It's been a long time since I've grown R. fortuniana but this does very much look like the rose I remember. It's more fluffy than r. banksia plena, which I believe is one of its parents.

Ingrid

Kippy, this rose sure looks like/sounds like Fortuniana. As Ingrid mentioned, one parent is Lady Banks and the other Rosa laevigata. Fortuniana is basically thornless, it's blooms are larger than Lady B, it has a very light scent (to my nose), it's flowers tend to form a knot in the center (but not always), and I think the foliage is a little larger than Lady Banks, probably influenced by the other side of the family. The plant grows rather large like your rose. Others like Jeri or Kim can probably say with certainty, but I'd bet money on your (and Ingrid's) ID. Carol

This post was edited by PortlandMysteryRose on Wed, Apr 16, 14 at 1:13

Yes ma'am, that's Fortuniana. Watch those prickles, they BITE! Kim

Aha! A positive ID. And a helpful correction. I should have said basically thornless but quite prickly. Carol

Thanks all!

Is it bad I want to feel that prickle just to see how prickly it is?

It is one monster sized bush! After looking at some smaller roses that I read were house eaters....this is a house eater!

It takes a whale of a root system to support that kind of plant mass. Is there any wonder why it has been found to be such a wonderful root stock where it is suited? Kim

Agreed that that is 'Fortuniana'. About the prickles -- this is a rose that, more than most I think, can be extremely thorny or utterly thornless, depending on the branch in question. This time of year, just after the flowers fade, a well-fertilized plant will tend to send up massive basal breaks that may go 8 or 10 feet long, totally unarmed, perfectly straight, and simply wonderful for turning into rootstock cuttings. People who use this variety as a rootstock very much look forward to that annual event! Throughout the rest of the year, it tends to make much thinner, wimpy, non-straight stems that are often swarming with those evil fish hooks designed to maim and kill. It's really a Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde plant. I was delighted, yesterday, to see the "good" canes making their way through the canopy of our big stock plants. We'll soon be grafting roses!

This post was edited by malcolm_manners on Wed, Apr 16, 14 at 10:04

The more I know the less I know! I grew up with Fortuniana, but I never realized that the canes varied so greatly in thorniness! I never pruned a mature plant and I did notice that this rose can be somewhat prickly at times, but how could I miss the claws? This newly acquired detail is very helpful information to keep in mind...in case I develop some brilliant notion to plant Fortuniana on a fence near a pathway like I did with New Dawn--eek! Thank you both for enlightening me. Carol

So are you saying that the best canes to use for grafting are the new growth that comes after the spring flush, and not the canes that have just bloomed? I have access to a huge fortuniana bush, and want to make sure I cut the right canes!

Ideally, stocks are best without prickles. If you have the prickle free ones available when you can root them, I'd go for those. If you don't, then you're stuck with the prickly ones. The lack of prickles makes them much easier (and nicer!) to handle and work with. Kim

Exactly as Kim says -- nothing at all wrong with a rose bush made from a prickly cane, but it's a hassle to work with it. Those spring canes are nice specifically for the comfort and convenience of the grafter.

By the way, if you intend to try it and you've never grafted 'Fortuniana', realize that they're rather difficult to T-bud (the method almost always used for 'Dr. Huey' or multiflora), since the bark tends to shred and splinter easily. I like to chip bud them. Nurseries most often cleft-graft them, using a scion with at least two leaves still attached, on an unrooted 'Fortuniana' cutting with also at least two (preferably more) leaves still attached, and then root the entire unit as a cutting, as the graft heals.