Go the HelpMeFind.com.
Click "Advanced Search"
Click "Habit"
Check the box marked "Thornless(or almost)"
Click "Continue"
Click "Search"

That will call up about 30 pages worth of roses, though some are duplicates. (Roses known by more than one name will be listed under all names.)

Off the top of my head, Antique Rose Emporium lists roses in that category. You'll see it on their home page.

The only problem with those lists like you can get from HelpMeFind, etc, is that many of the listed roses are not what I would consider thornless or nearly thornless.

The only roses I've grown that have turned out to be totally thornless in my garden are:

Nur Mahal (The Antique Rose Emporium)
The Jefferson Rose (Chambless)
Basye's Blueberry (Chamblees but they don't carry it anymore, ARE still does)
Reine des Violettes (The Antique Rose Emporium)

And the following have been VERY close to thornless for me (i.e. you'd have to hunt hard to find a thorn & may never find it):

Mrs Dudley Cross
Pink Gruss an Aachen
Valentine

And then there are those roses that are extremely lightly thorned in my garden (you will find thorns on them but not many at all):

Heritage (The Antique Rose Emporium)
G. Nabonnand (The Antique Rose Emporium)
Pretty Jessica (Roses Unlimited)
Marie Daly (a local vendor)
Marie Pavie (The Antique Rose Emporium & I have two more on order from Vintage)

Although I don't grow it, I saw a fairly large specimen of the climber, 'Renae', and I could find no thorns on it. Beautiful plant too.

Best of luck with what you select,
Randy

Randy's list is very good. Add Crepuscule and Zepherine Drouhin. My Cecile Bruner spray is not very thorny, not very thorny at all.

Many gallicas don't have real thorns, just some small bristles, that will never make any harm.
Olga

Clombing Pinkie is all but thornless but she is a big girl so give her room. I grow her as a large weeping bush. The sprays are spectacular!!

{{gwi:228229}}

Olga, does that also hold true for 'Charles de Mills' & 'Rosa Mundi' (not very thorny)? I'd like to try a gallica some day.

Rhonda, I really like the way you are growing your Climbing Pinkie. Lucky you to have the space. My mom grows that rose and it's super healthy, and hers also has few thorns.

Randy

No. One of the things I have to do this spring is dig out the New Dawn that the bear fell on top of. It's behind Charles de Mills, so I have to get into that thicket, clear out some working space, and dig. It's not something I'm looking forward to.

I can't think of any thornless gallicas in my garden. Chloris is pretty close. The canes are thornless, but the leaves have prickers on the underside that can catch you as you walk by. The rest of the possibilities are far enough in the boonies that I'm less sure about them. Madame Plantier I think is fairly thornless, and there is always Pax Apollo.

Patrica---thanks for mentioning Zeffy------the canes are smoooooooth----
I was just reading about the Peggy Martin rose that survived Katrina and it is listed as thornless----

Florence

Randy, I am at work right now, so can't check them all, but will do it later. As MG mentioned CdM is not thornless, I don't remember about Rosa Mundi. I believe Duc de Guiche is thornless (excellent gallica in every respect). I will post a list later today or tomorrow, as soon as I have a chance to verify.

Olga

I'm not so sure about Crepuscule (or somewhat thornier Reve d'Or) so far north (Z5/6 ). Likewaise Renae-- at least when I tried to grow Buff Beauty in Ohio it died to the ground. Randy, that's a great list. I also think of Basye's Blueberry and Cl. Pinkie as "southern"-- hope someone will post about the hardiness of those. So many great garden roses are vicious-- Mermaid, Seafoam, and many of the Meidilands-- I love this thread! It's a keeper..

As much as I would like to recommend 'Renae' to you, its highly unlikely to be suitable for a zone 5b/6 garden. It will die to the ground every Winter (or worse; expire altogether) as it is a very tender climber.

Much more appropriate for your climate are 'Mme. Plantier' and 'Chloris' and possibly 'Zephirine Drouhin'. If you can find it, Kim Rupert's 'Indian Love Call' is an exceptional rose in every way, and completely thornless. It adds strong crimson/red to your list as well.

Regards,
Paul

Here is a link that might be useful: Indian Love Call on HMF

THANKS so much everyone! Now I have the fun of looking them up. I did also email some of the nurseries and ask what they grow. Here are some that no one has listed here yet.

Charisma ( Palatine)

Pink Grussan Aachen, Echo, Pink Rosette, Misty Dawn a mini white ( Roses Unlimited),

Victorian Memory ( High Country Roses),

James Galway, John Clare, ( Heirloom Roses)

If I get any more I'll list them and let you know what I end up ordering. I only asked about Red, Pink and White so there may be more of other colors. Elizabeth

I'm glad Florence mentioned Peggy Martin ... she is, indeed, quite thornless. I had to move mine this winter, and it was a delight to tie and dig her without having to dodge thorns.

Connie

Once blooming species include thornless version of Swamp Rose (one of my favorites), R pendulina R Glauca. Numerous Alba roses are also thornless. Once bloomers, but the above are worthwhile for the foliage and bush itself.

james galway isn't thornless at all!!
i've purchased the mine directly from austin and it shows sharp thorns...

mme bérard instead is nearly thornless and a wonderful bloomer...

