FWIW my 'Bon Silène' (mother plant from Peter Beales) is big and fast growing, with long heavy arms, sometimes snaky-looking. My plants are at least as vigorous as 'Mrs. B.R. Cant', no slouch herself, have good foliage, and never suffer from anything. The flowers are Tea style, with long buds and petals, loose when open, but always good-looking. As you can see I'm a fan. The difference may be in climate or in the clone, but I just wanted to say that there's at least one garden where this rose is as good as they say. Melissa

I've grown both and would choose 'Mrs. B.R. Cant' in a heartbeat because of her uniquely enchanting fragrance. (No other rose I know of smells like MBRC, except, surprisingly, a climbing tea, "Florence Bower's Pink Tea", a found rose.) She has fairly stout stems and well-formed flowers and I frequently cut her blooms for indoors. "Angel's Camp" was a martyr to powdery mildew here and met its demise from a malady that looked a lot like fire blight a few springs ago (first and only time I have seen that on a rose). Though nice enough, its scent and flowers didn't make me swoon the way those of MBRC do and I never really felt impelled to bring them into the house.

This rose is named after the wife of Mr. Benjamin Revett Cant 1828-1904. The Cant name in rose growing goes back probably four generations back from Benjamin Cant and they started out life as ordinary seedsmen in say 1728 (ish) but became interested in rose as more were brought back from China and other countries. Benjamin's wife was named Elizabeth. There are descendants of the Cant family still operating Cant's Roses in Colchester, England, but no more named Cant descendants. My children descend from Olive Cant who always had lots of roses in her garden. There are descendants of Benjamin's son Harry still living in Australia. This rose is still available in England directly from Cants Roses, Colchester, England and it is also in USA and Australia, where it flourishes as a native. Another interesting fact about Benjamin R. Cant is that he was an entrepreneur, and opened the first dual Ice skating and roller skating rinks in England, putting on skating shows, even bringing an elephant into one of the rinks as part of an act. He started to lose money when he appointed a manager to run the empire, and when others in Britain began to copy him. He just avoided bankruptcy by selling nearly everything he had but the road he made to get to the complex is still there. He spent many years developing Mrs. B.R.Cant, getting the rose just right, and I hope that my care of my children's ancestor gives justice to his efforts, flair and sense of fun. The rose is in centres in most countries - just don't give up looking. An interesting note is that in both World wars, a fair amount of thei Cant land growing roses, was dug up to grow vegetables for the war effort.

I have found with Mrs BR Cant that she will throw out those canes. But they soon become weighed down with blooms and laterals and don't really climb as much as stretch out. I suppose if you put a support near her and supported those canes they would stay more upright, but I don't know if they would 'climb'. I have noticed the same with Madame Lambard and Monsieur Tillier. I have them near small cherry trees and they are in the trees. Also, while your Mrs BR Cant is 3 years old. That is still young for a tea. I think that tall cane is what she could grow to in total if left to her own devices. But I have also found that the very long canes can split at the base if they get very heavy.