Julia child is a wonderful rose that meets all your criteria. For a climber, you might consider America, very vigorous, very fragrant & good disease resistance.

What I have learned, from extensive research and some experience, is that you can have "disease resistant, most fragrant, heavy flowering, vigorous, exceptional roses" if you don't expect repeat-bloom. Or if you like rugosas. Or if you do a lot of research before choosing! I am assuming that "heavy-flowering" means repeat bloom?

I know that my area of the mid-Atlantic is supposed to be a black-spot magnet, but I'm not sure about New England. Many posters in hotter, drier climates have wonderful success with the almost ever-blooming teas and chinas, which are marginally hardy here, but will get blackspot in colder areas. I am trying a few teas anyway, just to experiment.

For me, gallicas are the most disease-resistant roses, also albas and mosses. They flower very heavily, but only in the late Spring. (I have many other plants that flower later). I am also very happy with many remontant roses, most of which I've chosen because they got good reviews here. I use the "search" function constantly, and take note of where the poster lives. (Obviously most of my searches are on the Antique forum)

As for climbers, Awakening is supposedly a good one, as is Quadra, a very healthy dark-red. (I have these two but they are still too small to judge).

Prairie Harvest is a healthy yellow which is often recommended here. I not crazy about it so far - seems so stiff and ungraceful but may look better this year.
Little White Pet is a good white for me, but it is very small, about 2 feet or so, only gets a tiny bit of blackspot. Mme. Plantier gets big and sprawling and only blooms in the Spring, but I love her anyway.

Marchesa Bochella is a great old garden rose that repeats in the Fall. I love it myself and have never read a bad word about it. (it's also known as Jacques Cartier).

I've not had the best of luck with the Austins but may try a few more this Spring anyway. Hope springs eternal!

It sounds like you are on the right track, hopefully you will get some better responses from fellow New-Englanders.
Maureen

If strong fragrance in a climber is important to you I think you will be disappointed with New Dawn or Awakening. To my nose New Dawn is merely mildly fragrant. What is stunning about Dr. Van Fleet and its sports is the form of the flower and its color. I don't know of any rose that I would describe as Mother of Pearl, but this rose (& the sports) comes very, very close. It's palest pink with a silvery sheen.

You want lots of fragrance, disease resistance, and hardiness in a repeater?

Get a rugosa. (All you need to do is drive to the beach and pull one out of the dunes!

Well, assuming it wouldn't be a problem with someone............... ;) )

Scots roses will sucker on their own roots, but I think they aren't supposed to get all that large & I believe they have a reputation for disease resistance. The vast majority of them are once bloomers, but Stanwell Perpetual repeats, and it's fragrant.

Have you considered it? I haven't grown it so I don't know how aggressively it suckers, but if you're interested I'm sure someone here can answer that particular question.

I would discourage you from planting New Dawn as mine blooms in spring and that is it. It is huge. It is disease resistant. It has very mild scent. I am considering taking mine out for a rose that might bloom more. If only it wasn`t such a huge thorny monster!!And I do mean MONSTER!!!!. Lesley

lesmc, New Dawn is a reblooming sport of Dr. Van Fleet. The only difference between the two is that Dr. Van Fleet only blooms once a year (& maybe is a bit more vigorous).

It would seem you've got the Dr. I think I do, too. :(

Like I said in your other post, it is hard to find hardy, repeat-blooming, fragrant roses that are disease-resistant as well.

Rugosas smell wonderful and can be lovely, but IMO don't really belong in a rose garden because of their tendencies to sucker and spread like mad all over the place.

My New Dawn hasn't done much for me. The only time it repeated at all was when I cut it back hard after June bloom one year. But that 2nd flush came so late in the year (mid-Oct) it was a welcome bonus, but got hit by frost pretty hard and went into winter in full bloom. It alternates between being very vigorous and hardly hardy at all. Last spring I thought it had died over the winter despite fairly mild temps, until I found a few lives canes toward the bottom. I think this year I'm going to shovel prune it.

Between Graham Thomas and Teasing Georgia, TG should grow taller for you. Neither one technically a climber in New England, but maybe in zone 6 you will have less cane dieback and keep it taller. Mine is very vigorous, one of my favorite DAs, and I whack it several times a season to keep it more compact. Didn't have to do that with Graham Thomas. TG is one of the more disease-resistant DAs I have.

Lots of fragrant once-bloomers if you choose OGRs. Every alba I've ever grown has been blackspot free. Felicite Parmentier is very very vigorous for me and I have had to be ruthless in pruning after bloom. I also grow some gallicas and most get at least some BS, but not as much as the moderns. I haven't tried any moss roses but would like to. Only grow one bourbon, Louise Odier, and I swear she gets more BS than any other rose in my garden.

Dollsandroses, I see on HelpMeFind that Julia is very highly rated by members. America has been a rose I noticed a long time ago and have always liked it, I will look into those two, thanks.

Maureen, thanks for sharing the results of your own research. There is a lot of information out there and it certainly takes time to sort through it all, so I appreciate it. It is helpful to get a reality check. You don't want to be chasing after something that doesn't exist. Yes, I guess I would love to have something that keeps blooming until frost but I realize that there really isn't one rose that has all those qualities, but I figured it never hurts to ask. [g] I haven't spent much time over at Antiques but I plan to. I've heard of Quadra and I have seen photos Mme Plantier that I really like. Marchesa Bochella such a pretty name. I will check these out, thanks.

York Rose, I think I'm going to have to do more research on the climber. I didn't realize New Dawn had a silvery sheen, never having seen it in person, Thanks. Rugosas, I would love if I were by the beach, but in my small garden, I have found shrubs that sucker to be difficult for me to deal with. I vacationed in a beach community as a child and loved the beach roses! I have had my eye on that Stanwell Perpetual and I didn't realize it repeats...I am going to have to take a good look at that, thanks, I would have zoomed past that one.

It would seem the New Dawn has it's fans and then those who describe it as a monster...lol. I've heard that before lesmc. I'm still trying to make up my mind about it. Interesting that there might be different plants out there behaving differently. Consensus on the mild fragrance though.

veilchen, I wish I had a wild corner on my property where I could fit some rugosas and just let them go. I have been reading lots of raves about New Dawn so it's good to hear the other side of it to get a clear picture. Thanks. You said 'mine is very vigorous'....did you mean you have the 'Teasing Georgia'?

So it would seem that giving up the repeat bloom might allow me to have the rest of what I want. Maybe I can find something that repeats that I could compromise on the other traits to keep something in bloom. I like the albas. Good to know FParmentier is vigorous as well as pretty.

Thanks for all the specific information, I'll keep editing my list. :-)