Randy, Sorry it took me so long. Was coming home after dark every day. Finall yesterday had chance.
In my garden Tricolore de Flandre and Complicata are thornless, as well as Duc de Guiche. To my surprise Tuscany Superb and Belle de Crecy have very little thorns too, not thornless, but really almost nothing.
Olga

I just posted a few minutes ago, but can't find my post now. Probably a computer glitch, but forgive me if this is a repeat.

David Austin's Mortimer Sackler is nearly thornless. Nice pink blooms, good disease-resistance. It could make a mannerly climber, I think. Mine is growing next to the house and keeps stretching up higher. Unfortunately, I do not want a climber there, but rather a somewhat upright 5 ft shrub, so I have to trim it down a couple times each season.

Kate

Thank you, Olga!

Randy

Thank you all. Well I think it is going to be Marie Pavie. A friend has offered a cutting of her Belle de Crecy and when our house is sided next year I will add another trellis to the side for Peggy Martin. I already have Victorian memory from 08. She was bought for hardiness and her beautiful face but the lack of weapons sure is a plus. I am all set with this list, on to the next for small sun tolerant Hostas. We are to have a temp of 50 in 2 days. The snow will finally be off the garden and you know I am going to run right out there for some dreamin. Elizabeth

I have a wonderful reblooming swamp rose, probably 'Scandens' that has only an occasional thorn down in the base. The guy I got mine from has 4 plants about 4'x4' and I ran my hands through the tops numerous times to see just how thornless they are. I have 3 now myself, hoping they will get as big as his. Alas they drop leaves in the drought and get some BS (he sprays) so mine don't bloom as continously as his do. The flowers are semidouble and fragrant. A couple of times when I visited his garden he asked "Do you smell that?" (I did) and pointed at a swamp rose upwind of us.
I also got some kind of a gallica from him that has no thorns. Pinky mauve, double, what is it's name? Bell de Crecy! Never mind getting a cutting, if it's own root ask if you can dig around your friend's plant a little bit.
Nobody mentioned Therese Bugnet, which is thorny at the base but no thorns in the top of the plant. It only seems to bloom once in the south, but my friend in Minn reported it repeated for him up there.
I have a row of thornless climbers (Crepescule, Tausandschon, Ghislaine) planted between two thorny rows to be able to move around better. Ghislaine is pricklier than I expected, and I'm afraid that the thrips that ruin Buff Beauty every spring will get it too.

While I could easily be wrong (feel free to chime in if you have more expertise, easily done, btw), I seem to recall that, as a group, the Hybrid Musk roses have a tendency towards few thorns. The one growing on the property where I live (& I'm sure it's a Hybrid Musk although I haven't yet figured out its name) is thornless (or very nearly so) on the stems, even as there are very small prickers on the undersides of some of the leaf stems.

Does anyone have "Lauren"? She's another Kim Rupert creation. Listed as thornless, 2' X 2', hardy to zone TWO, heat tolerant, very disease resistant, and a glorious violet purple in cool weather and more hot pink in warmer weather, continuous bloom. Even with little or no fragrance, I WANT her! I have plenty of wonderfully fragrant bigger roses, and I think Lauren would be a GREAT container rose.

Lykkefund is a thornless helenae rambler, very hardy, too. Some other helenae hybrids are horrid monsters.

There is also Patte de Velours (var. Meimater), a very healthy ADR-prize winning rose by Meilland. Completely thornless.

After posting my recommendation of the thornless Lykkefund, I checked its availability in the US on HMF. No vendor is listed there but I can't believe that's true. It's quite common in all the Scandinavian countries as are several other helenae hybrids. I also saw it at Mottisfont Abbey so I assumed that it was widely available. It's one of the best ramblers and one of the few that get really big in our climates. It must be one of the easiest roses from seed as there are so many seedlings around that friends press them on you! I have resisted all kind offers as I prefer named varieties in my little garden.

I have a Lykkefund that's nearly 10 yrs. old. She's planted along with a "Zeffy". They make a HUGE bloom in the Spring, with Zeffy blooming first, then both blooming together, and Lykkefund alone later. It's a great combination of thornless beauty! I just wish that they weren't "one time bloomers", basically. But..the plants are extremely healthy and pretty even without bloom. I'm searching now for a smaller climber that's thornless, longer bloom period, super disease resistance and fragrance. So far, the leader is Annie Laurie McDowell, but I want to explore abit longer before ordering.
Barb

I don't mind thorns and feel there has to be some thorns when we grow roses.

I used to grow Martha, a sport of Zephirine, if I remember correctly it had no thorns, and of course Kathleen Harrop (another sport).

My Mrs. John Laing is a young plant in my garden, but the long new canes that are now reaching 3 feet doesn't have a thorn (I have just checked).

Maybe others are growing these roses and can confirm it.

Windermere, a DA offering (if you can find it from the right vendor), is nearly thornless. It might have one or two on a long cane...but those are big and wicked. I learned my lesson the hard way while trying to stake up some canes so loaded with buds and blooms that they were threatening to break.

Close enough to be about consider thornless, though. The thorns do curve downward and close to the cane, so they are not grabby ones.