So are you up to going on and on about the wonders of once-bloomers? There are a couple of good repeaters, but not many. Most of the good ones are Explorers or rugosas.

Generally, around here roses come from Pickering. I would strongly advise against getting anything that isn't bone hardy own-root.

She can't go wrong with Rugosas. They're my favorite OGRs and impossible to kill. Blanc Double de Coubert, Therese Bugnet and Hansa are amazing. I have not grown but have heard great things about Roseraie de l'Hay and Rose Parfum de l'Hay (which I have ordered). Here in Chicago in suburbs near the lake, we have thick clay soil and a high water table and the rugosas pretty much laugh at them. Also, you are actually not supposed to spray chemicals on them so that's great too. And most rugosas smell unbelievably good. Blanc has my favorite scent in the whole world - citrusy and clean.

I buy own root rather than grafted and my favorite source is Chamblees even though they don't have a massive collection.

Tell her to buy rugosas. It'll greatly boost her confidence.

With winter mulching, David Austins do well and also many of the Buck roses.

Send her over to the New England gardening forum. We have lots of zone 5'ers who raise, among other things, roses. Mad Gallica, what's been your observation of the soil types in western MA (if you go there)? Red rocks north of Hartford CT, yes; but I seem to remember mostly gravelly glacial outwash and alluvial soils in western MA.

Carol

Nooo. Rule two of growing roses here is you don't use winter mulching. It causes canker and other messes. Snow cover is fairly reliable, and that's the winter protection.

My guess is that your roses would come through winter much, much better without mulch.

(rule one is bury the bud unions.)

I guess we were posting at the same time.

We used to get to Springfield fairly often. I seem to remember that being a fair amount of glacial outwash, though when my DH ran Seven Sisters there was a lot of clay mud. He remembers it being almost solid rock, but I definitely remember people sliding down mud slopes.

We've discussed this in the New England forum, but the thing you really have to watch with soil types in this general area is pH. The limestone mountain ranges used to be a lot bigger, and all that lime had to go somewhere. The official Dutchess Co soil survey has soil types ranging in pH from 7.5 to 4.5. The upper range of that makes life difficult for a lot of the 'standard' northeastern roses like rugosas.

BTW, I haven't managed to ask this yet, but is this friend going to spray? I usually assume people aren't unless told otherwise.

Thank you for all the fantastic info thus far. I will assume that she will not spray since she's tried and failed at roses before, and I doubt that a regular spray program would be followed unless and until she falls in love with a rose that will love her back!

She sent me some additional information this morning in response to my question to her re: site and sun...

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"I really appreciate this CL :)

i do have good space- clearly not as much as you but enough...my goal was to get climbers that would cover this fugly rusty chain link fence that borders two sides of my front yard....the side i would most like to fill in - gets decent morning and late after noon sun but is dapple-shaded during the day a couple sugar maples trees..
that the spot i have tried a few varieties but they dont seem to take. :(

also have a area behind my attached a garage that would be nice for a climber. the bed is about 20 long x ~4 ft wide.
gets excellent morning sun but thats it. ( gray house) would love a white climber for that spot.

does that help?"
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I'm hoping this specific info will help you pinpoint some choices for her. It sounds like she needs a combination of hedge roses for her fenceline and a magnificent climber.

I am not sure about white climbers, but two red ones Quadra and Illusion should work for her.
For dappleshaded spot Alba Maxima or Alba Semiplena will work great, but of course they are once bloomers. Semilpena will provide additional interest with hudreds of hips.
All of these are no spray roses.
Olga

Thank you so much for all of the great advice. I've forwarded it on to her along with my strong encouragement to order her new roses from ARE, Chamblee's, or Rogue Valley as own-root plants.

As always, I appreciate everyone's help very, very much.

Umm, retract that advice. If she has been struggling with climbers, 99.95% of her problem is just plain lack of hardiness. She needs to talk to somebody who has first hand experience of what happens to rose canes at -10°F, and that isn't anybody on that list of nurseries.

Pickering, Pickering, Pickering. Palatine can help with advice, but they don't have the list of hardy climbers that Pickering does. And don't let her fall in love with the idea that own-root roses are best. If I had to choose one, own-root or budded, that I was only allowed to buy for the rest of my life, it would be budded without question.

Thanks, Mad Gallica, I WILL retract it for the reasons you stated. For what it's worth, the list she is working from includes only rugosas for starters. I'm hoping she'll have more luck with that group based on the advice here.

How well the rugosas will work will depend on sun and soil conditions. Rugosas stink for me because a) I have too much shade for them and b) I have too much lime for them. The Explorer rugosas seem to be much more tolerant of both conditions, but aren't nearly as good as the so-called Kordesii Explorers. Since it sounds like shade is an issue, rugosas would not be near the top of my list.

BTW, today ended the throw-them-in-the-ground-and-totally-ignore-them-they-will-be-fine season for bareroots. You can plant them after this hot spell, but it isn't going to be as easy.