I've never paid much attention to classic (or new) HTs at the box stores, of which they carried quite a few, but our local HD carried several OGRs when I still lived in the US. In my first rose growing year in the US, not knowing any better, I purchased one Reine des Violettes, two Rose de Rescht, two Comte de Chambord, one Sombreuil and one modern, Altissimo from them. All true to type except for Sombreuil which turned out to be Cl. Iceberg, certainly an intentional mislabeling. Only one, Altissimo, was clearly virused, as it turned out in its second year. While it performed very well, it couldn't hold a candle to the, I'm quite sure, non-virused Altissimo I bought the next year from DA and planted right next to it. In later years, I had the impression that Reine des Violettes might have been virused too, since some leaves on one, only one, of its lowest branches showed a pattern that could have been RMV, but it wasn't an entirely clear positive. I am not sure about the claim that an RMV infection may not even show at all, not even faintliest. To me such claims sound like "guilty by default (or association) without proof", and as a historian, I have problems with this kind of approach. However, I know that biology (which I've also studied way back then) is not politics or history, and I'd like to see some scientific literature on this. Jeri, do tou have anything at hand? Thanks, Andrea

When I was very little, my mother was struggling with keeping two climbing Peace roses in good health in the desert of west Texas, in Odessa. They grew on a trellis surrounding the window of my older brother's bedroom. I used to climb up the iron trellis and sit on the shelf under the window to read comic books and swat at the bumble bees that would amble past. Those roses were the size of the dinner plates Mother served us with! Later we moved back to east Texas, near my grandparents home, and I saw other types of roses. My grandmother always had a couple of old "Sweetheart Roses" (Cecile Brunner), and she would point out other old roses, and other heritage plants as well when I or a cousin would show an interest. She was NOT an avid hobby gardener- she had 13 children, (my mother was her middle 7th child), and needless to say, her hands were very full with children, grandchildren, my grandfather, being active in her church, and the Eastern Stars, among other things. She always had a neat, tidy yard, and they grew an enormous vegetable garden to feed the family, kept chickens for eggs and meat, had a couple of cows for milk and butter, etc. Their life style was one of a simpler day, and with very little "cash money", she wasn't about to spend it on flowers for her yard! When she was an old lady, she would smile at the efforts people would go to in order to maintain a St. Augustine lawn, and a bunch of landscaper designed plantings. In her day, passalong plants were about all she and her cronies had, and she loved all of them for the ease of care: plant, water during droughts, and let them fend for themselves! Anyone who lives in the south can recognize what I call the "Granny Yard": a couple of OGRs, some honeysuckle that has to be beaten back every few years to keep it from taking over the world, a wisteria of the same ambitious nature, a magnolia, a pecan, a couple of oaks or ashes, a warty looking "toothache tree", maybe a willow if there is a pond nearby, a bunch of volunteer onions and garlics here and there, oh, and of course the easter lilies of yesteryear in a bed at the back corner of the house... 'Fess up. You have all visited this house! I know you have! In my twenties as a young mother I played at gardening, and suffered disappointment after disappointment when my hybrid teas and grandifloras would croak for lack of high culture. I just could not make myself get too excited about anything that was that high maintenance. One year my mother in law mentioned that one of my sister's in law wanted a "start" of her old "Sweetheart Rose", and asked if I would like one too. That sparked the memory, and soon I had my own little Cecile growing in my yard. I have moved away, and didn't know about cuttings back then, so I didn't preserve that plant through the years. But luckily it is one that is widely available. I filed away for future reference the note that those old garden roses really are tough as an old boot. We bought this home in 1999, and when I was ready to finally start a real garden, I was introduced to the Antique Rose Emporium here in Texas. From there I learned about rose rustling, about all the classes of old roses and the modern shrubs that seem superior to hybrid teas. That was at least 300 roses ago. And counting. ~Allison

ROSA RUGOSA ALBA is the granddaddy of all white roses. I normally don't like single roses but this one was love at first sight (and smell). I saw this species sport growing as a security hedge in front of a Cleveland Park townhouse in Washington DC. Several things stood out about RRA and it remains one of the most beautiful white roses that I've ever seen. First, the sheer size of the blooms was astonishing, and they literally covered the shrub. The fragrance was intense and could be smelled from yards away. The unusual wrinkled foliage didn't have a speck of disease (if you want a no-spray white rose then pick this one). Would be just about perfect except for one thing: OMG the thorns! I got a crash course in what rugosa thorns look like that day. There wasn't a spot along the canes that wasn't bristling with needle-like thorns. It was obvious the owners were growing this rose as a sort of living barb wire because any intruder who tried to move past those shrubs would be ripped to shreds in seconds. I was told by the owners that in the autumn this rose has the enviable habit of showing blooms, hips and glowing gold foliage all on the shrubs at once (the leaves on rugosa roses apparently have the enviable habit of turning autumnal shades of gold, fiery orange and scarlet in the fall). COLONIAL WHITE (aka Sombreuil) is another gorgeous white rose. The official registration name is Sombreuil but the ARS really does need to change it ASAP because it still causes confusion with Mlle. de Sombreuil, a little known Tea rose. Colonial White IS NOT a Tea! It is an aggressive, winter hardy, Wichuraiana Climber that IMHO belongs in every garden. In contrast with the wicked thorny canes (Wichuraiana) the flowers are very delicate and captivating. They open from blush pink high centered buds into large, ivory-white flattened rosettes packed full of wonderfully fragrant petals. Colonial White like all good climbers blooms along the entire length of its whip-like canes that are easily trained up a support (wear good thick gardening gloves or else!). I've had the canes on other climbers break on me but those on Colonial White seem to stay supple a heck of a lot longer. Repeat bloom is very reliable, and the leathery dark green foliage shows good natural disease resistance. Colonial White can also be kept pruned down into a large shrub. The following image of Colonial White is by Missy_GardenWhimsy at the Hortiplex database. ROSE-MARIE is my favorite white rose. Unfortunately this white sport of the English rose HERITAGE has become next to impossible to find. It was only wildly available for a few years and now may be headed towards extinction. Well not if I have anything to say about it! Rose-Marie has a lot going for it: graceful growth habit, grows well on its own roots (and roots easily), lovely foliage (if you spray), and unlike the previous two roses the canes on this English rose are only lightly studded with widely spaced thorns (thanks to its Iceberg ancestry). Best of all are the medium-to-large beautiful creamy white flowers that look like they belong growing in front of an English cottage. Rose-Marie is almost always in continuous bloom. Her only real faults is the need for spraying (black spot) and the short vase life of the sinfully fragrant blossoms. Frankly, I'd really like to give David Austin a good talking to about this rose. I'm so frustrated by its lack of availability that I've begun to root cuttings from my single grafted plant. If availability doesn't improve then in a few years I'm going to start giving this rose away FOR FREE! Other beloved white roses include Climbing Clotilde Soupert, Coquette des Blanches and Fair Bianca, but I think I'll wait until later to write about them. Here is a link that might be useful:

Things with Rosa arvensis in its background..somewhere. You can use Advanced Search on HelpMeFind and search by Fragrance>Myrrh The list is 4 pages, but since it includes synonyms, it's probably a much smaller total number. Many are David Austin roses. Four standouts in my garden are Distant Drums, "Charles Walker's Mignonette," a smelly polyantha or miniature, Focus by Louis Lens, and Tamora. Paul Barden bred some Hybrid Gallicas with myrrh fragrance, but I don't grow them. Dominique Massad has also bred a number of moderns with myrrh fragrance.