Robert,

Which roses did you already plant? When you say 'spring bloomers' do you mean once bloomers?

Joanne

Robert - Consider some of the tea roses. Mine seem to get through the year with little or certainly by fall no spray and bloom right up until 27 degrees. I am partial to Mrs B. R. Cant, but many others are just as resistant. And I am one of the lucky ones who can smell their great fragrance. I also like the china, Cramoisi Superior, which gets through my year with little or no spray and I again love its fruity fragrance. Marie Pavie with me has acceptable foliage with no late season spray and I am a big fan of her intoxicating fragrance. Best, Nick

Joanne,

For a complete list of the roses I planted, check out the thread on "Literary/Historical Garden." I list all of the varieties I added. At this point it is mainly Damask, Gallica, Alba, Centifolia, Moss, Barbier Ramblers, and a few odds and ends: Daybreak, Darlow's Enigma, Chestnut Rose, Reve d'Or, Mrs. Foley-Hobbs.

Nick, I do intend to add some Teas, Chinas, and Noisettes. I think the area is protected enough that it may be a zone or half a zone warmer than me. Perhaps 8a or 8.

robert

I think the Monsieur Tillier (aka Archduke Joseph) would be a good rose to add. Mine blooms all year around, even in winter. The number of blooms seems to stay fairly constant all year long, at least for me here in Northern California. Most of the roses I have were selected for rapid rebloom, though I do have a few once bloomers. As Nick said, consider Tea roses. They usually are fragrant and bloom well in fall, though none better than MT. A few others might be Duchesse de Brabant, Etoile de Lyon, Alliance Franco-Russe, Souvenir de la Malmaison, Souvenir de Pierre Notting, Lady Hillingdon, Jacques Cartier, Maggie and I could go on. All of these rebloom well for me and all are quite smelly.

Joanne

I second the vote for Monsieur Tillier! I have him against the south wall of my home and he's a true workhorse with no care at all! Beautiful beautiful blooms - gosh, I wish I could smell tea roses!

And.....I'm close to you geographically, so take that into consideration.

Maggie is a wonderful workhorse for me, fragrant, disease resistant and blooms well into late fall. You can peg it if you want to get more bloom and restrict its claim on real estate. I never regret recommending this one.

Jacques Cartier (or Marchessa Boccella) rebloom in fall and smell wonderful, but they get that damask crud for me so I'm not sure if they are acceptable. I never got the damask crud with them in northern zones, it seems to be a problem in the Southeast however.

I'm afraid I miss most of the scent of the teas unless I stick my nose right down in them after I've taken some serious decongestant. And most of them are quite large too which may restrict you.

If you can grow noisettes (lucky you!) then you can have some fun. There are many more knowledgeable folks than myself that can help you with them but I personally LOVE Reve d'Or. Wish I could grow her here! (sigh) Glad to see you have her.

And please don't forget the rugosas. How can you talk about a fragrant rose garden without them? Many of them are at least 100 years old and of course there is the incredible fragrance, and the hips to boot! Need I say anything about disease resistance? How about fall color? Roseraie de l'Hay (Cochet-Cochet, 1901) is one of the most fragrant roses I've ever had the pleasure of smelling. Then there is Blanc Double de Coubert, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Fru Dagmar Hastrup, Hansa, Rose a Parfum de l'Hay, Souvenir de Philemon Cochet . . .

I'm as excited as everyone else on this forum about your project. Keep us posted and start posting photos!

Tea roses are my favorite class of rose, for their exquisite breathtaking beauty, and generous re-bloom through November, where I live, where H.T.s produce their last flush of the year during Sept-Oct.
For fall fragrant bloom, Noisettes are also a good choice they produce a gorgeous display of Autumn blooms with very attractive foliage,for very little work. C. a dozen cultivars are grown at Morcam park in Oakland, Ca which is a no-spray garden, that is located within a more humid microclimate (near a lake and a Bay compared to San Jose's heritage rose garden,which is a hotter, dryer location. Despite the fact that in the moister microclimate roses are more likely to succumb to p.m in spring and blackspot during our warm autumns, still these are all healthy enough to thrive with never being sprayed with anything.
'St. Leonards' which supports itself against a 4' tall stone wall. One of my favorite white roses.
'Champneys pink cluster' from a Canadian nursery, this turned out to have great re-bloom and is far prettier , to my eyes than the ubiquitous 'Blush Noisette'
'Catos' Cluster' has a damask type scent, very attractive soft leaves and is the healthiest Noisette I've grown. It blooms in Spring, Summer and Autumn here and is one of the most asked about plants at Morcam.
'Reve'd'Or' and Mme. Alfred Carriere' the later is a bit more suseptible to p.m. and blackspot in our conditons.
Ca. form of 'Lamarque' very attractive late autumn garden display, In November, when the H.T.s have dropped their foliage and they appear as bunches of sticks, ca. 'Lamarque' stands proud, fully clothed in dark green foliage with a mass of ivory-white roses blooming all over it, as if it were still summer.
At S.J.H.R.G.
10 stars out of 10 for fragrance:
'Secret Garden Noisette' I ruffled with my fingertips, one blossom and the scent remained on my hand even the next day, after I'd washed at least twice. White with bright pink edges.
I love what you're doing to keep old roses in the public view,
Luxrosa

Thanks for all of these suggestions. I will defintely be adding some Noisettes, Teas, and Rugosas. I will work on propagting some of these this summer. The project is really starting to shape up.

Robert

Nick's suggestion of Mrs. B. R. Cant brings up yet-another scientific angle for this project. Some people can smell it, and some people can't ... sort of like tongue-rolling. A little lesson in genetics.

She's such a beautiful thing in Hollywood Cemetery in the fall -- I'm sure she would be a star in the school's garden.

Connie