a rooted sucker on the propagation page. If I had one I'd give it to you for just postage cost. Others might accept a swap or a check made out to a rose nursery for a rose in exchange.

Lux.

What a shame. I just checked and you are right. Hortico does not list Canary Bird this year.
Maureen, let me check (I am not at home right now). It could be that I have extra CB for you.
Olga

I looked for CB also this winter. What I found at High Country is another r. xanthina, Manchu Rose, but not Canary Bird, also r. xanthina. I don't really understand the difference between the two. I am thinking about trying Manchu Rose this spring, though.

I wonder if anyone knows anything about Manchu Rose?

I bought a 'Canary Bird' from Ashdown I believe before it closed. My dad ended up pruning aka killing it. I was so upset.

Maureen, I hope you don't mind if I add a question. I have 'Canary Bird' and love it, but of all my three hundred or so rose varieties, it is probably the one most susceptible to cane girdler (Coraebus rubi is our plague) damage. Are the other early species yellows also susceptible?
oath5, That's a pity. 'Canary Bird' is truly a magnificent rose, handsome in all seasons. It was my first rose to bloom last year, and it has excellent fall color.
Melissa

Melissa, they all can get cane girler damage, but it is very minor here. I lose a cane or two some years. It is easy to spot. When I start see a swelling, I just cut the cane below the damaged area right away.
Olga

Olga - thank you for the kind (possible) offer. Is it correct that the blooms of CB are larger and more yellow than hugonis? And that is the major difference? I am also intrigued by the scented leaves of primula. I wish I more room! While my yard is somewhat larger than yours, I have 6 large trees in my yard and many others bordering.

I wouldn't say they are larger, about the same size. Definitely more yellow, more prominent stames too. Overall the look is quite different.
Olga

The early yellow do play well with deciduous trees. Particularly on the south side.

Mike Lowe had pretty much his entire spinossisima collection planted under trees because they could handle the shade best. Particularly if the trees are late to leaf out, since the roses bloom early.

Unfortunately, many of the trees in the vacant lot next door are horrible Norway Maples and my garden is north of them :( Some seeming to be dying though.)

Don't worry. I'm sure they're spewing tons of saplings to replace them..... :(

Norway maple makes a decent enough street tree (even landscape subject in a suburban yard), except that it seeds itself so aggressively!

There's only one other alien maple I've encountered that's worse, and that's sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus). THAT tree is a THUG if you live in the Northeast near the coast!

(It doesn't even offer the benefit of lovely autumn foliage! The autumn foliage is ugly!)

York Rose - The saplings are difficult to pull out! Sometimes I let them grow a bit as they are then easier to pull. When very young, often the young "bark" slips off when one pulls on it, leaving behind a slippery green thing that is impossible to get a hold of. So irritating!

I "hear" you!

The other tack you might take would be to cut off those young saplings (well, this works tons better if they're seedlings, not saplings) below their first stem nodes, the nodes where the cotyledons (the "seedling leaves") join the stem. That way there are no cells from which they can generate new stem & leaf tissue and they die off. That works for me with the endless sycamore maple seedlings I have to kill off each spring & summer.

Maureen, did you get my e-mail? I send it yesterday.
Olga

Olga - I just got back to you. Sorry for the delay