Good Luck Helen---that is a great list----

I think you might be in the same zone as Celeste (Celestialrose) and she grows some gorgeous roses.

Looking forward to some pictures----

Florence

Your garden is going to be gorgeous! That first group in your Pickering order are the roses that first lured me into the whole OGR thing. Alas, when I came to actually take the plunge myself (after years of just reading and looking at pictures) I found that those were not what I could realistically expect to grow here, so I have a few teas, a few HTs, and a Polyantha. But I still love those you have listed - especially Tuscany Superb, Charles de Mills, Belle Isis, and Fantin la Tour. Have a wonderful time!!
Laura

Can weigh in on two,
1. tuscany superb, you MUST get this gallica. It is beautiful.
2. I did not like ld brathwaite very much and SPed it.
3. I have mary rose, like it, but if you have to have scent, there are probably better pink austin english roses although mary rose is my last rose to bloom all through fall very dependable, rebloom could be better if you are hung up on that but with our jbeetle problems, mid july august rebloom just gets eaten so it is a non-issue for me.'

Had charles de mills, didn't really like it, no scent at all, it seemed kind of gross and huge looking and it attracted caterpillars like no tomorrow, so he went. I am looking for another gallica to replace and am likely getting belle de crecy and hippolyte.

I am zone 5, I have had no hardiness problems with gallicas, zero tip dieback (although this winter with our 20+F below, we'll see...) Austins, some tip dieback, but just trim it off and they bloom.

It sounds like you've been doing your homework, and your list is great! The only one on your suggested list I know is 'Mme. Plantier', and I don't how she's rated for hardiness, but I CAN say that she has a most wonderful fragrance and lovely flowers. Also the blooms hang on and turn a dirty brown, but she's worth it all the same. MP gets big in milder climates, don't know how large she'd get in your zone.

Have you considered any of the early-flowering yellows? They're rated hardy to zone 4 and would extend, I think, your flowering period and the variety in your garden. As you see, I'm following the most honored practices of the forum in attempting to enlarge your list rather than limit it.

Have fun!

Melissa

Thanks Florence, can hardly wait for April.

Laura, I envy you the fact you can have Tea Roses :-)

sc gardener, jbeetles are about the only pest I don't have ( touch wood), I do have a few pink Austin roses, Sharifa Asma is my favourite, Eglantyne, Wife of Bath, Heritage, Gertrude Jekyll, ( did have Bibi Maizoon and sp'd it last year). Have only seen LD Braithwaite in flower once and the flower was beautiful and smelled divine.

Melissa, I think you just killed the idea of Mme Plantier, I'd rather not have dirty brown flowers hanging about, pity they don't just flower and fall off.
She is rated zone4 by the nursery, they say she grows into an arching shrub in their zone.
Btw, all the 'maybe' list are all own root.

Which early flowering yellows would you recommend?
The nursery has Goldbusch, JP Connell,Topaz Jewel,Harrison Yellow, Harrison Salmon and Frühlingsgold.
The only yellow roses I have are Golden Celebration, Graham Thomas and a gorgeous single rose, Carefree Sunshine which I totally love.

Maggie,
I was thinking about some of the species like R. hugonis and R. primula; but I also had the Fruehlings- roses in mind. Fruehlingsgold is very beautiful, and I think it's an early bloomer; and it's fragrant, which is important to me. It's a great rose. It does get large: mine was about ten feet across, and it's not a rose that would take kindly to size reduction, I believe: I think it would look wrong. But a fine, fine rose, one I will always have as long as I have a big garden. It's a Pimpinellifolia hybrid.

Melissa

P.S. It takes a lot to make me forgive dirty brown old blooms, but 'Mme. Plantier' can do it: it has one of the very finest of all rose fragrances. Still, the fault is there. By the way, 'Fruehlingsgold' has fall color, though quite a few other once-bloomers do too. I'm another admirer of 'Sharifa Asma'.

Melissa, I think you have talked me into Frühlingsgold, the colour in Autumn is a real plus.
I might still go with Mme Plantier, but my problem is I have never seen any of the roses I have ordered in reality, just pics and for all I know all of them could hang onto their flowers and turn brown.
Would hate to have a garden full of dirty brown flowers.

I agree with you about Carefree sunshine---A great yellow rose.

Florence

You have some of the very best OGR on your list!
I grow all and then some on your list. So, if you have any questions, fire away!

Have you considered the Hybrid Spinosissima Golden Wings. Zone hardy for you and an endless supply of huge single yellow flowers on a 4x4 bush.

The Austin Crocus rose which is a lovely yellow fading to cream is tip hardy in my 5/6 zone.

Simone

Golden Wings

{{gwi:232105}}

And a few OGR not on your list..

Juno

{{gwi:228455}}

Nestor

{{gwi:232106}}

Anais Segales

{{gwi:228454}}

Duchesse De Montebello

{{gwi:232107}}

Leda

{{gwi:232108}}

and a few repeats that no rose enthusiast should be without!

Compte De Chambord

{{gwi:232110}}

Jacques Cartier

{{gwi:232111}}

Rose De Rescht

{{gwi:232112}}

Simone, thank you so much for posting these pics, now I am sure that all these have to be more beautiful than the ones I have on order.

Golden Wings looks so much like Carefree Sunshine, but it is beautiful.
I did have Duchesse De Montebello and Compte De Chambord on my list originally, can't remember why I crossed them off, maybe trying to restrain myself.
Juno is exquisite, I want them ALL!!
Luckily Jacques Cartier is on my list, and I already have one, it was sent out as DA's Kathryn Morely.
It is the best mistake ever, it flowered its heart out all season and has a wonderful scent.

Just looked at Pickering's catalogue and all these are listed, arghhhhhh!!

Helen

austinbabe, you have some of the most beautiful pictures I have seen, what sort of camera do you have? There are some varieties here I'm going to just have to have, and Pickering is the only one who has them in stock. I'm not so crazy about the idea of grafted roses, wonder if the graft is planted deep enough, they will own root?

Helen, best of luck in your selection. Please share once you have made up your mind.

Greybird, I use the Canon 40D with a 70-300 mm DO lens.
I am not sure whether Pickerings Multiflora rootstock would do well in your climate. Aren't most southern roses grafted on Dr. Huey or Fortuniana?

To tell you the truth, I do not usually buy grafted roses, so not sure of the rootstock.
But I may be upgrading my Canon Rebel XT. Likely the 40D is compatible with my 100mm Macro lens.

Simone, I noticed in a different thread you posted a pic of Belle Isis, to me the flowers look to be very similar to Duchesse De Montebello , is it?