It's probably no help to you at all, but I know someone who grew fedtschenkoana here in SoCal, until recently.
And laevigata, of course, is all over.

I've seen spontanea at Quarryhill Botanical Gardens (tho not when it was in bloom).

Jeri

r.ecae, why not golden chersonese?
r. chinensis var. spontanea=probably not
r. laevigata=probably not but how about silver moon, a r.laevigata hybrid

r. fedtch.= yes

Max, i'd recommend a book by peter beales, classic roses.
it's the best and most complete book i have seen yet on roses. besides having the history of roses and roses in landscape,culture etc., it goes beyond by organizing roses to their classes and subclasses, and hybrids. it has sections on most all roses, not as much on moderns or mini's than other books, but very complete and useful for the obscure classes and their hybrids. a paragraph of commentary and description, followed by a coding as to the uses and characteristics.

I would imagine that all of the above are technically hardy to zone 6b winters. They do, however, probably differ substantially in their warm season preferences, the first and last being native to high and dry regions of central Asia (although they need to be tried to know for sure - I have a young R. fedtschenkoana here and it survived but had trouble with spider mites and is battling some raging stem canker, in effect losing the gains in size it had made in the past year). R. ecae has at least a literary reputation for extreme fussiness in cultivation, but I don't know of anyone with experience growing the straight species in this kind of climate. A hybrid of it would probably be more growable for you, as would be any of its near relatives, which are generally excellent garden plants. The wild form of the china rose (which is what spontanea refers to), if we can believe it, is rarer than rare (i.e. not even available to buy) as far as I know so I wouldn't necessarily bother about trying to grow it unless you have a very special connection somewhere. What's wrong with the garden varieties, though? Rosa laevigata should do fine for you; it does well for Ann Peck in her zone 6 garden, and it adores a hot and humid climate. Its hybrids should be good garden subjects as well, though possibly much less fertile.

R. fedtchenkoana -named after the Russian lady botanist who discovered it - is one of the very few wild roses to rebloom, although I gather not profusely.

Ingrid

If you get R. fedtchenkoana into your garden, protect it from burrowing, root eating rodents. Mine was devoured quickly by voles, almost as if we'd put a sign up advertising something new and delicious.
As Stephen said, I do grow laevigata and I've had it for about five years. It's in the cold part of our garden. It stays evergreen through winter, and only last Easter's very late freeze knocked it back (but didn't kill it.) It's big and really interesting (and the thorns must be felt to be believed.)
The picture of R. chinensis spontanea in Phillips and Rix's latest book is really wonderful, with hints that Safrano isn't that far from it. Also check some images Cass has posted on helpmefind;
Re Rosa ecae, I just got Golden Chersonese to get close to R. ecae (and anything crossed with Canary Bird has great potential.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Golden Chersonese

Thanks for the information guys, I wouldn't want to get my heart set on anything that isn't healthy.

I really should buy all those early yellows though before exploring all the other options, don't you think? Canary Bird, cantabrigiensis and hugonis sound like great shrubs indeed judging from the rave reviews I've heard about them. However, since most of my roses I'm purchasing with possible hybridization (for fun) in mind what else would be blooming at the same time as early yellows? I assume these shrubs would be better mother plants than used for pollen.

Max

Max,
My own plans this year include sending pollen to a friend in a very cold climate who will keep it cold until his roses bloom.
If things work out, I'll go to points warmer (Atlanta, Huntsville, somewhere like that,) and bring pollen back.
From Maryland, it's not that far down to Richmond or Norfolk.
And among my earlier roses Old Blush does often overlap. Now that has species cross potentials.

I'd say the early yellows are vastly better as pollen parents - they're quite fertile, produce abundant pollen that freezes and stores well, and their seed isn't that easy to germinate anyway (it often will take more than one year). It's hard to say what they will and won't successfully cross with, but I'll leave you to sort out those details.

