GMB is a great rose. It is currently duking it out with Complicata as the largest rose bush in my weed patch. I think it might win in another decade or so.

I love Albas as they are one of those plants that do so well for us in the Mudwest, not sure about NY.

Here is a link that might be useful: Complicata

It is outstanding in my garden. The blooms are huge, fragrant, and the plant is healthy and the foliage covers the plant well. Mine seems to take to pruning to keep it to a medium size also, so it doesn't have to be grown huge if you don't have the room.

jim, i think gmb is truly one of the best. I planted 3 bands last year, although they seem rather slow to establish, one of them has bloomed, and definitely stands out as a superior rose. i have a link below for my roses listed on hmf

Here is a link that might be useful: len

It gets about 5' tall and arches out at the top, but when it's in bloom no rose has a more purely sweet smell! It's a lovely, lovely baby pink, with no hint of purple. The leaves are blue-green, with a faint whitish bloom on them.

It's a glorious, glorious rose!

Len

That is a marvelous list. Representative and diverse. Where is your garden? I see you are in z6 which explains some that you grow that I may not being in z5.

jim, im on the border of 5 and 6. i am about 75 miles south of kansas city, about 10 miles from ks line. I don't get as much snow cover as you do. My biggest problem is canker in the early spring. some of those roses i just planted this year, like the teas. so we'll have to see how they do.

I think all roses belong in the company of many different kinds of plants, and I like to grow them with happy contrasts between different kinds of roses. Lately on the escarpment I've been enjoying Apothecary's Rose and its sport Versicolor beside it, with Cl. Etoile de Hollande towering above them and Centifolia a couple of plants further down, in too much shade but flowering just the same; Fantin-Latour at the end of its flowering clinging to its bit of terraced bed in spite of competition from Complicata beside it and Mutabilis lowering above, the latter digging its roots into an even narrower and more unfriendly terraced bed. Mixed in with these, along with several Teas and some Chinas that are currently out of bloom, are shrubs and plants of beautyberry, barberry, elderberry, self-sown sage, pittisporum, rosemary, and so on--it looks beautiful! Meanwhile the Boundary Bed, full of the most handsome and flourishing roses--Hybrid Musks, David Austin roses, once-blooming old roses, a Tea or two--is actually rather boring, thriving plants and glorious flowers notwithstanding. I thought it would be. I planted the first companion plants last fall, but can see that I have a lot of shrubs to add before the bed becomes beautiful according to my ideas of beauty.

Melissa

GMB is a noble rose; tall, sumptuous, healthy, and not floppy and in need of staking as quite a number of old roses are, lovely in flower and foliage, fragrant. Mine gets a lot bigger than five feet even with pruning, but I'm in a mild climate. It's dignified and opulent at the same time: just what an old rose should be.

'Great Maiden's Blush' is definitely one of the best pink OGR's of all. It should be a superb rose for your climate Jim.

len

Your list certainly qualifies you as an expert on old roses, not only really old, 19th century, but those around the turn of the century. I started to count and got up to about 40 then it became difficult as many were around 1900 give or take a few decades before or after.

Actually very few Modern as in Peace or Mr. Lincoln. I was pleased to see a high proportion of Kordes rose which you may know I have an obssesion about collecting.

So I have to ask the inevitable question, of the OGR's which would you choose as among ones that rose growers should grow?

And how did you come by your collection?

I have GMB and I like it, but I've really lost my heart to its next-door neighbor (in my garden), Alba Semi-Plena "White Rose of York." ASP doesn't particularly look that interesting in photographs, but there's something about seeing it live that just really lifts my heart. Perhaps because it's taller than I am after only three years and the way it gracefully fountains over, loaded with those large, pure-white, fragrant blooms. It's simply elegant in habit and in flower.
Both those albas came from Orion nursery in Minnesota, so they should be fine for you in NY. :-)

Remontant: is Orion still in business?

Jim: James Mason is an impressive gallica: large plant and large, bright red blooms; healthy and carefree.

You simply WILL NEVER, EVER regret adding her to a perennial bed, provided her height and colorations (bloom, but even more importantly leaf) fit into the bed's color scheme!!!!!!!

Dave, I found this web page, so I guess they're still in business: http://www.orionfarm.com/alba.asp I also purchased the damask "Leda" from them, which was a lovely healthy plant until I decided to move it. ::( DUMB move in ever sense.

Celeste, you GMB flowers are much larger than mine. Do you think mine will get larger in time? I've some some cane death on GMB too (not sure of the cause--certainly can't be our Tennessee winters).