My mother grew Mme Pierre Oger (from Rose of Yesterday and Today) in her Pennsylvania garden, on neutral soil. She never sprayed and I don't think she ever fertilized or even pruned. She was on a hill, almost at the top. Down in the valley springtime came a later and there was a lot more frost. Mme Pierre Oger was (and still is) the most beautiful rose I have ever seen. Superlative in a vase. I don't remember ever seeing any black spot. The flowers, with their long petioles, have a beautiful stance on the bush, which is five foot tall and rather upright. I think I might have tried it when I first moved here. My "dream come true" roses were all lost in an unexpected April snowstorm a year or so after planting (including New Dawn) and I was so devastated I never tried Mme Pierre or Reine des Violettes again -- couldn't stand the pain. (My back garden in a sort of semi-shady a depression behind buildings.) There was a beautiful, healthy well-filled-out bush of Reine Victoria, of which Mme Pierre is a sport, for decades at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It certainly had three flushes, including one in the middle of the summer. At some point they got rid of all their roses because of rose rosette disease and they have never replaced it. Here is a link to a picture from the web, of a bush grown in Umbria, Italy, showing the petioles: https://www.casanovaumbria.eu/Mme-Pierre-Oger.jpg

Here are the OGRs that I currently have: Rose de Rescht - hardy, repeat, fragrant. Gets some blackspot (I don't spray). Baronne Prevost - Hardy, doesn't repeat, not that fragrant, I don't understand the fascination for this rose. Jacques Cartier - Hardy, fragrant, minimal repeat. Mme. Isaac Pereire - Dies back to the ground, finally getting some buds after 3 years. Yolande D'Aragon - Finally getting some significant buds and growth after 3 years. Louise Odier - Very hardy, not much repeat, nice fragrance. Reine des Violettes - Finally got the thornless one from Home Depot 2 yrs. ago. OK I guess. Madame Hardy - My only once bloomer. Nice Damask. I had Maiden's Blush but it started getting weird growth so I took it out thinking it had some kind of disease (blooms were ho hum). General Jack - Another one from Home Depot. Survived the winter (barely), maybe a few little buds. We'll see. Heirloom Imposter - Thorny Reine des Violettes from Sam Kedem. Big horsey bush with small blooms, not much repeat. Hardy. Mary Daly - I am not sure if Polyanthas are OGRs. Good rebloom, growth in morning sun near east wall. Not much fragrance.

I have Sombreuil along a wrought iron fence. It is a pretty white rose and repeats well. Not troubled by disease. Growth habit is dainty for a climber--canes are thin and flexible. The only thing I dislike about it is the petals don't fall cleanly--the old blooms hang on, brown, withered and dry, until you deadhead them, and it's hard to reach them! I've had Mme Isaac Pierre for 7 years. Her big attraction is the gorgeous blooms; dark raspberry pink and cupped full of petals. Downright romantic. And the fragrance is one of the best of any rose, it's especially wonderful in the big spring flush. Madame also blooms intermittently throughout the summer and fall. But she has a two serious downfalls for me. One is her size--she throws out huge arching canes over 12 ft long in this mild climate. She wants to rule the yard and I have to keep her pruned all the time. Definitely out of scale with the rest of my roses. But if you have the room, that's not an issus. The real problem is she is so disease prone. Tons of rust every spring with the cool nights and fog. And then when it warms up, you get powdery mildew everywhere when the summer nights are warm. You have to really spray and drench it to bits with fungicide, and I'm tired of doing that.

Sorry I have to update to the 2004 AEN, had ordered 2 over a month and still waiting to receive them.