Hi Max,
I don't think it will be really hardy in your climate, but I like to show you the beautiful Rosa chinensis var. spontanea.
{{gwi:242122}}

The above is the "mother", in Mrs Helga Brichet's garden at Santa Maria (zone 8a) (the plant come from China via Mikinori Ogizu). I don't know how old it is (it would be planted in 2002, maybe), but it's vigorous and really happy, climbing over an old olive tree.

My chinensis spontanea, grafted from this mother plant, is in her second year, so I'm waiting for first flowers. I expect to have an even more vigorous growth in my zone 9b/10a climate. Luckily my olive tree is bigger than Helga's :o)))

Rosa laevigata is one of the most beautiful white single flowered climber species.
{{gwi:242821}}

I know from friends in zone 7 that 'Cooperi' (strictly related to R. laevigata) is hardier. Mine, after her FIRST year in the ground, is eating the roof of the tool shed, covering an area of approx. 20 square meters....

Rosa fedtschenkoana is beautiful! Gently arching growth, elegant grey-green leaves, beautiful hips, I highly recommend it.

Ciao!
Maurizio

I don't mean to discourage you from trying something new, Max! I just wanted to be frank about what I've seen, but that doesn't mean a rose like R. fedtschenkoana couldn't make a great specimen. It did manage to survive a hot DC summer in spite of its troubles, and as Maurizio says, it's exquisitely beautiful. I don't know how the Baltimore climate varies from ours, but I would plant a rose like Rosa chinensis var. spontanea here without hesitation. Still, a wild-collected form isn't in commerce in this country yet.

Max - They attempted to grow R. laevigata at the National Arboretum in DC in the 80's and I made some cuttings at the time. I think I saw it bloom once down there before they stopped trying. It never bloomed for me out here in 6b. It was almost always killed to the ground in both there and here. We did have more severe winters then and it may get through the winter now. Like the teas, it also may have been a function of proper preparation for winter and plant age. I did admire the Arboretum's R. bracteata and R. fortuniana, both of which grew an bloomed well there. R.fortuniana grows and blooms modestly here in a protected location, but I did not have success with R. bracteata which is a beautiful, repeat, single white with intriguing boxwoodlike foliage- again possibly because of plant age and lack of proper winterization. My sense is that borderline hardy roses may in fact survive reasonably well in locations where they perish as young plants. For those situations, I guessing that adequate protection in the first couple of years may yield a plant more adaptable to the border zone situation. After thinking through this, I may try R. bracteata again! Best, Nick

Nick,
I can give you a woody R. bracteata if you're interested.
Mine left a baby behind when we moved it.
I do have bracteata and fortuniana and I don't pamper either of them. But I don't go heavy with fertilizer or water. And bracteata seems to do equally well in red clay and in a river laid loam.
When I go down and check on Laevigata, I'll see if it has tip rooted.
Ann

Ann - I would love to try R. bracteata again. I am disappointed that I have not ordered the bracteata hybrids that Ralph Moore bred. I guess my hesitation stemmed from my previous experience with the parent which I so admired. Best, Nick

Nick,
I've been trying some of Moore's hybrids and they haven't liked the same soil that the sp. is thriving in. The small ones (not Muriel) are lovely, but couldn't take vole damage to the roots. The parent is strong enough to out grow the vole damage. (But then, most species do.)
FWIW, bracteata doesn't like juglans in the soil. (Out of Yesteryear taught me that.)
Ann

PS - I also have vole problems, but only one of four of my so called feral cats is a hunter and he can't keep them under control. What shall we do? The State guys say to use either sticky or regular mouse traps baited with peanut butter under a gallon pot over their hole or in a 10" piece of 3 or 4" diameter drain pipe. I still haven't tried these, but I am getting desperate. I believe that voles helped kill more than a dozen of my 7' diameter english boxwoods. Oops - there goes about $10,000 that I cannot replace! Best, Nick

Nick, maybe it was just that particular clone of Rosa laevigata that had problems. I would normally credit the species with greater hardiness than R. x fortuneana and R. banksiae, which as you noted, do perfectly well here at the NA.